Ainu Footwear

Historically, the Japanese have been a homogeneous people both culturally and racially, with the exception of the Ainu, a native people of Hokkaido, which is the northernmost island of Japan. The Ainu are racially and culturally related to the indigenous people of the neighbouring Sakhalin Island and the Siberian Far East coast, although today the Ainu have been almost completely assimilated into the general Japanese population.

These Ainu winter boots are made of several salmon skins that are sewn together and then lashed to the wearer's feet with rope.