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영어

WATARI-TO(渡党)　are the marginal men between Japanese and Ainu people in the Middle Ages. They lived at the southern end of Hokkaido - along the coast of the Tsugaru Strait. Suwadaimyozin-Ekotoba(諏訪大明神画詞) is the picture and story scroll about legends of Suwa Shrine in Nagano Prefecture. It was created in the period of the Northern and Southern Courts. It says that WATARI-TO had characteristics of Japanese and Ainu people and Japanese-Ainu mixed culture. They had two bases , MATOUMAINU which is the old name of MATSUMAE(松前) and USORIKESHI which is the old name of HAKODATE(函 館). Most of the historical materials related to WATARI-TO were written in the Edo period from the viewpoint of the Matsumae clan, winner of civil war in the southern part of Hokkaido, so it have been thought that MATSUMAE was the center of WATARI-TO. But I think that USORIKESHI is the center of WATARI-TO. Archeological remains relating to WATARI-TO in the HAKODATE area precede them in MATSUMAE area. The HAKODATE area is the production area of the highest class Konbu Kelp(昆布) . Until the early 16th century, USORIKESHI was collecting and trading center of the Kelp. In the 15th and 16th centuries, there were many wars between the WATARI-TO and the Ainu people. The Kakizaki-Takeda clan(蠣崎武田氏)　was one of member of WATARI-TO, and unified the area. The clan was allied with the Ainu people, gave up Hakodate area which was called “Inland Sea”, and allowed the Ainu people to dominate Hakodate area. The Kakizaki-Takeda clan succeeded to make MATSUMAE the only collecting and trading center of the Kelp.