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Ульта, Ульча, Уильта, Нани | |
|---|---|
 Ulta people (before 1945) | |
| Total population | |
| c. 360 (est.) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Russia | 295[1] |
 Japan | 20 (1989) |
| Languages | |
| Orok,Russian,Japanese | |
| Religion | |
| Shamanism,Russian Orthodox Christianity | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Evens,Evenks,Ulchs,Nanai,Oroch,Udege | |
Oroks (Ороки inRussian; self-designation:Ulta, Ulcha), sometimes calledUilta, are a people in theSakhalin Oblast (mainly the eastern part of theisland) inRussia. TheOrok language belongs to the Southern group of theTungusic language family. According to the2002 Russian census, there were 346 Oroks living in NorthernSakhalin by theOkhotsk Sea and Southern Sakhalin in the district by the city ofPoronaysk. According to the 2010 census there were 295 Oroks in Russia.
The name Orok is believed to derive from theexonymOro given by aTungusic group meaning "a domestic reindeer". The Orok self-designationendonym isUl'ta, probably from the rootUla (meaning "domestic reindeer" in Orok). Another self-designation isNani.[2] Occasionally, the Oroks, as well as theOrochs andUdege, are erroneously calledOrochons. The Uilta Association in Japan claims that the term Orok has a derogatory connotation.[3][4]
The total number of Oroks in Russia, according tothe 2002 Russian Census, is 346 people.[5] They live mostly inSakhalin Oblast. Most of the Oroks are concentrated in three settlements –Poronaysk,Nogliki and the village of Val,Nogliksky District. A total of 144 Oroks live in Val. Other places in which the Orok people live include: the villages of Gastello andVakhrushev inPoronaysky District;[6] the village of Viakhtu inAlexandrovsk-Sakhalinsky District; the village ofSmirnykh,Smirnykhovsky District;Okhinsky District; andYuzhno-Sakhalinsk, theadministrative center ofSakhalin Oblast.[7]
Furthermore, Orok people live on the island ofHokkaido,Japan – in 1989, there was a community of about 20 people near the city ofAbashiri. Their number is currently unknown.[8][9]
Orok oral tradition indicates that the Oroks share history with theUlch people, and that they migrated to Sakhalin from the area of theAmgun River in mainland Russia. Research indicates that this migration probably took place in the 17th century at the latest.[9]
TheRussian Empire gained complete control over Orok lands after the 1858Treaty of Aigun and 1860Convention of Peking.[10] A penal colony was established on Sakhalin between 1857 and 1906, bringing large numbers of Russian criminals and political exiles, includingLev Sternberg, an important early ethnographer on Oroks and the island's otherindigenous people, theNivkhs andAinu.[11] BeforeSoviet collectivization in the 1920s, the Orok were divided into five groups, each with their own migratory zone.[9] However, following theBolshevik Revolution in 1922, the new government of theSoviet Union altered prior imperial policies towards the Oroks to bring them into line withcommunist ideology.[12] In 1932, the northern Oroks joined thecollective farm of Val, which was specialised in reindeer breeding, together with smaller numbers ofNivkhs,Evenks andRussians.[9]
Following theRusso-Japanese War, southern Sakhalin came under the control of theEmpire of Japan, which administered it asKarafuto Prefecture. The Uilta, or Oroks, were classified as "Karafuto natives" (樺太土人), and were not entered intoJapanese-style family registers, in contrast to theAinu, who had "mainland Japan" family registers.[13][14] Like theKarafuto Koreans and the Nivkh, but unlike the Ainu, the Uilta were thus not included in theevacuation of Japanese nationals after theSoviet invasion in 1945. Some Nivkhs and Uilta who served in theImperial Japanese Army wereheld in Soviet work camps; after court cases in the late 1950s and 1960s, they were recognised as Japanese nationals and thus permitted to migrate to Japan. Most settled aroundAbashiri, Hokkaidō.[15] TheUilta Kyokai of Japan was founded to fight for Uilta rights and the preservation of Uilta traditions in 1975 byDahinien Gendanu.[16]
TheOrok language belongs to theSouthern group of theTungusic language family.[17] At present,[when?] 64 people of the Sakhalin Oroks speak the Orok language,[5] and all Oroks speakRussian. An alphabetic script, based onCyrillic, was introduced in 2007. A primer has been published, and the language is taught in one school onSakhalin.[18]
The Oroks share cultural and linguistic links with otherTungusic peoples, but before the arrival of Russians, they differed economically from similar peoples due to their herding ofreindeer. Reindeer provided the Oroks, particularly in northern Sakhalin, with food, clothing, and transportation. The Oroks also practicedfishing andhunting. The arrival of Russians has had a major effect on Orok culture, and most Oroks today live sedentary lifestyles. Some northern Oroks still practice semi-nomadic herding alongside vegetable farming and cattle ranching; in the south, the leading occupations are fishing and industrial labor.[9]
Orok boys, when it came of time, would usually participate in a sturgeon hunt, specifically hunting for thekaluga sturgeon. This involved individual hunters going out, with only a small supply of food (usually enough to last him a week) and a special type ofspear. Once a kaluga was successfully killed, the hunter would extract one of the predator's teeth and carve a mark in his forehead or arm, which indicated that the hunt was successful. Due to the kaluga's size, strength and fierceness, failure to successfully kill the Sturgeon usually resulted in a hunter's death.
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