Overview

• The University of Edinburgh formally returned three ancestral Ainu skulls to the Ainu Association of Hokkaido during a ceremony on April 30, 2025.
• The remains, donated to the university in 1913 by anthropologist Neil Gordon Munro, had been held in the university’s Anatomical Museum for over 100 years.
• The skulls will be interred at the Upopoy National Ainu Museum and Park in Hokkaido, Japan, following Japanese government and community guidelines.
• The Ainu, an indigenous people of northern Japan, were historically marginalized, with their remains and artifacts taken for research and display during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
• This repatriation reflects broader efforts by academic institutions to address colonial legacies and collaborate with indigenous communities on cultural restoration.