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Cultural Survival

This culture has definitely been rocky ever since it had begun. The act in which ensured Ainu people safety has always fluctuated among the Japanese. Even since, the act changed and is still changing. Since the Ainu people are fighting for their culture, there was an act created called the Cultural Promotion Law of 1997. This law, if it isn’t obvious enough, is helping promote the culture of the Ainu people in which they desperately need. 

The Japanese are severely curious as to how the Ainu people are going to provide funding for this specific act. Being that Ainu people do not have the most money, the committees in order to keep the act going do not even have any members on it that are of Ainu descent. This, in particular, is a crisis at its finest. The Ainu people know that if someone gets in the way of this act then it can severely hurt them as a whole. The Japanese have been out to get the Ainu from the start and they need to fix this problem in order to gain control of their land.

The Ainu people have been fighting for their land for quite some time now and all they want is for the Japanese to back off. The Japanese are these people’s main predators. According to many sites, the Ainu people are only being “hunted” by the Japanese. 

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Unique Birth Rituals

For the Ainu people, there were certain things they did when the woman was about to have a child. When it was soon to birth, the delivery room was made on the left side of the fireplace, in which it needed to be set up this way. During birth, the woman held onto a rope that represented a rope for delivery. It was tied to a beam in order to aid in the birthing process. They called this rope the “over-the-shoulder” rope. 

During birth, almost everyone was needed to leave the room, including her husband and any other children. There were only a select few that were allowed inside. One being that elder that was associated with gods such as birth gods, fire gods, and entrance gods. 

When they birth was a difficult one, there were different kinds of ceremonies that were held in a whole bunch of different areas. In one area, the woman who is sitting next to the woman birthing raises the soon to be mother. She then lets her pound on a mortar. This releases sorts of gods in order to aid in the birthing. 

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Picture: http://www.ainu-museum.or.jp/en/study/eng11.html

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Sacred Dances of the Ainu

According to what the Ainu people believed in, they thought that every day was made due to the gods’ protecting them every day. They thought the only reason as to why they really existed was because the gods were always looking down and watching over them. It was so important to them that they made sacred dances specifically for these gods. These dances were performed at certain festivals that were made to ensure that all families living in the Ainu villages that they are kept safe and can also peacefully live. Since they danced for the gods, these dances were to exude happiness and also sadness with their gods. 

Some of these dances include one called “upopo,” which was displayed by singers that were sitting. Another type of dance was called “rimse” in which was sung by people dancing. Also, people sit around hitting the lids of “shintoko,” which really set the mood for the Ainu people. This prelude was performed in order to make the occasion very joyful.

Also, according to Ainu people there are dances involving the working people. One of these dances is called the “brewing dance,” in which is symbolizes people that are slaving away cooking and preparing food for everyone. It particularly is focused on grains and rice. Another dance is called the “pounding dance.” This dance is specifically for the pounding of grains in order to make the dishes they make. 

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Pictures: http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/en/RL/00278

https://www.freshpowder.com/pages/furano/nearby_attractions/asahikawa

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References

Pertaining to this specific blog, there were some sites that were certainly useful while some only gave little information. Even though some sites only gave a slim amount of information, it is still information! It is important to always use whatever sites you find, no matter if it is just one sentence that came out of the site! To begin the websites that were used in this blog were:

The next sites are that of academic journal articles:

The last set of sites is that of books written on the Ainu people:

  • Ainu: Spirit of a Northern People
  • Race, Resistance, and the Ainu of Japan
  • The Ainu: A Story of Japan’s Original People
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Interview

There was an interview that I was able to have with someone and this someone is the name of a man that is pretty important in the Ainu culture. His name is Koji Yuki, who is the leader of a specific Ainu art project. Below are the questions that were asked to him:

1. Can you tell me about yourself?

  • He replied with the fact that he was born in Hokkaido originally as an Ainu. He said as he was growing up, there was so much bias towards Ainu people that he didn’t like being Ainu one bit. 

2. When did you become understanding to the fact that you were Ainu?

  • He specifically remembers a certain incident in that the people of Ainu were building a ship called “Itaomachibu.” This absolutely caught his interest in which helped the fact that the Ainu people had a sense of connection. While building this ship, Koji felt that he was grateful to be an Ainu because when everyone was building the ship he felt a sense of being at home, in which made him finally realize the importance of being Ainu. 

3. Is there any other traits of Ainu that you remember growing up?

  • Koji replied with talking about the ship again. He specifically remembers the fact that the ship went to a musuem. He was actually very sad when this happened because all of the Ainu people spent a long while building the ship. Seeing the ship go to the museum is when Koji finally realized that he was satisfied being Ainu. He realized who he was as a person and that it was important to embrace yourself as your own kind. 

4. Are there any other random facts or wisdom you would like to share?

  • When that question was asked, he wasn’t exactly sure on what to say but he did state something about the Gods. He said that our life was completely formed by nature. This meaning that without Gods we would be nothing. They’re everywhere around us. He stated simply that everyone just needs to have a broad range of imagination in order to get anywhere in this world of ours. It’s important to think outside the box for that all things unseen are the core of these people. 

To sum up this interview, there were many things that I took into account. One being that fact that this man was full with only wisdom, whether he knew it or not. Everything that he said was inspiring and could definitely open the minds up of a lot of people. Ainu people are still out there and it’s important for everyone to see the cultures that are around us. There are too many different kinds of people in this world for us to completely see passed everyone. The only way to understand people is to explore. Explore the world around us for it is a beautiful yet invisible world to us when we’re sitting so far away. 

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Picture: http://kyotopeaceevents.blogspot.com/

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Ainu: Migrations and Diaspora

During the 14th century, the Japanese completely crowded Honshu Island, in which pushed the Ainu people northward. Once they were pushed northward, the Ainu called their homeland ‘Ainimosir’ in which means “the quiet land for humans.” The Ainu did not want to give up their land completely though so they waged three major battles on that Japanese. Although they called these battles for the Japanese, they majorly lost all three of them. Since they lost these battles, they were completely controlled by the Japanese. Since the Ainu were under Japanese control, they had to abide by what the Japanese said and did corresponding to their culture. 

Even though the Japanese want to control Ainu, there was a law passed that was created in order to relieve stress for the Ainu people. This act was called the Ainu Aborigine Protection Act. After the Japanese pushed the Ainu people northward, this is where they primarily stayed for the rest of time.

In the 19th century, about 1,500 Ainu people lived in Russia. Although they lived in Russia, they weren’t exactly accepted there as they would like. After World War II, the Ainu people left on their own, but were kind of pushed to leave anyway. Today, there’s about 100 people that introduce themselves as Ainu people. There about 6 different subgroups of Ainu people in Russia, which are Kamchatka Ainu, Northern Kuril Ainu, Southern Kuril Ainu, Amur Valley Ainu, North Sakhalin Ainu, and Southern Sakhalin Ainu. 

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Picture: http://www.astroset.com/bireysel_gelisim/ancient/a11.htm

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Ainu and their Neighbors

There wasn’t much research on the neighbors of Ainu. Since they aren’t very prominent in Japan, the information was difficult to find. Even though there isn’t much information on these people, there was still a little information that I was able to scrape up. One piece of this culture was that they are comparable to that of the Basque people because they speak similar languages. Also, the invading people of the Ainu named them Ezo, which means the unwanted. The Basque word ezonartu is where the word Ezo came from which means ‘to disapprove of’.

There was much research done in order to blog this spot, but nothing was found regarding the Ainu and their neighbors. Although they didn’t exactly get along with Japan as a whole to start, they eventually were allowed to have land of their own. This was the start of their ‘new’ life since it wasn’t always an easy time for them to have land of their own. 

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Birds of the Ainu

When dealing with birds, it was hard to find and understand what birds were specifically important to this culture. Although it was difficult to see what birds meant most to these people, it was simple to find birds that lived at this location. One bird that was spotted in Hokkaido, Japan was the Greater White-fronted Goose. This bird is the most sighted bird in this area at about 67,000 counts. Although this bird is the most seen in this area, it is also one of the largest range of species of geese. It is seen in many places around the world making this bird not rare to this area. Being that the Ainu live in mainly marshy areas, this goose typically lives in wetlands and areas with a lot of crop.

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A second bird that is sighted frequently is the Slaty-backed Gull. There is around 5,000 counts of this bird in this area. This gull gets its name from its wings, which are a slaty gray color. The rest of the body of this gull is white. This bird travels to many random places, in which makes this bird a very interesting one to follow for bird watchers. Japan being one of the many areas that they travel to during their migration. Most people would normally call this a seagull as it looks like this and is usually found when you go to the beach. Image

Another bird that has been spotted many times in the Hokkaido area of Japan would be the Rhinoceros Auklet. There was a recorded sighting of 2000 times for this bird as it tends to be seen a lot by these people. This bird gets its name specifically because of its bill, in which is a vertical white plate. The rhinoceros auklet is most closely related to a puffin as you can see why. The physical features on both the puffin and the rhinoceros auklet are very similar. 

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Another bird that is sited around Hokkaido, Japan is the Black Scoter. This bird is not really studied in North America due to its rare appearances. Nesting for the Black Scoter has been found but very few of them. This bird specifically is mostly all black. The main description for the Black Scoter is its diving ability.
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Although there are a decent amount of birds that live in the Ainu area, birds are completely sacred to them specifically. The birds that are previously mentioned are the most seen birds in this region as they are spotted regularly. Even though birds aren’t so important to them, other animals take their place such as bears. It’s important to understand the importance of the bears and other aspects of their culture unlike the birds. This is specifically is stated in many articles and text that I read pertaining to the Ainu life. 

Pictures: ebird.org 

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Ainu Cosmos

Like many cultures, the Ainu people are some that believe in many cosmos or beliefs. There are specific beliefs that are directly from their culture, in which not one other tribe is similar to them. One of these myths or cosmology of the Ainu is the creation of their people:

This belief is that there contains of six heavens and six hells in which there is said to have gods, demons, and animals live. In the lower of the heavens is where the demons lived. Where the stars and sky are is where the “lesser” gods lived. In the highest of the heavens is where Kamui lives, whom is the created God, and also his servants reside. Kamui made his own world in which the only entry was through a giant metal gate. His realm was surrounded by water and located this world on the backbone of a humongous trout. One day he looked down upon this world and wanted to make something of it. He decided to send a water wagtail to create this land, in which the wagtail did so under Kamui’s orders. With the wings and feet of this wagtail was patches of land created and animals saw how tremendously beautiful this land was and so insisted to live on it. They asked Kamui and he responded yes to these animals. But Kamui had plans for other creatures to live there, in which were the Ainu people. These were the first people to live there and he sent down a man to teach these people how to cook and hunt. 

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This above myth was only one of the myths that is said about the creation of the Ainu people.

Another belief that the Ainu have is about the bear specifically. A very important god to them is the god of bears and mountains. The Ainu people believe that animals are severely important to them, but the bear especially is important. The bear, in fact, is said to be the head of gods. It is also known as kamuy or “God.” It is traditional for the Ainu people to sacrifice bears in order to release the God in them to the world of spirits. For example, the Ainu people would raise a bear cub, similar to that of a child, until it is of a certain age and then sacrifice it. This was known as lotame. 

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A third belief that the Ainu have is the belief that even after death everyone and everything still interact for the rest of time. It is said that both worlds are mutual and any person or anything can visit either of the two worlds. They can switch places if they would like as well. When one would visit the other, these trips occurred in dreams. These visits were encouraged mainly toward the deceased. 

 

Pictures: http://www.read-legends-and-myths.com/ainu-creation-myth.html
http://www.actionagainstpoisoning.com/CRY%20FOR%20HELP/JAPAN%20BEAR%20RITUAL/CRYJAPANBEARRITUAL.html

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World of the Ainu

When dealing with the cultural landscape of the Ainu, there are many places and things that they cherish. Many things in their territory are very sacred to them. Also, there are several acts for the Ainu in order for them to be able to preserve certain valuables. Even though some of the “landscape” of the Ainu is still in tact, there are some things such as the “chinomishiri” (“the place they pray for”) and “chashi” (“sacred place”). Also, there are many places that the Ainu obtains that are very sacred to their heritage in which obviously cannot be put into museums or hung up on walls. Being that the culture of the Ainu is significantly important to these people, it’s important that it is respected. This is done by having specific acts set up for the Ainu people in order to not have anyone harm their land or their property.

One law that was passed was the River Law in 1977. This specifically stated that their environment cannot be disrespected as well the opinions of the community.

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In order for the Ainu to make a living, they base their food solely on the crops they grow and the animals they hunt. Saying this, they are obviously a hunter/gatherer society in that this is the only food they eat. When comparing to that of our food, the Ainu have a seriously scarce amount of food to choose. Being that the majority of their life is spent in the cold, the Ainu people don’t eat a lot of crop because the growing season is very small. It’s important for the Ainu people to hunt the amount of animals that they do, such as bear, fish, deer, and hare. 

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Pictures: http://www.japanesesearch.com/daisetsuzan-national-park-%E5%A4%A7%E9%9B%AA%E5%B1%B1-hokkaido/
http://www.oldphotosjapan.com/photos/251/ainu-fishermen#.U2hp7pK1E0k