whatever their common origin may have been. By means of Chinese therefore, in so far as those examples are concerned, old Japanese and present Ainu are not proven to be Turanian though they are of a common stock.
It has been thought by many that there was a race of men inhabiting, not only Yezo but also Japan Proper, before the Ainu came; and that just as the Japanese have displaced the Ainu, so the Ainu drove out and succeeded the race preceding themselves. This was a theory I myself formerly accepted—but wholly upon trust like so many others. Laterly, however, I have paid special attention to this subject the result being a little brochure entitled The Koropok-guru or Pit-dwellers of North Japan, a rivision of which I now proceed to append, by way of preface to the Names of Places.
That the Ainu have left remnants of their language in Place names here and there all over Japan goes without saying, for, from the analogies of other lands we are fully prepared to expect such to be the case. Moreover, if any doubts have ever existed on the matter they have now been for ever set to rest by the writings of such men as Prof. Chamberlain; Mr. Nagata Hōsei and others. In this revision I have written in some names of Japan Proper and also of the Islands north of Yezo so as to extend the range of view. My Brochure was divided into two parts as follows:—Part I. The Koropok-guru or Pit-dwellers of North Japan; and Part II. A critical examination of the Nomenclature of Yezo.
PART I.
THE KOROPOK-GURU OR PIT-DWELLERS OF NORTH JAPAN.
In the “Memoirs of the Literature College, Imperial University of Japan, No. 1.” which treats of the “language, mythology,
