Food: Food was obtained by hunting, fishing and gathering. Since Hokkaido is rich with natural resources, great variety of animals inhabit there as well. The Ainu men hunted mainly bear, deer, and hare and the rivers provided them salmon and trout. The women gathered wild plants. For preparation for a long winter or famine, dried wild plants, animal and fish meat were stored in storehouse.
Living: The village called "Kotan" was consisted of 4-7 families based on river basins. The leader strictly ruled the village to provide order in a small community. These villages were forced to move later when the Japanese immigrated to their land and the small unit of living disappeared.

Initiation: When women reached 12-13, their lips, hands, and arms were started to be tattooed and by the age of marriage, the tattoo was completed. The tattooing was the another element that Japanese considered the Ainu barbaric and prohibited their tradition to continue.
Marriage: The marriage was arranged when the child was born. When the child became mature age to marry( 17-18 for men and 15-16 for women), the future spouse was introduced to him/her.
Clothes: Strings made by bark, animal fur, and fish skin were used to produce their clothes. The clothes with beautiful pattern were used for special occasions, such as for the ceremonies or for the rituals. The pattern was family tradition to transcend through mother to daughter as the pattern also had an meaning of an amulet.

Surviving Culture
Linguistic: Even though the Ainu does not possess any kind of writing system, the Ainu has possessed a rich oral literature and the distinctive linguistic. The literature is mostly the stories of gods or legends sparkling with wit of the Ainu. Due to the prohibition of use of Ainu in public spaces after 1869, there are only few Ainu today who can speak Ainu in daily usage. The language, Ainu, is also facing a danger to perish in the wave of the modern culture. However, the Ainu language school has established to preserve the core of the Ainu culture, the linguistic, and the Ainu children and others are learning in the school.