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The "Satsumon" culture appears in Hokkaido during this time. Pottery styles and production methods reminiscent of those used in northern Honshu suggest that early Satsumon people were originally from Japan's main island. The Satsumon people were probably the Jomon-related societies that were affected, but not replaced, by the Yayoi migration around 300 BC. In addition to this migration, officials from the Japanese state to the south urged many Honshu-raised Japanese to settle the northern islands. They brought with them new methods of production and new ideas. The shaded areas represent areas influenced by Satsumon culture and southern Honshu explorers.
The Satsumon culture that formed in Hokkaido had square pithouses and continued to participate in the small-scale agriculture already popular in the region, raising wheat, millet, barley, and hemp. The Satsumon had close ties to the people of northern Honshu and trade intensified during this time. Archaeological evidence suggests the Satusumon had far-reaching trade networks; exchanging goods from Honshu for goods from the Sea of Okhotsk and the Amur River Valley.
Over time, the Satsumon moved into eastern Hokkaido, Sakhalin Island, and the Kuril Islands. Whether through conquest or intermarriage, slowly, Okhotsk culture began to disappear and the Satsumon culture dominated the regions that would soon become home to the Ainu. Archaeologists and historians believe that the Satsumon people were the northern populations mentioned in early Japanese writings.
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