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I have confirmed those figures in Nanette Gottlieb's "Language and Society in Japan." The number of native speakers and people who use the language in daily life is alarming, but not surprising.Most of the 150,000 self-proclaimed ethnic Ainu in Japan (many additional Ainu are not aware of their origins or are secretive for fear of discrimination) speak only Japanese. In the town of Nibutani (part of Biratori, Hokkaido) where many of the remaining native speakers live, there are 100 speakers, out of which only 15 used the language every day in the late 1980s. The number of speakers today (by whatever definition one may use) is not known with any certainty. In all of Hokkaido, it is estimated that there are perhaps 1,000 native speakers, almost all older than 30. Among Ainu speakers (broadly defined), second-language learners presently outnumber native ones.
An Ainu Tradition Concerning Okikurumi and SamaiIn the third place this tradition teaches the Ainu not to forget the exceeding great power of Yoshitsune. Though Benkei dropped down in the boat through sheer exhaustion.................