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Ainu Who?

© Virginia Marin

Not much, if anything, is taught in Japanese schools about the Ainu, and most Japanese are unfamiliar with these aboriginal people identified as being the first known inhabitants of the Land of the Rising Sun...

...Once there was a boy from Otasut who swam the ocean pulling behind him a great island. This island, according to one Ainu folktale, Hideo Kirikae, is Hokkaido the northern most in a chain of islands which comprise the country of Japan. Hokkaido is known as the ancestral home of the Ainu. But who are these people who resemble not their Japanese countrymen?

Ainu means "human". Their origin, supported by several theories, is a matter of controversy, though their status as aborigines is not. Some anthropologists place them in the Caucasoid catagory based on the absence of the epicanthic fold about the eyes. They have wavy hair and abundant body hair. Males sport thick exaggerated beards. Ainu have a well-developed chin. They are taller than Orientals and their body weight shows greater mass than their thinner, smaller-boned compatriots. In photographs Ainu resemble Russian country folk rather than ethnic Japanese.

The Ainu of old were hunters, gatherers and fishers. Although their tribal culture has been virtually obliterated by the Japanese they have managed to retain much of their heritage. There are excellent museums in Hokkaido which have brought together all aspects of Ainu life.

Ainu had no alphabet originally. Literature in the form of morality tales, life experiences, legends, folktales, myths and hero tales were passed from generation to generation by word of mouth.

In tales of heroes, known as Yukar, the hero is an orphan boy called Poiyaunpe. The narrator of the Yukar sits at an outdoor fire and recites the adventures of this boy. The stories often last all night, as those gathered beat around the fire with sticks.

The old Ainu viewed all things important to their daily life--no happening was insignificant. Events beyond their control were known as Kamuy meaning coming from the gods. In every day life the Ainu invoked their various dieties and performed ceremonies that were pleasing to them.

One of the most important ceremonies was that of The Bear Ritual,which mimics the Paleolithic bear cult and the advent of the Great Goddess or Bear Mother.

The Ainu gods were grouped into important catagories. Nature gods were of fire, water, wind and thunder. Bears, foxes, and spotted owls, for example, fell under animal gods while plant gods named aconite, mushroom and mugwart. Object gods resided in such things as boats and pots. They also worshiped gods which protected their houses. There were gods of the mountains and dieties of lakes. There was a god for everything.

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