It meant "Land of the Ainu", a reference to the fair-skinned, long-haired people who had lived there for hundreds of years.
The Ainu were hunters and fishermen with animist beliefs. But their communities and traditions were eroded by waves of Japanese settlement and subsequent assimilation policies. Today only small numbers of Ainu remain, and they constitute one of Japan's most marginalised groups.
On Friday they will have something to celebrate.
Japan's parliament is to adopt a resolution that, for the first time, formally recognises the Ainu as "an indigenous people with a distinct language, religion and culture".
In a nation that has always preferred to perceive itself as ethnically homogenous, it is a highly significant move.
"This resolution has great meaning," says Tadashi Kato, director of the Ainu Association of Hokkaido. "It has taken the Japanese government 140 years to recognise us as an indigenous people."
More on BBC, also see Wikipedia and the Ainu museum