Korpokkur (コロポックル, Koropokkuru) are a race of small people in folklore of the Ainu people of the northern Japanese islands.
The name is traditionally analyzed as a tripartite compound of kor or koro ("butterbur plant"), pok ("under, below"), and kur or kuru ("person") and interpreted to mean "people below the leaves of the Fuki" in the Ainu language.
The Ainu believe that the korpokkur were the people who lived in the Ainu's land before the Ainu themselves lived there.
They were short of stature, agile, and skilled at fishing. They lived in pits with roofs made from butterbur leaves.