The Nivkh and Uilta are peoples of Sakhalin who have lived in this territory since ancient times. Since 1991, they have been granted the status of indigenous minority peoples of the Russian Federation. Their self-designation, Nivkhgu and Uilta, means "a man" or "people".

The Nivkh people inhabited the Lower Amur River, the Okhotsk coast, and Sakhalin. According to the 2020 census, their population is 3,842 people, with 1,851 people in Sakhalin. Anthropologically, the Nivkh belong to the Amur-Sakhalin anthropological type, which occupies an intermediate position between the Baikal and Ainu types.

The Nivkh are a Paleo-Asiatic people who speak an isolated language whose origins are not precisely determined. There are hypotheses of local Lower Amur origin, East Asian origin, and connections between the Nivkh language and the languages of Native Americans in North America.

In 7th-century Chinese written sources, the Nivkh were called Gili. In Russian sources, the Nivkh people have been called Gilyaks since the 17th century (Vasily Poyarkov's expedition to the Lower Amur in 1643). Nivkh lands officially became part of Russia after the Treaty of Aigun in 1858, when the lands of Russia and China were demarcated along the Amur River.

The Uilta are the people living in Sakhalin, whose origins are linked to the Evenki-Orochons of Eastern Siberia and the Ulchi of the Lower Amur. Their population, according to the 2020 census, is 268 people.

Anthropologically, the Uilta belong to the Baikal anthropological type, as do the Evenks, Evens, and Negidals.

The Uilta speak one of the languages of the southern group of the Tungusic languages of the Altaic family. It is believed that the speakers of the Uilta language appeared in Sakhalin in the Middle Ages along with the infiltration of the Jurchens. The old names for the Uilta are Oroki and Orochen, meaning "reindeer people."

The Nivkh and Uilta differed somewhat in their occupations. The Nivkh have long been engaged in marine and river fishing, while the Uilta were land hunters and also engaged in river and marine fishing, using reindeer for transportation.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Nivkh and Uilta lived in large patriarchal families belonging to specific clans, which were associated with territorial groups of neighboring peoples.

The Nivkhs of Sakhalin Island had 60 clan names formed from blood relations, village names, local inhabitants, or by belonging to a living creature. For example, Viskwong, Kevwong, Kegnan, Lavng, Pykiphying, Pnyangan, Choril, Tivnyn, and others.

The Ulta of Sakhalin are divided into two groups: the northern group, the Doronni, and the southern group, the Sunni. They included several clans, among them Valetta, Senahodo, Bayausa, Torissa, Sukta, Namissa, Mette, and Getta, as well as territorial divisions.

The modern identity of the Nivkh and Uilta during the period of globalization is manifested in the study of the national language in kindergarten for the Uilta, or in school for the Nivkh, the preparation of national cuisine, the widespread use of decorative and applied arts, artistic dance ensembles with the creation of national stage costumes, the study of national folklore – myths, tales (among the Uilta and Nivkh), and epics (among the Nivkh), thanks to the outstanding Nivkh writer Vladimir Sangi and traditional culture in the works of the national intelligentsia, such as the Nivkh – Chuner Taksami, Galina Otaina, Marina Temina.

Traditional winter dwellings, torf houses, called toryf, were pyramid-shaped and had an entrance thru a semi-underground corridor. The semi-earth dwelling had two hearths – one for the master of the taiga and one for the master of the sea, which is related to the Nivkhs' main occupations – fishing and hunting. From the mid-19th century, wooden chardrav houses began to be built with fish skin windows and even a heating system. Sleeping areas and belongings were arranged along the walls. As a sign of respect for the fire, the Nivkh people slept with their heads toward the hearth, which was located in the center of their dwelling.

The summer dwellings, keryv, were built in convenient fishing locations near the coastal zone. To protect dwellings from water and pests, they were built on stilts.

The space of the summer dwelling was divided into two parts: the front was used for storing supplies, utensils, and weapons, while the back was the living area.

Summer dwellings also include light log cabins and huts. During the summer, dried yukola fish was prepared, which was hung on special racks. In the second half of the 19th century, Russian-style log houses began to spread among the Nivkh people.

Household items were made from the most readily available material – wood and birch bark, decorating them with appliqués and patterns using birch bark stencils. Flexible, soft, easily processed, yet waterproof and "breathable," birch bark was an indispensable material in household life.

The Uilta also had various types of dwellings and structures that were used depending on the season: yurts, frame dwellings, barns, semi-dugouts houses, and huts. They built their dwellings oriented to the cardinal directions, with two entrances: one to the East toward the sea, and the other to the West toward the mountains.

During the summer, the Uilta, like the Nivkh, settled near coastal areas with convenient fishing spots in the frame houses called kaur. Drying racks for fish were located near the dwellings. In the autumn and winter, the Uilta went on nomadic hunting trips, during which their home was a chum, which the Uilta call an aundau. They also lived in semi-dugouts during the winter. Like the Nivkhs, they had two hearths – one associated with water spirits, the other with the taiga.

Kitchen utensils were mainly wooden – bowls, ladles, scoops, spoons, the low-legged talakku table, and others. Food storage baskets were made from birch bark, and food was cooked in a cast iron or iron pot. The items were decorated with ornaments using birch bark stencils.

The traditional economic activities of the Nivkhs and Uilta were comprehensive. The main occupation of the Nivkh people was year-round fishing. The main season for catching anadromous salmon species was from July to early October. In the winter months, the Nivkh went hunting: in the autumn for fur-bearing animals, and in the spring (in April) for wild reindeer and moose. Throughout the year, hunting marine animals held an important place for the Nivkhs. They hunted seals, belugas, rarely dolphins, and sea lions – the most valuable animal. In the summer, boats were used to reach distant fishing grounds, while in the winter, dog sleds were used, and skis were used for short distances.

The Uilta were also engaged in fishing, hunting, and marine animal hunting. To hunt marine animals and catch salmon, the Uilta migrated to rivers and the coast in the spring and summer. In the autumn and winter, they returned to the mountain taiga areas, where they hunted forest animals. To cover long distances and live a nomadic lifestyle, the Uilta engaged in reindeer herding, specifically of the transport type. Domestic reindeer transported people and goods throughout the island. This change of locations and the regulated agricultural cycle helped the recovery of natural resources and the expansion of food sources.

The auxiliary economy of the Nivkhs and Uilta was gathering. In the summer and autumn, they stored berries, nuts, acorns, root vegetables, and dried various types of plants for later use. Among the coastal Nivkh people, the gathering of seaweed, shellfish (scallops and mussels), and crustaceans was widespread. As food, the Uilta, like the Nivkhs, gathered wild garlic (ramson), locust tree roots, lingonberries, cranberries, cloudberries, and bird cherry in large quantities. The Uilta dried bog rosemary flowers, then brewed them and drank them like tea. Some herbs were medicinal – used for healing wounds and for colds. The Nivkh collected plants that they used for offerings to the spirits who were the masters of the local area.

To have an effective fishing season, the Nivkh and Uilta people prepared and repaired their tools and equipment in advance. The knowledge and skills for creating them were passed down thru generations and perfected over several centuries. The success of hunting and fishing largely depended on the skills and level of preparedness of the trapper.

The Nivkh made their summer clothing from fish skin or cotton fabric, which they bought from Russian merchants, Chinese, and Japanese traders.

The winter clothing of the Nivkh people was made from seal or walrus skin, dog, bear, or cloth. Winter coats were insulated with cotton wool and stitched. In winter, they wore a fur vest under their robes. A boa made of squirrel tails strung on a tendon thread was used as a scarf.

Wealthy Nivkh people had fur coats made from expensive lynx, fox, sable, and otter fur.

The women's elegant winter hats caught the eye: they were covered on top with Chinese silk fabric, and the lynx hats, made from the skins of the lynx's head and host, had ear flaps.

The skins of valuable fur-bearing animals were collected by parents for their daughters' coats by the time they got married. Such clothing was passed down thru inheritance.

The sleeves of clothing were wrapped around the wrists with armbands, thus protecting against wind and snow, and in summer – tightening the too-wide ends of the sleeves.

Men's legs, from ankle to thigh, were protected by greaves. Women wore shin guards. They sewed summer leggings and greaves from two layers of fabric, and winter ones were insulated with cotton wool.

Footwear was made from seal skin or fish skin (autumn chum salmon, lenok, pike, and other fish). It was easy to walk in these shoes; they didn't get wet and kept you warm. They put dry grass inside for bedding.

In summer and winter, clothing was belted. The belt not only insulated clothing. Men attached a knife, a pouch, an awl, and a tinderbox containing tinder, flint, and steel to their belts, as well as amulets - a boar's tooth or tusk, pieces of deer antler. Women also belted their clothing and attached things they needed for work or travel to it by the time they got married. Such clothing was passed down thru inheritance.

Mittens were made from fabric and fur (reindeer, sable, fox, dog). Over cloth or fur mittens, a cover made of fish or seal skin was worn to protect them from getting wet. During the Great Patriotic War, Nivkh craftswomen sewed mittens for the front, with the thumb and forefinger separated for ease of shooting.

Men's hunting (sea hunter's) and travel clothing differed from everyday wear by the presence of a fish skin apron or a seal fur skirt worn over a quilted coat and leggings with footwear. For such a skirt, they chose a more beautiful hide, with large spots. It prevented damage during the hunt, and during sled rides, it shielded from rain, snow, and wind.

Uilta clothing is distinguished by Tungus and Amur influences. Tungus-type clothing includes open-front kaftans and fur coats made from reindeer skin, similar to those of the Evenki. The costume consists of a kaftan, leggings, and knee-high boots or long fur pants, footwear made from reindeer calfskin, and a cap-like headdress made from reindeer fur. The Amur type of clothing includes kimono-cut robes with a double left lapel that fastens on the right.

It is likely that in earlier times, the Uilta, like the peoples of the Amur River, sewed clothing from fish skin. This is evidenced by the names of fish skin robes that have been preserved in the Uilta language.

The mixed Amur-Tungus clothing type includes a right-wrap coat with a double left lapel, sewn from reindeer hide.

Every day, Uilta men and women and children wore left-sided fabric robes with an ornamented stripe along the hem, collar, and cuffs.

In the summer, they wore single-layered robes; women preferred long dresses made of fabric with a yoke, similar to Yakut ones, while men wore fabric vests and shirts. In the winter, they wore a quilted upper robe or a reindeer fur coat. Lower summer and winter clothing was supplemented by men and women with loincloths and leggings made of fabric, as well as footwear made of fish skin or seal.

Women's festive winter clothing was made from sable or fox fur. Women's fur hats were sewn in the style of a hood from reindeer and seal fur with a curvilinear ornament. Married women wore long Tungus-style aprons over their dresses, just like the Nivkhs. They were originally wedding attire, and then bibs were only preserved in certain families. Men also wore deer fur chest protectors on their chests under their clothing, directly against their bare skin with the fur facing inward. In addition to hoods, women wore hats made of eider duck feathers on festive occasions. Additional items of clothing included armbands, headphones, mittens, and gloves.

Hunting clothing was usually sewn in the form of a long jacket made of seal fur and a matching skirt worn over breechcloths and leggings, which were worn with seal fur boots. In such a skirt, a hunter could lie in the snow for a long time while hunting.

As early as the 1930s, traditional clothing began to fall out of use, being replaced by purchased urban clothing of Russian cut.

Currently, Nivkh and Uilta craftswomen create bright traditional outfits and use them as festive or stage clothing made from patterned fabric or fish skin.

For the Nivkhs, the taiga, as well as the hills and treeless mountains, formed the sphere of the pal. The water element was called tol. The Nivkh interaction with each of these spheres of the universe combined economic activities with rituals and, overall, represented a system of exchange and contractual relations. According to mythological texts, the master of the elements promises to send animals (fish), and the Nivkh people, without killing them excessively or torturing them, must in return perform rituals to return the souls of bears and marine animals, offering food as a sacrifice – in gratitude to the master of the elements. The skulls of bears, placed with honors in the ancestral barn, as well as the skulls of marine animals kept in a special cemetery, served as relics of treaty relations.

The mythology of exchange relationships was enriched by intermediary characters as well. These include: a person wounded or mauled by a bear; twins (one was believed to have been fathered by a human, the other by a woman's cohabitation with a bear) and their mother. According to beliefs that persisted into the first half of the 20th century and are captured in narratives called "bylichki," the souls of these characters, after their death, would belong to the cosmic realm of Pal and from there would provide patronage to their lineage (both in hunting and in healing from illnesses). A similar role in the chkhyf lernd ritual system (literally "playing the bear"; in ethnographic literature, the "bear festival") was performed for a specific Nivkh clan by the soul of a bear cub taken from its den and raised for three or four years (depending on its sex, male or female), and then, after its killing on a ritual site, returned with gifts to the mountain taiga master. The soul of a drowned person also became the mediator-patron of a specific clan. Similar beliefs are also present among the Uilta people.

These relationships were confirmed and renewed before the start of the fishing season and upon its successful completion, as well as during the changing of the seasons. The freezing of the river was marked by a ritual sacrifice to the master of the taiga (and the master of the sky), while the spring thaw was marked by a sacrifice to the master of the water element.

The complete scheme of the Nivkh religious-mythological worldview, as presented in their mytho-epic narratives (nastund), had a five-part structure: in addition to "our land," the spheres of "water" and "taiga," there were also representations of two other cosmic spheres – the celestial and the subterranean, with their masters and other inhabitants. In rituals and in the composition of idols and healing amulets, a two-part worldview scheme was most often implied, i.e., the dialogical interaction of the Nivkh with the master or spirit-inhabitant of a specific cosmic sphere.

An idol is a relatively large image of the master of an element or a malevolent/benevolent inhabitant of it, usually kept at home or in a barn, and "fed." An amulet – a small object (3–10 cm) usually worn by a sick person on their chest – magically helped to return a stolen soul.

Idols and amulets were usually carved from wood (most often from larch or rowan). They were made either at the shaman's direction (who had identified the cause of the illness) or without shamanic involvement – according to typical compositions historically created within the culture. The composition of the idol, the healing amulet, is a unique visual-plastic scheme of interaction between a person and a character from another cosmic sphere (fixing the cause of the illness) or, conversely, the expected help and patronage (the method of healing). In the sculpture of a specific spirit, the way animal and human features are combined is particularly important.