Remains of Ainu People in Britain Returned to Japan
Edinburgh, April 30 (Jiji Press)--The remains of three Ainu indigenous people, which had been kept at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, were returned to Japan's Ainu Association of Hokkaido on Wednesday.
It is the third instance of Ainu people's remains taken abroad being repatriated to Japan, following the first case in 2017 from Germany and the second in 2023 from Australia.
The remains were donated to the university in 1913 by Neil Gordon Munro (1863-1942), an Edinburgh graduate and Scottish physician, who was living in Japan at the time. The Japanese government has requested their return.
Munro lived in Hokkaido, northern Japan, in his later years, providing medical services to the Ainu people. He was also known as an anthropologist whose research focuses included the Ainu culture.
"My heart is filled with emotions," Masaru Okawa, head of the Ainu association, said at a handover ceremony held at the university Wednesday, adding, "We will take the remains home and pray for them before the gods."
(2025/05/01-14:19)
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