View source for Oroks

{{short description|People in the Sakhalin Oblast}}
{{Distinguish|text=the [[Oroch people]] of Khabarovsk Krai, or the [[Oroqen people]] of China}}
{{Infobox ethnic group|
| group            = Oroks<br /><small>Alternative names:<br />Orok, Ul'ta, Ulcha, Uil'ta, Nani</small>
| native_name      = Ульта, Ульча, Уильта, Нани
| flag             =
| flag_caption     = Ethnic flag of the Orok
| image            = [[File:Uilta People.JPG|300px]]
| image_caption = Ulta people (before 1945)
| population       = '''{{circa}} 360 (est.)'''
| popplace         = 
| region1          = {{flag|Russia}}
* {{flag|Sakhalin}}
| pop1             = 295
| ref1             = <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.perepis-2010.ru/results_of_the_census/tab5.xls|title=ВПН-2010|publisher=Perepis-2010.ru|access-date=1 December 2014}}</ref>
| region2          = {{flag|Japan}}
| pop2             = 20 (1989)
| ref2             = 
| langs            = [[Orok language|Orok]], [[Russian language|Russian]], [[Japanese language|Japanese]]
| rels             = [[Shamanism]], [[Russian Orthodoxy|Russian Orthodox Christianity]]
| related          = [[Evens]], [[Evenks]], [[Ulchs]], [[Nani people|Nanai]], [[Oroch people|Oroch]], [[Udege people|Udege]]
}}
[[File:Расселение уйльта в ДФО по городским и сельским поселениям, в %.png|thumb|400px|Settlement of the Uilta (Oroks) in the Far Eastern Federal District by urban and rural settlements in %, 2010 census]]

'''Oroks''' (''Ороки'' in [[Russian language|Russian]]; self-designation: ''Ulta, Ulcha''), sometimes called '''Uilta''', are a people in the [[Sakhalin Oblast]] (mainly the eastern part of the [[island]]) in [[Russia]]. The [[Orok language]] belongs to the Southern group of the [[Tungusic languages|Tungusic language family]]. According to the [[Russian Census (2002)|2002 Russian census]], there were 346 Oroks living in Northern [[Sakhalin]] by the [[Okhotsk Sea]] and Southern Sakhalin in the district by the city of [[Poronaysk]]. According to the 2010 census there were 295 Oroks in Russia.

==Etymology==
The name Orok is believed to derive from the [[Exonym and endonym|exonym]] ''Oro'' given by a [[Tungusic languages|Tungusic]] group meaning "a domestic reindeer". The Orok self-designation [[Exonym and endonym|endonym]] is ''Ul'ta'', probably from the root ''Ula'' (meaning "domestic reindeer" in Orok). Another self-designation is ''Nani''.<ref name=KolM>{{harvnb|Kolga|2001|pp=281–284}}</ref> Occasionally, the Oroks, as well as the [[Oroch people|Oroch]]s and [[Udege people|Udege]], are erroneously called [[Orochons]]. The Uilta Association in Japan claims that the term Orok has a derogatory connotation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/uiltakyokai/78445.html|title=ウイルタ協会について|publisher=uiltaassociation|access-date=12 February 2021|language=ja|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023013058/http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/uiltakyokai/78445.html|archive-date=23 October 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hoppohm.org/book/dayori/dayori73-84/dayori_082.pdf#page=2|title=北方民族博物館だより No.82|publisher=[[Hokkaido Museum of Northern Peoples]]|date=30 September 2011|access-date=2021-02-12 |language=ja}}</ref>

==Population and settlement==
The total number of Oroks in Russia, according to [[Russian Census (2002)|the 2002 Russian Census]], is 346 people.<ref name="Perepis2002.ru">{{cite web|url=http://www.perepis2002.ru/index.html?id=17|title=Том 4 - "Национальный состав и владение языками, гражданство". |publisher=Perepis2002.ru|access-date=1 December 2014}}</ref> They live mostly in [[Sakhalin 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 and [[Vakhrushev (urban-type settlement)|Vakhrushev]] in [[Poronaysky District]];<ref>{{e25|oaa|Orok}}</ref> the village of Viakhtu in [[Alexandrovsk-Sakhalinsky District]]; the village of [[Smirnykh]], [[Smirnykhovsky District]]; [[Okhinsky District]]; and [[Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk]], the [[administrative center]] of [[Sakhalin Oblast]].<ref>[http://www.raipon.org/Народы/НародыСевераСибирииДальнегоВостокаРФ/Ороки/tabid/394/Default.aspx]   {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120401224730/http://www.raipon.org/%D0%9D%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B4%D1%8B/%D0%9D%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B4%D1%8B%D0%A1%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%A1%D0%B8%D0%B1%D0%B8%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B8%D0%94%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BD%D0%B5%D0%B3%D0%BE%D0%92%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%A0%D0%A4/%D0%9E%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BA%D0%B8/tabid/394/Default.aspx|date=April 1, 2012}}</ref>

Furthermore, Orok people live on the island of [[Hokkaido]], [[Japan]] – in 1989, there was a community of about 20 people near the city of [[Abashiri]]. Their number is currently unknown.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.npolar.no/ansipra/russian/Indexpages/Ethnic_groups_R.html#22|title=Ороки|publisher=Npolar.no|access-date=1 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090617215539/http://www.npolar.no/ansipra/russian/Indexpages/Ethnic_groups_R.html#22|archive-date=17 June 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Ethnic groups"/>

==History==
Orok oral tradition indicates that the Oroks share history with the [[Ulch people]], and that they migrated to Sakhalin from the area of the [[Amgun River]] in mainland Russia. Research indicates that this migration probably took place in the 17th century at the latest.<ref name="Ethnic groups"/>

The [[Russian Empire]] gained complete control over Orok lands after the 1858 [[Treaty of Aigun]] and 1860 [[Convention of Peking]].<ref>{{harvnb|Kolga|2004|p=270}}</ref> A penal colony was established on Sakhalin between 1857 and 1906, bringing large numbers of Russian criminals and political exiles, including [[Lev Sternberg]], an important early ethnographer on Oroks and the island's other [[indigenous people]], the [[Nivkh people|Nivkhs]] and [[Ainu people|Ainu]].<ref>{{harvnb|Shternberg|Grant|1999|p=xi}}</ref> Before [[Collectivization in the Soviet Union|Soviet collectivization]] in the 1920s, the Orok were divided into five groups, each with their own migratory zone.<ref name="Ethnic groups">{{cite web|url=http://www.npolar.no/ansipra/english/Indexpages/Ethnic_groups.html#19|title=Nivkhi|publisher=Npolar.no|access-date=1 December 2014}}</ref> However, following the [[Bolshevik Revolution]] in 1922, the new government of the [[Soviet Union]] altered prior imperial policies towards the Oroks to bring them into line with [[Communism|communist ideology]].<ref name=SNTrev>{{harvnb|Shternberg|Grant|1999|pp=184–194}}</ref> In 1932, the northern Oroks joined the [[collective farm]] of Val, which was specialised in reindeer breeding, together with smaller numbers of [[Nivkh people|Nivkhs]], [[Evenks]] and [[Russian people|Russians]].<ref name="Ethnic groups"/>

Following the [[Russo-Japanese War]], southern Sakhalin came under the control of the [[Empire of Japan]], which administered it as [[Karafuto Prefecture]]. The Uilta, or Oroks, were classified as "Karafuto natives" (樺太土人), and were not entered into [[Koseki|Japanese-style family registers]], in contrast to the [[Ainu people|Ainu]], who had "[[mainland Japan]]" family registers.<ref>{{harvnb|Weiner|2004|pp=364–365}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Suzuki|1998|p=168}}</ref> Like the [[Sakhalin Koreans|Karafuto Koreans]] and the Nivkh, but unlike the Ainu, the Uilta were thus not included in the [[Evacuation of Karafuto and Kuriles|evacuation of Japanese nationals]] after the [[Soviet–Japanese War (1945)|Soviet invasion in 1945]]. Some Nivkhs and Uilta who served in the [[Imperial Japanese Army]] were [[Japanese prisoners of war in the Soviet Union|held 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 around [[Abashiri, Hokkaidō]].<ref>{{harvnb|Weiner|2004|pp=274–275}}</ref> The [[Uilta Kyokai]] of Japan was founded to fight for Uilta rights and the preservation of Uilta traditions in 1975 by [[Dahinien Gendanu]].<ref>{{harvnb|Suzuki|2009}}</ref>

==Language and culture==
[[File:Orok mittens Museum fuer Voelkerkunde Dresden 38855.jpg|thumb|Red fox fur mittens of the Orok people, 19th century.]]
The [[Orok language]] belongs to the [[Southern Tungusic languages|Southern group]] of the [[Tungusic languages|Tungusic language family]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ethnologue.com/15/show_family.asp?subid=92756 |title = Ethnologue report for Southeast |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130122172137/http://www.ethnologue.com/15/show_family.asp?subid=92756 |archive-date=22 January 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref> At present,{{when|date=August 2014}} 64 people of the Sakhalin Oroks speak the Orok language,<ref name="Perepis2002.ru"/> and all Oroks also speak [[Russian language|Russian]]. An alphabetic script, based on [[Cyrillic]], was introduced in 2007. A primer has been published, and the language is taught in one school on [[Sakhalin]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://uztranslations.net.ru/?category=tungusbooks-tungusic&altname=uiltadairisu_hovorim_po-uiltinski|title=UZ Forum - Language Learners Community|publisher=Uztranslation.net.ru|access-date=1 December 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140826124733/http://uztranslations.net.ru/?category=tungusbooks-tungusic&altname=uiltadairisu_hovorim_po-uiltinski|archive-date=26 August 2014}}</ref>

The Oroks share cultural and linguistic links with other [[Tungusic peoples]], but before the arrival of Russians, they differed economically from similar peoples due to their herding of [[reindeer]]. Reindeer provided the Oroks, particularly in northern Sakhalin, with food, clothing, and transportation. The Oroks also practiced [[fishing]] and [[hunting]]. 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.<ref name="Ethnic groups"/>

{{multiple image
 | total_width = 600
 | align = center
 | caption_align = left
 | image1 = Men of Oroks（1810）.png
 | caption1 = Men of Oroks<br/>From a book written by [[Mamiya Rinzō]] & Murakami Teisuke（1810, Japan）.
 | image2 = Women of Oroks（1810）.png 
 | caption2 = Women of Oroks<br/>From a book written by Mamiya Rinzō & Murakami Teisuke（1810, Japan）.
}}

==Rites of passage==
The Orok boys, when it came of time, would usually participate in a Sturgeon Hunt, usually hunting for the [[Kaluga (fish)|Kaluga]] Sturgeon. This involved a lone Orok going out, with only a small supply of food (usually enough to last him a week) and armed with a special type of spear. Once the sturgeon was killed, the hunter would take 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 fish's size, strength and fierceness, failure to successfully kill the Sturgeon usually resulted in the hunter's death.

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
{{Refbegin|30em}}
*{{citation|last=Kolga|first=Margus|year=2001|chapter=Nivkhs|chapter-url=http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/nivkhs.shtml|title=The Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire|publisher=NGO Red Book|location=Tallinn, Estonia|isbn=9985-9369-2-2}}
*{{citation|last1=Shternberg|first1=Lev Iakovlevich|author-link=Lev Sternberg|last2=Grant|first2=Bruce|year=1999|title=The Social Organization of the Gilyak|location=New York|publisher=[[American Museum of Natural History]]|isbn=0-295-97799-X}}
*{{citation|first=Tessa Morris|last=Suzuki|chapter=Becoming Japanese: Imperial Expansion and Identity Crises in the Early Twentieth Century|pages=157–180|title=Japan's competing modernities: issues in culture and democracy, 1900-1930|editor-first=Sharon|editor-last=Minichiello|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|year=1998|isbn=978-0-8248-2080-0}}
*{{citation|url=http://g2.kodansha.co.jp/177/224/458/459.html|title=「平和の島」が「スパイの島」に {{bracket|From "Peace Island" to "Spy Island"}}|periodical=Kodansha G2|volume=4|issue=2|author=上原善広 [Suzuki Tetsuo]|ref=CITEREFSuzuki2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303192352/http://g2.kodansha.co.jp/177/224/458/459.html|archive-date=2016-03-03}}
*{{citation|title=Race, Ethnicity and Migration in Modern Japan: Imagined and imaginary minorities|first=Michael|last=Weiner|publisher=Taylor and Francis|year=2004|isbn=978-0-415-20857-4}}
{{Refend}}

==Further reading==
*Missonova, Lyudmila I. (2009). The Main Spheres of Activities of Sakhalin Uilta: Survival Experience in the Present-Day Context. ''Sibirica: Interdisciplinary Journal of Siberian Studies,'' 8:2, 71–87. Abstract available [https://archive.today/20130103165048/http://berghahn.publisher.ingentaconnect.com/content/berghahn/sibiric/2009/00000008/00000002/art00003 here] (retrieved November 9, 2009).
* Ороки. -- Народы Сибири, Москва—Ленинград 1956.
* Т. Петрова, Язык ороков (ульта), Москва 1967.
* А. В. Смоляк, Южные ороки. -- [[Etnograficheskoe Obozrenie|Советская этнография]] 1, 1965.
* А. В. Смоляк, Этнические процессы у народов Нижнего Амура и Сахалина, Москва 1975.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Orok people}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20161104194600/http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/oroks.shtml Oroks] in the [[Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire]]

{{Ethnic groups in Japan}}
{{Indigenous peoples of Russia}}
{{Tungusic peoples}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Orok people| ]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Japan]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Siberia]]
[[Category:Indigenous peoples of Siberia]]
[[Category:Tungusic peoples]]
[[Category:Sakhalin Oblast]]
[[Category:Sakhalin]]
[[Category:Indigenous small-numbered peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East]]