"Coming from Japan the first thing that strikes a traveller in the Ainu country is the odour of dried fish, which one can smell everywhere; the next is the great number of crows—the scavengers of the country; lastly, the volcanic nature of the island. On visiting an Ainu village what impressed me most were the miserable and filthy huts, compared with the neat and clean Japanese houses; the poverty and almost appalling dirt of the people and their gentle, submissive nature."
(From "Alone With the Hairy Ainu", A. Henry Savage Landor, 1893).
 
Such was the observation of an English anthropologist, Arnold Henry Savage Landor, when he travelled nearly 4200 miles in Hokkaido and explored Ainu lands in late 19th century. Hokkaido, which means "Road to the Northern Sea" in Japanese, is the northernmost of the four main islands of Japan. Formerly known as "Ezo" or "Ezogashima", it is colloquially known as "Kita no Taichi" (the vast land of the north). Similar to the "Wild West" of the United States, Hokkaido is the "Wild North" of Japan- a land of dense forests, mountains and valleys, harsh climate, and inhabited by a people who are distinct from the Japanese in every possible way. These are the Ainu, an ethnic group of people that have historically resided in northern parts of Asia known as "Ainu Mosir" (Ainu land) which traditionally included Hokkaido, northern part of Honshu island that are parts of Japan as well as Kurile islands, Sakhalin, and Kamchatka that are now parts of Russia.
Human habitation in Japan began since 10,000 B.C. These early inhabitants, known as "Jomon", lived by hunting, gathering and fishing. Around 300 B.C. another group of people migrated to Japan from Asian mainland who introduced rice cultivation to Japan. These people, known as "Yayoi" are considered to be the direct ancestors of the present day Japanese people. Yayoi people, who were divided into several clans, ultimately were unified under the leadership of a powerful clan named Yamato and members of the Yamato clan became the Imperial Family of Japan- a tradition that still continues today.
 
 
Illustrator Yongyu was a world renowned self-taught master illustrator, born almost 101 years ago, in August 4th 1924. We are elated to remember him and to introduce his works, though not in it's original form, entirety, and intent, but in sections selected, modified, and assembled to fit the stories, almost in a collage like manner. We credit Huang Yongyu for his wonderful works.