[IMAGE: Members of the Ainu delegation perform during the powhiri to welcome them in Taranaki.]
A delegation of Indigenous Ainu people from Japan is in Taranaki this week to share experiences and learn from local Māori about language revitalization.
The group from Hokkaido, the northern most of Japan’s main islands, was welcomed at Puke Ariki in New Plymouth last night and will attend Poukorero, a two-day language revitalization conference at Parihaka.
Delegation spokesperson Kenji Sekiner said the Ainu began to lose their language as a result of the mass migration of Japanese in the late 19th century.
“Many, many Japanese coming to Hokkaido and after that suddenly Ainu were a minority people and kind of we were forced to speak Japanese. We were a so small group of people and discrimination against Ainu was so harsh.”
Mr Sekiner said the Ainu language was no longer in common use.
“You know basically we don’t converse in Ainu so it’s very, very hard. It’s a long way to revitalise (the language) for us to speak in daily life our language. ”
Mr Sekiner has been coming to New Zealand since 2013 and said by comparison the invigoration of Te Reo Māori was very advanced.
He said it was an inspiration to hear Māori being used and he hoped the visit would make a huge impact on the young people he had brought with him to New Zealand.
callanswall 