Ainu means 'human' in the language of this group of people who lived on the northern Japanese islands.
Ainus at the Fair believed hair growth to be a sign of grace. Some of the Ainu women had mustaches tattooed on their upper lips.
Anthropologist Frederick Starr brought a group of nine Ainus to the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. The group included Sangea Hirmura, age fifty-seven; his wife Santukno, age fifty-four; Kutoroge Hiramura, age thirty-nine, and his wife Shutratek, age thirty-seven; two young girls Kin and Kiku; a young couple, Yazo Osawa, age twenty-three, and his wife Shirake, age eighteen; and a single man, Coro Bete, age twenty-six.
