Ainu

“ On the whole the book gives interesting information regarding the Ainu of one hundred and twenty years ago. The most diligent of the Japanese writers about the Ainu, however, is Matsuura Takeshiro, a geographer, who made a loving study of the island of Yezo, publishing many books between 1850 and 1865. He takes each section of the island in detail and describes it from the points of view of topography, flora, fauna, and ethnology. Almost all of his many books are illustrated and the pictures are often strikingly true to life. ”

“ The Ainu are the aborigines of the Japanese Archipelago and of the large island of Saghalin to the north and the string of islands, called the Kurile Islands, to the north-east, stretching all the way to Kamtschatka. In Japan itself they have come under the influence of the dominant race and civilization, have probably, in former times at any rate, intermarried with persons of that race, and have been greatly affected by its civilization. Ainu words have found their way into Japanese speech, and Japanese words into Ainu speech. With the Ainu of the Kurile Islands it is different. ”

“ Milne tells us that [1] in the year 1878 he visited some of these Ainu on this very Island of Shimushir, the total number of whom was only 22. “The men,” he says, “were short in stature, had roundish heads, and short thick beards. None of those I saw had the long beard which characterizes many of the Ainus in Southern Yezo, nor were their features so well defined. They call themselves Kurilsky Ainu, spoke a language of their an, and also Russian.” ”

“ Two families live in the house, each with two or three children. Tunkamareg and Charenga are both Ainu; the other man is Ainu, but his wife is Japanese and the little mongrel children were not much to my taste. We were cold and tired and hungry. The pot was boiling and we put some chicken that we had brought with us from Piratori in with the millet that the house supplied, and were soon eating our first Ainu meal. ”

“ The Ainu were in a very low state of civilization. They did not understand the cultivation of the soil; and they pined for their rocks and forests, for their life as fishers and hunters, with all its toil and all its hardships and adventures. Their numbers have dropped from ninety-seven to sixty individuals; they are a dying race. ”

“ It is true, however, that stature varies considerably with locality—the men of Shiraoi being relatively tall and well built, those of Piratori medium, and those of Ishikari smaller and badly developed. The Ainu skin, [Pg 108] though dark, is white, not yellow or brown; the color appears darker than it really is because the Ainu rarely bathe. The hair is abundant both on the body and the head, and is wavy; the color is commonly black, though it may be dark-brown or even reddish; like wavy hair everywhere, it presents an elliptical, not a circular, cross-section. ”

“ As long as it remains in manuscript it is in danger; once lost, it could never be replaced, even by the author, for the use of Ainu as a speech is passing.
Who are the Ainu? Where did they come from? What is their past? They are surely a white people, not a yellow. They are more our brothers, though they live so far away, than brothers of the Japanese, to whom, in place, they are so near. That is not to say that all men are not brothers; our meaning we think clear. We, white men, are fond of assuming an air of great superiority, when we speak of other peoples. ”

“ Batchelor’s suggestion, brought in wares and treasures for sale. As these articles were everywhere practically the same, we may as well describe them once for all in connection with Piratori. For a long time back, as shown by old pictures, the Ainu dress has been much like that of their Japanese neighbors. There are, however, some articles of dress that are truly Ainu and even when Japanese stuffs and patterns are used the decoration may be characteristic. The women make a coarse, brown, thread, from elm-bark fibre, which is called attus. ”

“ There is a series of wooden war-clubs, apparently of recent manufacture, from near Muroran, which shows a considerable variety in form. These clubs are now rarely found in the villages and originals cannot be easily secured. An entire case is devoted to the cups, tubs, moustache sticks, implements, and inao used in the bear-feast, but they merely suggest what might be done in the making of such a display. One of the most interesting objects in the Ainu collection is a grave-post from the Island of Saghalien, quite different in its form and carved decoration from those made by the Yezo Ainu. ”

“ To be sure, those without pictures would mean nothing to the English reader, but, until they are in print and accessible, they mean nothing to the students of Japan.
Among these works are many which narrate the wars between the Ainu and the Japanese. To-day, recognizing the passive and too yielding nature of the Ainu, it is difficult to imagine them as warlike. In hunting, it is true, they are brave [Pg 75] enough, even reckless. But, if they were ever warriors, they are to-day a broken-spirited and subdued people. ”

“ There are also some Ainu at present inhabiting Saghalien who live in the same kind of pits during the cold weather. Hence we find that the Ainu are, some of them at least, actual “Pit-dwellers” to-day. I myself am a “Wood-house dweller,” for my house is made of wood; my brother in Africa is a “Stone house dweller;” ”

“ Secondly, there is the question of the ancient Japanese name Tsuchi-gumo, “Earth-spiders,” and Ko-bito, “Little people,” applied to these pit-dwellers. And besides, the Ainu themselves sometimes talk about the “little men.” But nothing of value can be made out of the appellation “Earth-spiders,” for it implies no more than what is meant by “pit-dwellers.” Ko-bito really means “little people,” “dwarfs”; but the Ainu, when speaking of these so-called “dwarfs” use the word Ko-bito, which is pure Japanese. I have never heard a real native Ainu name meaning “dwarfs” applied to them. ”

“ If an Ainu has to break a stick planted in the ground he does it by pulling it; whereas a Japanese will push it. Again in pulling a rope the Ainu pull; the Japanese push, by placing the rope over one shoulder and walking in the direction wanted. In a crowd, where a Japanese would push his way through by extending his arms and thus separating people, the Ainu seizes a man on each side, pulling one to the right and the other to the left, till space for him to pass is made. ”

“ It has been thought by many that there was a race of men inhabiting, not only Yezo but also Japan Proper, before the Ainu came; and that just as the Japanese have displaced the Ainu, so the Ainu drove out and succeeded the race preceding themselves. This was a theory I myself formerly accepted—but wholly upon trust like so many others. Laterly, however, I have paid special attention to this subject the result being a little brochure entitled The Koropok-guru or Pit-dwellers of North Japan, a rivision of which I now proceed to append, by way of preface to the Names of Places. ”

“ It is scarcely possible to doubt that this fancy is derived from the Japanese, who used to hold an identical theory. The Ainu believe in a supreme Creator, but also in a sun-god, a moon-god, a water-god and a mountain-god, deities whose river is the Milky Way, whose voices are heard in the thunder and whose glory is reflected in the lightning. Their chief object of actual worship appears to be the bear. ”

“ Whatever may be thought to the contrary, on account of the remoteness of the subject from ordinary topics, no sooner does one take up the study of Ainu in real earnest than he finds that the collection of words and arranging them in the form of vocabulary has by no means been neglected. For, to say nothing of those tabulated by Japanese (the Moshiogusa to wit) , since the year 1730, when Philipp Johann von Strachlenberg of Stockholm published his Der Word- und Destliche Theil von Europa und Asia, quite a number of lists of words have appeared. ”

“ He supports what he calls a “rest-house,” built on his premises at Sapporo, where any Ainu who is sick or troubled can come and stay until cured or assisted. Sometimes as many as twenty are housed there. They are supplied foodstuffs, which they prepare for themselves. While they stay, they are expected, if [Pg 13] able, not only to do their own work but to help in the garden, or at the woodpile, or about the house.
It was at Mr. Batchelor’s home that we saw our first Ainu. His driver, Parapita, is a fine type. ”

“ The Ainu are somewhat taller than the Japanese, stoutly built, well proportioned, with dark-brown eyes, high cheek-bones, short broad noses and faces lacking length. The hairiness of the Ainu has been much exaggerated. They are not more hairy than many Europeans. Never shaving after a certain age, the men have full beards and moustaches, but the stories of Ainu covered with hair like a bear are quite unjustified by facts. Men and women alike cut their hair level with the shoulders at the sides of the head, but trim it semicircularly behind. ”

“ Japanese constantly use what (to adopt European terminology) may be called genitives instead of nominatives. Thus, Hito ga kuru, literally “The coming of the man,” for “The man comes.” This is foreign to Ainu habits of speech.
Passing on to further points of contrast between the two languages, we notice that:—
(14) Japanese and Ainu treat the idea of negation differently. Ainu uses an independent negative adverb shomo or seenne, which corresponds exactly to the English word “not.” It also possesses a few curious negative verbs, such as isam, “not to be;” ”

“ Chamberlain always wrote Aino but I have taken the liberty of changing the spelling into Ainu (which means “man”) wherever I have quoted him in this book so as to bring it into uniformity with the rest of this Grammar; for the people always speak of themselves as Ainu not Aino. Aino is an old Japanese way of calling this race. Dobrotvorsky also notes that the word Aino is a corruption of Ainu which he defines as “man.” With regard to this it is interesting to remark that the Eskimo call themselves innuit, “man” ”

“ Some hold the opinion that the Ainu came over to the Japanese islands from the north or the northwest, that is, from some coastal region of the Asiatic continent on the other side of the Sea of Japan. And there are not a few, too, who not only trace the origin of the race into the heart of Asia, but even go so far as to say that the Ainu came from the same cradle as the Caucasian race. Some go still further and localise the origin of the race more minutely, identifying the race as a branch of the protonordic race, akin to the modern Scandinavians. ”

“ Kanazawa’s work is one rather of industry than of true science, and the task he set before himself is one which would naturally require a long and varied experience among the Ainu themselves and in the various Northern and Southern districts in which they have lived before being performed. It is a work rather to be dreaded than undertaken lightly.
It will be found that in this Dictionary the Ainu word has been written in Japanese Kana as well as with the Roman letters. ”

“ This is all most interesting when viewed in the light of Ainu studies. In Ainu the verb of existence is a, an, ash, on for the singular, and for the plural. Compare also the Greek ὁν and ὃντος. Further, if, as is said to be the case the sanscrit word as originally meant “to breathe,” the similarity between it and Ainu is yet more striking, for the present-day word for “to blow” in Ainu is as or ash. ”

“ He is shrewd and knows something of white men as well as of Japanese. He is employed upon one of the “yellow journals” of Tokio. For some time he lived with Mr. Batchelor and, perhaps under his influence, has been stimulated to write a book of Ainu stories, which he plans to publish. He is a well-grown, strongly-built fellow of perhaps thirty years; he dresses in Japanese costume and shaves, but the heavy stubble on his face and the straight eyes are Ainu. The night before the party left for Yokohama he called upon us with his father ”

“ The town, with a population of perhaps 70,000, stretches along a coast line, presenting an arc of almost two-thirds of a circle, and rises upon the lower slopes of a great mountain mass, which rises finely in the background and is fortified. We anchored in the Harbor and would have gone on shore, if we could have learned that we were to lie there several hours. There are Ainu settlements on the outskirts of the city, a Museum of Ainu objects, [Pg 7] and a mission station (including a school for Ainu boys) , which we would have been glad to see. ”

“ It is more commonly found in manuscript than printed. It is abundantly illustrated with pictures of men and women, dress, ornaments, tools, and scenes of daily life. In one picture three Ainu boys are playing the game of “javelin and ring,” but instead of using javelins are piercing the rolling ring with arrows shot from bows. In a family scene, the father smokes a pipe, but looks around for a moment at the baby, who seems to point reproachfully at his mother, who is giving her breast to the bear cub and not to him; in a cage near by is a captive bird, perhaps an eagle, waiting sacrifice. ”

“ Thus then we have the “Pit-dwellers” for certain. But who were they who dwelt in the pits? To come down to living present day examples of them we have them on the island of Shikotan. These people have two kinds of houses, one built on the Japanese model and the other on the pit model. The pits are only for winter use while the Japanese houses are used during the summer. These Ainu were brought down from an island in the Kurile group called Shimushir in the year 1885 by the Japanese Government, and they declare that their forefathers originally came from Saghalien. ”