Ainu/Ezo

When I was young at school I learned that Ainu and Ezo were the same thing. Since then I have been thinking that Ezo is how Japanese called Ainu. Ainu called Ainu Ainu (people). Is this correct? I learned that some people object to this and they claim that Ainu and Ezo are different races.

Long time ago, I also learned that Ainu came from Siberia crossing the Sea of Japan during the ice age crossing frozen Sea of Japan. Now it seems that many people claim that Ainu came from the South Pacific and settled in Hokkaido. Those who claim that Ainu and Ezo are different seem to suggest that Ainu skipped warmer part of Japan and landed on the coldest part of Japan during the ice age.

I am quite confused about the whole information.

Wikipedia says about Ainu and Ezo.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ainu_people#Origins

It seems that you were right.

Best,
Kei

Ainu are the people and Ezo is the what Hokkaido was called in the Edo Period. Ezo (Ezochi) became Hokkaido in 1869. Modern DNA studies show the Ainu, Japanese, and Koreans all to be related going back to Mongolian origins. The last I read goes like this: the Jomon were on the islands first; the Yayoi immigrated from Korea in about 400 BC, mixing and displacing the southern Jomon, and the northern Jomon became the Ainu, separate from the Yayoi because northern Japan was too cold for the Yayoi rice culture.

Although Ezo is still a common expression, most Japanese people today, at least in the Honshu area, are unaware that the Ainu were ever called Ezo.

But come to think of it I suppose Ezo is more like an adjective, like "Japanese" or "Canadian" as in "Japanese culture" or "Canadian music." For example, the land of Hokkaido used to be called Ezo-chi (Ezo land). There is a type of pine tree in Hokkaido still commonly called Ezo-matsu (Ezo pine tree). A type of deer in Hokkaido is still commonly called Ezo-jika (Ezo deer).

The internet tells us that Ezo, which kanji is also read as Emishi, was how the people of Honshu used to call the natives of the current Tohoku and northern regions including Hokkaido, and many sources say that it's debatable whether Ezo/Emishi refered to Ainu alone.
https://kotobank.jp/word/%E3%81%88%E3%81%BF%E3%81%97-1278325

As for the origin of the Ainu race, that of course is still debatable. As for any race, these things are based on DNA, culture and language, and you can't really pinpoint how many people roamed from where and how.

Those who claim that Ainu and Ezo are different seem to suggest that Ainu skipped warmer part of Japan and landed on the coldest part of Japan during the ice age.

So far, I can't find any information about those claiming the race to be different to be the people who believe in the Ainu skipping the warmer part.

Anyway, remember that what Japan is today was gradually built from the southern and western parts. The northern part was among the last to be "pioneered," so the Japanese language and scientific studies are mainly built up according to that kind of value. I suppose that for the ancient people, all natives in the north sort of looked the same.