Kyrgyz people - Kyrgyz (English spelling)

Japanese: キルギス族 - キルギスぞく（英語表記）Kyrgyz

An ethnic group with roots in North Asia, who later became Turkic and now live in Central Asia. There are 2.53 million (1989) living in Central Asia, formerly part of the Soviet Union, and they are the main ethnic group that makes up the Republic of Kyrgyzstan. They speak the Kyrgyz language, call themselves Kyrgyz, and are mostly Sunni Muslims. They are thought to have originated from a people who lived in the Minusinsk region in the upper reaches of the Yenisei River in ancient times, and who were already known as the Kenkun or Hakun during the Han dynasty in China. In this region, they not only engaged in hunting and livestock farming in the forests and grasslands, but also in small-scale irrigation agriculture, and metallurgy and handicrafts that utilized mineral resources, as exemplified by the Minusinsk metallurgical culture (Tashtyk culture).

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

北アジアに祖をもち，のちトルコ化して中央アジアに住む民族。旧ソ連邦の中央アジアに253万(1989)が住み，キルギスタン共和国を構成する主要民族である。キルギス語を話し，自称はキルギズ，大部分がスンナ派のイスラム教徒である。古くはエニセイ川上流域のミヌシンスク地方にいて，中国の漢代にすでに堅昆，鬲昆などの名で知られた民族がその祖と考えられている。この地域では森林･草原の狩猟･牧畜のみならず，小規模灌漑農耕，そしてミヌシンスク金属文化(タシュティク文化)に代表されるような，鉱産資源を活用した冶金･手工業も行われていた。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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