Province, circuit or island group · Ezo and the northern islands · as at first light, 1 January 1200

South Kurils

The southern Kurils, Kunashir, Shikotan, the Habomai islets and Etorofu (Iturup), are the last link in the chain from Hokkaido to Kamchatka.

The late Okhotsk and early Ainu peoples live in small coastal villages of sea hunters and fishers; radiocarbon dates on the Kurils fall away from about 1100, which English Wikipedia attributes to a cooling climate. No chief is named.

Who holds it

Title
No ruler: the sea-hunting villages of the islands
Confidence
low

Archaeology (English Wikipedia: Okhotsk culture, Ainu people).

What it holds

  • Coast villages

Allies and rivals

Linked to Hokkaido's east coast.

How things stand that morning

What Kamakura names or controls: nothing. What stops it: sea and distance.

Wealth

Sea mammal products, fish; no figure.

Threats

  • Cold, drift ice

Where the sources disagree

  • The tool gives the south Kurils to this sheet; the sources are archaeological.

Evidence: Archaeology.

On the map: Rough.

Primary sources for Ezo (Hokkaido, Sakhalin tip, south Kurils)

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

  • Mirror of the East, Anonymous; compiled by officials of the Kamakura shogunate (compiled about 1300 from the shogunate's records, diaries and family documents). The Kamakura house's own chronicle, in daily entries. Read online

Sources and studies

  1. KJA_BRIEF.md and the OMNIA board for sheet kja (the lead's notes: [own] computation, [not yet checked against the source] recollection, [en] English Wikipedia)
  2. Azuma Kagami (the Kamakura chronicle), Kenkyu 10 to Shoji 2 entries, recalled and through the brief; ja.wikipedia and ja.wikisource were refused in this session, so no entry was re-read
  3. Jeffrey P. Mass, Warrior Government in Early Medieval Japan (1974), from memory; the archive.org full text could not be opened
  4. English Wikipedia: Okhotsk culture (read this session; thin)

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.