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{{short description|Historical term for the islands north of Japan and their people}}
{{Other uses|Ezo (disambiguation)}}
{{redirect|Yesso|the footballer|Diego Yesso}}
[[File:Mallet-TerredeGesso.png|thumb|Map of the "Land of Iesso" by French cartographer [[Alain Manesson Mallet]] (1683)]]
{{nihongo|'''Ezo''', '''Yezo'''<ref>{{cite book|last=Batchelor|first=John|year=1902|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZRwNAAAAYAAJ&dq=yezo+abounding+in+game&pg=PA2|title=Sea-Girt Yezo: Glimpses at Missionary Work in North Japan|pages=2–8}}</ref> or '''Yeso'''|蝦夷||{{IPA|ja|eꜜ.(d)zo}}<ref>{{cite book|script-title=ja:NHK日本語発音アクセント新辞典|publisher=NHK Publishing|editor=NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute|date=24 May 2016|lang=ja}}</ref>}} is the [[Japanese language|Japanese]] term historically used to refer to the people and the lands to the northeast of the Japanese island of [[Honshu]].<ref>Harrison, John A., "Notes on the discovery of Ezo", Annals of the Association of American Geographers Vol. 40, No. 3 (Sep., 1950), pp. 254–266 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2561061?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents]</ref> This included the northern Japanese island of [[Hokkaido]],<ref name="KDJ"/><ref name="DJR"/><ref name="SMK5"/><ref name="Gakken"/> which changed its name from "Ezo" to "Hokkaidō" in 1869,<ref name="nussbaum">[[Louis-Frédéric|Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric]]. (2005). [https://books.google.com/books?id=p2QnPijAEmEC&pg=PA184 "Ezo"] in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 184.</ref> and sometimes included [[Sakhalin]] and the [[Kuril Islands]].<ref name="KDJ"/><ref name="DJR"/> The word ''Ezo'' means 'the shrimp barbarians' in Japanese.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Henry |last=Johnson |title=Tsugaru Shamisen: From Region to Nation (and beyond) and Back Again |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4098489 |publisher=University of Texas Press |journal=Asian Music |volume=37 |number=1 |pages=75–100 |date=2006 |doi=10.1353/amu.2006.0005 |jstor=4098489 |s2cid=162073739 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315544816-36/settler-colonialism-making-japan-hokkaido%C2%AF-katsuya-hirano | doi=10.4324/9781315544816-36|chapter=Settler colonialism in the making of Japan's Hokkaido|title=The Routledge Handbook of the History of Settler Colonialism|date=2016|pages=351–362|publisher=Routledge|last=Hirano|first=Katsuya|isbn=978-1315544816}}</ref>

In reference to the people of that region, the same two [[kanji]] used to write the word ''Ezo'' can also be read ''[[Emishi]]''. The descendants of these people are most likely related to the [[Ainu people]] of today.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Haywood|first1=John|last2=Jotischky|first2=Andrew|last3=McGlynn|first3=Sean|title=Historical Atlas of the Medieval World, AD 600–1492|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YQMUNgAACAAJ|year=1998|publisher=Barnes & Noble|isbn=978-0-7607-1976-3|pages=3.24–}}</ref>

==Etymology==
Japanese sources that include an etymology describe ''Ezo'' as probably originally a borrowing from the [[Ainu languages|Ainu]] word {{transliteration|ain|enciw}} meaning {{gloss|person; people}}.<ref name="KDJ">{{cite encyclopedia
|language=Japanese
|script-title=ja:国語大辞典（新装版）
|title=Kokugo Dai Jiten (Shinsō-ban)
|trans-title=[[Nihon Kokugo Daijiten|Big Japanese Dictionary]], New Edition
|entry=蝦夷 (''Ezo'')
|script-quote=ja:「人」の意のアイヌ語から。
|quote="Hito" no i no Ainu-go kara.
|trans-quote=From the Ainu for "person".
|year=1993
|publisher=[[Shōgakukan]]
|location=[[Tokyo]]
|isbn=4-09-501002-9
}}</ref><ref name="SMK5">{{cite encyclopedia
|language=Japanese
|script-title=ja:新明解国語辞典第五版
|title=Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten Dai Go Han
|trans-title=[[Shin Meikai kokugo jiten|Shin Meikai Japanese Dictionary]], Fifth Edition
|entry=蝦夷 (''Ezo'')
|script-quote=ja:アイヌ語 encu （人の意）の変化という
|quote=Ainu-go ''encu'' (hito no i) no henka to iu
|trans-quote=Apparently a shift from Ainu ''encu'' (meaning person)
|year=1997
|publisher=[[Sanseidō]]
|location=[[Tokyo]]
|isbn=4-385-13143-0
}}</ref><ref name="Gakken">{{cite encyclopedia
|language=Japanese
|script-title=ja:学研国語大辞典
|title=Gakken Kokugo Dai Jiten
|trans-title=Gakken Big Japanese Dictionary
|entry=蝦夷 (''Ezo'')
|script-quote=ja:《参考》(アイヌ)enju(=人)から。
|quote=«Sankō» (Ainu) ''enju'' (= hito) kara.
|trans-quote=«Reference» From (Ainu) ''enju'' (= person)
|publisher=[[Gakken]]
|location=[[Tokyo]]
}}</ref><ref name="DJR">{{cite encyclopedia
|language=Japanese
|script-title=ja:大辞林
|trans-title=[[Daijirin]]
|entry=蝦夷 (''Ezo'')
|script-quote=ja:アイヌ語のエンジュ・エンチウ（人，の意）からという
|quote=Ainu-go no ''enju / enciw'' (hito, no i) kara to iu
|trans-quote=Apparently from Ainu ''enju / enciw'' (meaning "person")
|publisher=[[Sanseidō]]
|location=[[Tokyo]]
}}</ref> The term is first attested in Japanese in a text from 1153 in reference to any of the non-Japanese people living in the northeast of [[Honshū]], and then later in 1485 in reference to the northern islands where these people lived, primarily [[Hokkaido]], Karafuto (i.e. [[Sakhalin]]), and the [[Kuril Islands]].<ref name="KDJ"/><ref name="DJR"/>

The [[kanji]] spelling is based on the meanings of the characters rather than the phonetics ([[jukujikun]]), and is composed of the characters {{lang|ja|[[wikt:蝦|蝦]]}} meaning {{gloss|[[shrimp]], [[lobster]]}} and {{lang|ja|[[wikt:夷|夷]]}} meaning {{gloss|[[barbarian]]}}. The use of the character for {{gloss|shrimp, lobster}} might be in reference to the long "whiskers" ([[Antenna (biology)|antennae]]) of these animals, alluding to the prominent [[beard]]s worn by Ainu men.

The spelling ''Yezo'' reflects its pronunciation {{circa|1600}}, when Europeans first came in contact with Japan. It is this historical spelling that is reflected in the scientific [[Latin]] term {{lang|la|yezoensis}}, as in ''[[Fragaria yezoensis]]'' and ''[[nori|Porphyra yezoensis]]''. However, there are species that use a different spelling, such as the Japanese scallop known as {{nihongo|''[[Mizuhopecten yessoensis]]''|帆立貝|hotategai}}.

==History==
The first published description of Ezo in the West was brought to Europe by [[Isaac Titsingh]] in 1796. His small library of Japanese books included {{nihongo3|''An Illustrated Description of Three Countries''|三国通覧図説|[[Sangoku Tsūran Zusetsu]]}} by [[Hayashi Shihei]].<ref>WorldCat, [http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Sangoku+Ts%C5%ABran+Zusetsu&qt=results_page ''Sangoku Tsūran Zusetsu'']; alternate [[romaji]] [http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Sankoku+Ts%C5%ABran+Zusetsu&qt=results_page ''Sankoku Tsūran Zusetsu'']</ref> This book, which was published in Japan in 1785, described the Ezo region and its people.<ref>Cullen, Louis M. (2003). {{Google books|ycY_85OInSoC|''A History of Japan, 1582-1941: Internal and External Worlds,'' p. 137.|page=137}}</ref>

In 1832, the [[Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland#Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland|Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland]] supported the posthumous abridged publication of Titsingh's French translation of {{transliteration|ja|[[Sankoku Tsūran Zusetsu]]}}.<ref>[[Julius Klaproth|Klaproth, Julius]]. (1832). {{Google books|lsoNAAAAIAAJ|''San kokf tsou ran to sets, ou Aperçu général des trois royaumes,'' pp. 181-255.|page=181}}</ref> [[Julius Klaproth]] was the editor, completing the task which was left incomplete by the death of the book's initial editor, [[Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat]].

==Subdivisions==
{{nihongo|Ezo|蝦夷}} or {{nihongo|Ezogashima|蝦夷ヶ島}} ({{lit|Island of the Ezo}}) was divided into several districts. The first was the Wajinchi, or 'Japanese Lands', which covered the Japanese settlements on and around the [[Oshima Peninsula]]. The rest of Ezo was known as the {{nihongo|Ezochi|蝦夷地}} ({{lit|Ezo-land}}), or 'Ainu Lands'. There were also Japanese people who moved from other places to the coastal areas of Ezochi. Ezochi was in turn divided into three sections: North Ezochi, which covered southern Sakhalin; West Ezochi, which included the northern half of Hokkaidō; and East Ezochi, which included the populous southern and eastern Hokkaidō and the Kuril Islands.<ref>Frey, Christopher J. (2007) {{Google books|GMlgFCTOYIEC|''Ainu Schools and Education Policy in Nineteenth-century Hokkaido, Japan'' p.5|page=5}}</ref>

== See also ==
*[[Ainu people]]
*[[Emishi]]
*[[Republic of Ezo]]
*[[Jeddo, Japan]], a former romanization of the name of [[Edo]], now [[Tokyo]]

== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

== References ==
* Cullen, Louis M. (2003). [https://books.google.com/books?id=ycY_85OInSoC ''A History of Japan, 1582-1941: Internal and External Worlds.''] Cambridge: [[Cambridge University Press]]. {{ISBN|9780521821551}}; {{ISBN|9780521529181}}; [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/50694793 OCLC 50694793]
* [[Hayashi Shihei|Hayashi, Shihei]]. (1786). {{Nihongo|''Sangoku Tsūran Zusetsu''|三国通覧図説|''An Illustrated Description of Three Countries''}}. Edo: Manuscript. [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/44014900 OCLC 44014900]
* [[Julius Klaproth|Klaproth, Julius]]. (1832). ''San kokf tsou ran to sets, ou Aperçu général des trois royaumes.'' Paris: [[Royal Asiatic Society|Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland]]. [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/2563166 OCLC 2563166]; ''also'' [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/561284561 OCLC 561284561]

== External links ==
* [[Waseda University]] — [[Hayashi Shihei]]. (1785). [http://www.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kotenseki/html/ru03/ru03_01547/index.html 三国通覧図説] (''Sangoku Tsuran Zusetsu'')
* [http://www.wdl.org/en/item/3/ Maps of Ezo, Sakhalin, and Kuril Islands] from 1854

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ezo}}

[[Category:Hokkaido region| ]]
[[Category:Hokkaido| ]]

Ezo - Revision history

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