ContentsArticles

Ainu creation myth 1Ainu people 2Ainu language 16Ainu cuisine 23Ainu music 25

ReferencesArticle Sources and Contributors 29Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors 30

Article LicensesLicense 31

Ainu creation myth 1

Ainu creation mythThe Ainu creation myths are the traditional creation accounts of the Ainu peoples of Hokkaidō, Japan. Their storiesshare common characteristics with Japanese creation myths and earth diver creation stories commonly found inCentral Asian and Native American cultures.[1] In one version the creator deity sends down a water wagtail to createhabitable land in the watery world below. The little bird fluttered over the waters, splashing water aside and then hepacked patches of the earth firm by stomping them with his feet and beating them with his tail. In this way islandswhere the Ainu were later to live were raised to float upon the ocean.[1] [2]

Because they think of themselves as hairy, many Ainu stories tell their first ancestor was a bear. However, analternative version tells of Kamui sending a heavenly couple to earth called Okikurumi and Turesh. This couple hada son, whom some consider the first Ainu, and he is believed to have given the people the necessary skills tosurvive.[1]

Notes[1] Leeming & Leeming 2009 - "Ainu Creation" (http:/ / www. oxfordreference. com/ views/ ENTRY. html?subview=Main& entry=t279. e3)[2] Sproul 1979, p. 215

References• Leeming, David Adams; Leeming, Margaret Adams (2009). A Dictionary of Creation Myths (Oxford Reference

Online ed.). Oxford University Press.• Sproul, Barbara C. (1979). Primal Myths. HarperOne HarperCollinsPublishers. ISBN 9780060675011.

Ainu people 2

Ainu people

Ainu

Group of Ainu people, 1902 photograph.

Total population

The official Japanese government estimate is 25,000, though this number has been disputed with unofficial estimates of upwards of200,000.[1]

Regions with significant populations

JapanRussia

Languages

Historically Ainu and other Ainu languages; today, most Ainu speak Japanese or Russian.[2]

Religion

Animism, Russian Orthodox Christianity, Buddhism

The Ainu (アイヌ, Aynu アィヌ) IPA: [ʔáinu] (also called Ezo in historical texts) are indigenous people or groupsin Japan and Russia. Historically they spoke the Ainu language and related varieties and lived in Hokkaidō, the KurilIslands, and much of Sakhalin. Most of those who identify themselves as Ainu still live in this same region, thoughthe exact number of living Ainu is unknown. This is due to ethnic issues in Japan resulting in those with Ainubackgrounds hiding their identities and confusion over mixed heritages. In Japan, because of intermarriage overmany years with Japanese, the concept of a 'pure Ainu' ethnic group is no longer feasible.[3] Official estimates of thepopulation are of around 25,000, while the unofficial number is upwards of 200,000 people.[1]

Ainu people 3

HistoryAinu culture dates from around 1200 CE[4] and recent research suggests that it originated in a merger of the Okhotskand Satsumon cultures.[5] Active contact between the Wajin (the ethnically Japanese) and the Ainu of Ezochi (nowknown as Hokkaido) began in the 13th century.[6] The Ainu were a society of hunter-gatherers, who lived mainlyhunting and fishing, and the people followed a religion based on phenomena of nature.[7]

During the Tokugawa period (1600–1868) the Ainu became increasingly involved in trade with Japanese whocontrolled the southern portion of the island that is now called Hokkaido. The Bakufu government granted theMatsumae family exclusive rights to trade with the Ainu in the Northern part of the island. Later the Matsumaebegan to lease out trading rights to Japanese merchants, and contact between Japanese and Ainu became moreextensive. Throughout this period Ainu became increasingly dependent on goods imported by Japanese, and sufferedfrom epidemic diseases such as smallpox.[8]

The turning point for Ainu culture was the beginning of the Meiji Restoration in 1868. A variety of social, politicaland economic reforms were introduced by the Japanese government, in hope of modernising the country in theWestern style, and included the annexation of Hokkaido. Sjöberg quotes Baba’s (1980) account of the Japanesegovernment's reasoning:[8]

‘ … The development of Japan's large northern island had several objectives: First, it was seen as ameans to defend Japan from a rapidly developing and expansionist Russia. Second … it offered asolution to the unemployment for the former samurai class … Finally, development promised to yieldthe needed natural resources for a growing capitalist economy.’[9]

In 1899 the Japanese government passed an act labeling the Ainu as former aborigines, with the idea they wouldassimilate – this resulted in the land the Ainu people lived on being taken by the Japanese government, and was fromthen on under Japanese control.[10] Also at this time, the Ainu were granted automatic Japanese citizenship,effectively denying them of being an indigenous group.The Ainu were becoming increasingly marginalised on their own land – over a period of only 36 years, the Ainuwent from being a relatively isolated group of people to having their land, language, religion and customsassimilated into those of the Japanese.[11] In addition to this, the land the Ainu lived on was distributed to the Wajinwho had decided to move to Hokkaido, who had been encouraged by the Japanese government of the Meiji era totake advantage of the island’s abundance of natural resources, and to create and maintain farms in the model ofwestern industrial agriculture. This development was termed Kaitakushi.[12] As well as this, factories such as flourmills and beer breweries and mining practices resulted in the creation of infrastructure such as roads and railwaylines, during a development period that lasted until 1904.[13] During this time the Ainu were forced to learn Japanese,required to adopt Japanese names and ordered to cease religious practices such as animal sacrifice and the custom oftattooing.[14]

Ainu bear sacrifice. Japanese scroll painting, circa 1870.

The 1899 act mentioned above was replaced in1997—until then the government had stated there wereno ethnic minority groups.[5] It was not until June 6,2008 that Japan formally recognised the Ainu as anindigenous group (see Official Recognition, below).[5]

Intermarriages between Japanese and Ainu wereactively promoted by the Ainu to lessen the chances ofdiscrimination against their offspring. As a result, manyAinu are indistinguishable from their Japaneseneighbors. There are many small towns in thesoutheastern or Hidaka region where full-blooded Ainu may still be seen such as in Nibutani. In Sambutsuespecially, on the eastern coast, many children of such marriages may be seen.

Ainu people 4

Their most widely known ethnonym is derived from the word ainu, which means "human" (particularly as opposedto kamui, divine beings), basically neither ethnicity nor the name of a race, in the Hokkaidō dialects of the Ainulanguage; Emishi, Ezo or Yezo (蝦夷) are Japanese terms, which are believed to derive from the ancestral form ofthe modern Sakhalin Ainu word enciw or enju, also meaning "human". Today, many Ainu dislike the term Ainubecause it had once been used with derogatory nuance, and prefer to identify themselves as Utari (comrade in theAinu language). Official documents use both names.

Official recognitionOn June 6, 2008, a bi-partisan, non-binding resolution was approved by the Japanese Diet calling upon thegovernment to recognize the Ainu people as indigenous to Japan and urge an end to discrimination against the group.The resolution recognised the Ainu people as "an indigenous people with a distinct language, religion and culture"and rescinds the law passed in 1899.[11] [15]

Though the resolution is historically significant, Hideaki Uemura, professor at Keisen University in Tokyo and aspecialist in indigenous peoples' rights, commented that the motion is "weak in the sense of recognizing historicalfacts" as the Ainu were "forced" to become Japanese in the first place.[16]

OriginsThe origins of the Ainu have often been considered Jōmon-jin, natives to Japan from the Jōmon period. "The Ainulived in this place a hundred thousand years before the Children of the Sun came" is told in one of their YukarUpopo (Ainu legends).[17]

Ainu culture as it is known today dates from around 1200 CE[18] and recent research suggests that it originated in amerger of the Okhotsk and Satsumon cultures, one of the ancient Japanese cultures.[19] Their economy was based onfarming as well as hunting, fishing and gathering.[20]

Ainu man, circa 1880.

Full-blooded Ainu are lighter skinned than their Japanese neighborsand have more body hair.[21] Many early investigators proposed aCaucasian ancestry,[22] although recent DNA tests have not shownmajor genetic similarity with modern caucasian Europeans.

Genetic testing of the Ainu people has shown them to belong mainly toY-haplogroup D2.[23] Y-DNA haplogroup D2 is found frequentlythroughout the Japanese Archipelago including Okinawa. The onlyplaces outside of Japan in which Y-haplogroup D is common are Tibetand the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean.[24]

In a study by Tajima et al. (2004), two out of a sample of sixteen (or12.5%) Ainu men have been found to belong to Haplogroup C3, whichis the most common Y-chromosome haplogroup among the indigenouspopulations of the Russian Far East and Mongolia.[23] Hammer et al.(2006) have tested a sample of four Ainu men and have found that oneof them belongs to haplogroup C3.[25] Some researchers havespeculated that this minority of Haplogroup C3 carriers among the Ainu may reflect a certain degree ofunidirectional genetic influence from the Nivkhs, a traditionally nomadic people of northern Sakhalin Island and theadjacent mainland, with whom the Ainu have long-standing cultural interactions.[23]

Based on analysis of one sample of 51 modern Ainus, their mtDNA lineages have been reported to consist mainly ofhaplogroup Y (11/51 = 21.6% according to Tanaka et al. 2004, or 10/51 = 19.6% according to Adachi et al. 2009,who have cited Tajima et al. 2004), haplogroup D (9/51 = 17.6%, particularly D4(xD1)), haplogroup M7a (8/51 =15.7%), and haplogroup G1 (8/51 = 15.7%).[23] [26] [27]

Ainu people 5

Mitochondrial DNA haplogroup Y is otherwise found mainly among Nivkhs, and with lower frequency amongTungusic peoples, Koreans, Mongols (including Kalmyks and Buryats), Chinese, Japanese, Central Asians, SouthSiberian Turkic peoples (e.g. Tuvans, Todjins, Soyots), Koryaks, Alyutors, Itelmens, Taiwanese aborigines,Filipinos, Indonesians, and Malaysians. MtDNA Haplogroup D is found frequently throughout East Asia and CentralAsia, and is also common in some populations of North Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Americas; in addition, it hasbeen found with low frequency in some populations of Europe and Southwest Asia. Haplogroup M7a has been foundelsewhere mainly among Japanese and Ryukyuans, and with lower frequency among Udegeys, Koreans, Chinese,Filipinos, Taiwanese aborigines, Buryats, Central Asians, and Waars of the Jaintia Hills in Meghalaya, India.[26] [28]

[29] [30] [31] [32] MtDNA Haplogroup G has been found most frequently among indigenous populations ofeasternmost Siberia, but it is also common among some populations of East Asia, Central Asia, the Altai-Sayanregion of southern Siberia, and the sub-Himalayan region.A recent reevaluation of cranial traits suggests that the Ainu resemble the Okhotsk more than they do the Jōmon.[33]

This agrees with the reference to the Ainu culture being a merger of Okhotsk and Satsumon cultures referencedabove.Some have speculated that the Ainu may be descendants of a prehistoric group of humans that also producedindigenous Australian peoples. In Steve Olson's book Mapping Human History, page 133, he describes the discoveryof fossils dating back 10,000 years, representing the remains of the Jōmon, a group whose facial features moreclosely resemble those of the indigenous peoples of New Guinea and Australia.After a new wave of immigration, probably from the Korean Peninsula some 2,300 years ago, of the Yayoi people,the Jōmon were pushed into northern Japan. Genetic data suggest that modern Japanese are descended from both theYayoi and the Jōmon.

GeographyThe Ainu were distributed in the northern and central islands of Japan, from Sakhalin island in the north to the Kurileislands and the island of Hokkaidō and Northern Honshū, although some investigators place their former range asthroughout Honshū and as far north as the southern tip of the Kamchatka Peninsula in what is now Cape Lopatka.The island of Hokkaido was known to the Ainu as Ainu Moshir, and was formally annexed by the Japanese at thelate date of 1868, partly as a means of preventing the intrusion of the Russians, and partly for imperialist reasons.According to the Russian Empire Census of 1897, 1446 persons in the Russian Empire reported Ainu language astheir mother tongue, 1434 of them in Sakhalin Island.[34]

The southern half of Sakhalin was acquired by Japan as a result of the Russo–Japanese War of 1904–05, but at theend of World War II in 1945, the Soviets declared war on Japan and took possession of the Kurile islands andsouthern Sakhalin. The Ainu population, as previously Japanese subjects, were "repatriated" to Japan.According to the 2002 Russian Federation census, no responders gave the ethnonym Ainu in boxes 7 or 9.2 in theK-1 form of the census,[35] [36] [37] though some still might exist.The only Ainu speakers remaining (besides perhaps a few partial speakers) live solely in Japan. There, they areconcentrated primarily on the southern and eastern coasts of the island of Hokkaidō.Due to intermarriage with the Japanese and ongoing absorption into the predominant culture, there are no truly Ainusettlements existing in Japan today. The town of Nibutani in Hidaka area (Hokkaido prefecture) has a number ofAinu households and a visit to some of the Ainu owned craft shops close to the Ainu museums (there are two ofthem in Nibutani) is an opportunity to interact with the Ainu people. Many "authentic Ainu villages" advertised inHokkaido such as Akan and Shiraoi are tourist attractions and provide an opportunity to see and meet Ainu people.

Ainu people 6

LanguageToday, it is estimated that fewer than 100 speakers of the language remain,[38] while other research places thenumber at fewer than 15 speakers – the language has been regarded as “endangered”.[39] As a result of this the studyof the Ainu language is limited and is based largely on historical research.The Ainu language is significantly different from the Japanese language in its syntax, phonology, morphology, andvocabulary. Although there have been attempts to show that they are related, modern scholars have rejected that therelationship goes beyond contact, such as the mutual borrowing of words between Japanese and Ainu.[40] In fact, noattempt to show a relationship with Ainu to any other language has gained wide acceptance, and Ainu is currentlyconsidered to be a language isolate.[41]

Words used as prepositions in English (such as to, from, by, in, and at) are postpositional in Ainu; they come afterthe word that they modify. A single sentence in Ainu can be made up of many added or agglutinated sounds ormorphemes that represent nouns or ideas.The Ainu language has had no system of writing, and has historically been transliterated by the Japanese kana or theRussian Cyrillic and now Latin alphabets by investigators. The unwieldy nature of the Japanese kana with itsinability to accurately represent terminal consonants has contributed to the degradation of the original Ainu. Forexample, with such words as "Kor" (meaning to hold), is now being pronounced with a terminal vowel sound as"Koro".Many of the Ainu dialects, even from one end of Hokkaido to the other, were not mutually intelligible; however, theclassic Ainu language of the Yukar, or Ainu epic stories, was understood by all. Without a writing system, the Ainuwere masters of narration, with the Yukar and other forms of narration such as the Uepeker (Uwepeker) tales, beingcommitted to memory and related at gatherings, often lasting many hours or even days.[42]

Culture

Ainu ceremonial dress. British Museum.

Traditional Ainu culture was quite different from Japanese culture.Never shaving after a certain age, the men had full beards andmoustaches. Men and women alike cut their hair level with theshoulders at the sides of the head, trimmed semicircularly behind. Thewomen tattooed their mouths, and sometimes the forearms. The mouthtattoos were started at a young age with a small spot on the upper lip,gradually increasing with size. The soot deposited on a pot hung over afire of birch bark was used for color. Their traditional dress was a robespun from the inner bark of the elm tree, called attusi or attush. Variousstyles of clothing were made, and consisted generally of a simple shortrobe with straight sleeves, which was folded around the body, and tiedwith a band about the waist. The sleeves ended at the wrist or forearmand the length generally was to the calves. Women also wore anundergarment of Japanese cloth.

Modern craftswomen weave and embroider traditional garments thatcommand very high prices. In winter the skins of animals were worn, with leggings of deerskin and in Sakhalin,boots were made from the skin of dogs or salmon. Both sexes are fond of earrings, which are said to have been madeof grapevine in former times, as also are bead necklaces called tamasay, which the women prized highly.

Their traditional cuisine consists of the flesh of bear, fox, wolf, badger, ox or horse, as well as fish, fowl, millet,vegetables, herbs, and roots. They never ate raw fish or flesh; it was always boiled or roasted.

Ainu people 7

Their traditional habitations were reed-thatched huts, the largest 20 ft (6 m) square, without partitions and having afireplace in the center. There was no chimney, only a hole at the angle of the roof; there was one window on theeastern side and there were two doors. The house of the village head was used as a public meeting place when onewas needed.Instead of using furniture, they sat on the floor, which was covered with two layers of mats, one of rush, the other offlag; and for beds they spread planks, hanging mats around them on poles, and employing skins for coverlets. Themen used chopsticks when eating; the women had wooden spoons. Ainu cuisine is not commonly eaten outside Ainucommunities; there are only a few Ainu-run restaurants in Japan, all located in Tokyo or Hokkaidō, serving primarilyJapanese fare.The functions of judgeship were not entrusted to chiefs; an indefinite number of a community's members sat injudgment upon its criminals. Capital punishment did not exist, nor did the community resort to imprisonment.Beating was considered a sufficient and final penalty. However, in the case of murder, the nose and ears of theculprit were cut off or the tendons of his feet severed.

HuntingThe Ainu hunted from late autumn to early summer. The reasons for this were, among others, that in late autumn,plant gathering, salmon fishing and other activities of securing food came to an end, and hunters readily found gamein fields and mountains in which plants had withered. A village possessed a hunting ground of its own or severalvillages used a joint hunting territory (iwor) . Heavy penelties were imposed on any outsiders trespassing on suchhunting grounds or joint hunting territory. The Ainu hunted bear, Ezo deer, rabbit, fox, raccoon dog and otheranimals. Ezo deer were a particularly important food resource for the Ainu as were salmon. They also hunted seaeagles such as white-tailed sea eagles, raver and other birds. The Ainu hunted eagles to obtain their tail feathers,which they used in trade with the Japanese. The Ainu hunted with arrows and spears with poison-coated points. Theyobtained the poison, called "surku", from the roots and stalks of aconites. The recipe for this poison was a householdsecret that differed from family to family. They enhanced the poison with mixtures of roots and stalks of dog's bane,boiled juice of Mekuragumo, Matsumomushi, tobacco, and other ingredients. They also used stingray stingers orskin covering stingers. They hunted in groups with dogs. Before the Ainu went hunting, for animals like bear inparticular, they prayed to the god of fire and the house guardian god to convey their wishes for a large catch, and safehunting to the god of mountains.The Ainu usually hunted bear during the time of the spring thaw. At that time bears were weak because they had notfed at all during long hibernation. Ainu hunters caught hibernating bears or bears that had just left hibernation dens.When they hunted bear in summer, they used a spring trap loaded with an arrow, called an "amappo".The Ainu usually used arrows to hunt deer. Also they often used traps, including spring traps loaded with arrows.Also, they drove deer into a river or sea and shot them with arrows. For a large catch, a whole village would drive aherd of deer off a cliff and club them to death.

ReligionFor more information see Ainu creation myth.

The Ainu are traditionally animists, believing that everything in nature has a kamuy (spirit or god) on the inside.There is a hierarchy of the kamui.The most important is grandmother earth (fire), then kamui of the mountain (animals), then kamui of the sea (seaanimals), lastly everything else. They have no priests by profession.The village chief performs whatever religious ceremonies are necessary; ceremonies are confined to making libationsof rice beer, uttering prayers, and offering willow sticks with wooden shavings attached to them. These sticks arecalled inau (singular) and nusa (plural).

Ainu people 8

They are placed on an altar used to "send back" the spirits of killed animals. The Ainu people give thanks to the godsbefore eating and pray to the deity of fire in time of sickness. They believe their spirits are immortal, and that theirspirits will be rewarded hereafter by ascending to kamui mosir (Land of the Gods).Some Ainu in the north are members of the Russian Orthodox Church.

OrnamentsMen wore a crown called "sapanupe" for important ceremonies. Sapanpe was made from wood fiber with bundles ofpartially-shaved wood. This crown had wooden figures of animal gods and other ornaments on its center. Mencarried an "emush" (sword) secured by an "emush at" strap to their shoulders.Women wore a "matanpushi" (embroidered headband) and "ninkari" (earrings).Ninkari was a metal ring with a ball. Women wore it through a hole in the ear. Matanpushi and ninkari wereoriginally worn by men. However, women wear them now. Furthermore, aprons called "maidari" now are a part ofwomen's formal clothes. However, some old documents say that men wore maidari. Women sometimes wore abracelet called "tekunkani."Women wore a necklace called "rekutunpe," a long, narrow strip of cloth with metal plaques. They wore a necklacethat reached the breast called a "tamasay" or "shitoki," usually made from glass balls. Some glass balls came fromtrade with the Asian continent. The Ainu also obtained glass balls secretly made by the Matsumae Clan.

HousingA village is called a "kotan" in the Ainu language. Kotan were located in river basins and seashores where food wasreadily available, particularly in the basins of rivers through which salmon went upstream. A village consistedbasically of a paternal clan. The average number of families was four to seven, rarely reaching more than ten. In theearly modern times, the Ainu people were forced to labor at the fishing grounds of the Japanese. Ainu kotan werealso forced to move near fishing grounds so that the Japanese could secure a labor force. When the Japanese movedto other fishing grounds, Ainu kotan were also forced to accompany them. As a result, the traditional kotandisappeared and large villages of several dozen families were formed around the fishing grounds.Kotan houses were made of cogon grasses, bamboo grass, barks, etc. The length lay east to west or parallel to a river.A house was about seven meters by five with an entrance at the west end that also served as a storeroom. The househad three windows, including the "rorun-puyar," a window located on the side facing the entrance (at the east side) ,through which gods entered and left and ceremonial tools were taken in and out. The Ainu have regarded thiswindow as sacred and have been told never to look in through it. A house had a fireplace near the entrance. Thehusband and wife sat on the fireplace's left side (called "shiso") . Children and guests sat facing them on thefireplace's right side (called "harkiso"). The house had a platform for valuables called "iyoykir" behind the shiso. TheAinu placed "shintoko"(hokai) and "ikayop" (quivers) there.Outbuildings included separate lavatories for men called "ashinru" and for women called "menokoru", a "pu"(storehouse) for food, a "heper set" (cage for young bear), and drying-racks for fish and wild plants. An altar"nusasan" faced the east side of the house (rorunpuyar). The Ainu held such ceremonies there as "lyomante. " aceremony to send the spirit of a bear to the gods.

Ainu people 9

Life of AinuThe Ainu people had various types of marriage. A child was promised in marriage by arrangement between his orher parents and the parents of his or her betrothed or by a go-between. When the betrothed reached a marriageableage, they were told who their spouse was to be. There were also marriages based on mutual consent of both sexes. Insome areas, when a daughter reached a marriageable age, her parents let her live in a small room called tunpuannexed to the southern wall of her house. The parents chose her spouse from men who visited her.The age of marriage was 17–18 years old for men and 15–16 years for women, who were tattooed. At these ages,both sexes were regarded as adults.When a man proposed to a woman, he visited her house, ate half a full bowl of rice handed to him by her, andreturned the rest to her. If the woman ate the rest, she accepted his proposal. If she did not and put it beside her, sherejected his proposal. When a man became engaged to a woman or they learned that their engagement had beenarranged, they exchanged gifts with each other. He sent her a small engraved knife, a workbox, a spool and othergifts. She sent him embroidered clothes, coverings for the back of the hand, Ieggings, and other handmade clothes.According to some books, many yomeiri marriages, in which a bride went to the house of a bridegroom with herbelongings to become a member of his family, were conducted in the old days.For a yomeiri marriage, a man and his father would bring betrothal gifts to the house of a woman, including a sword,a treasured sword, an ornamental quiver, a sword guard, and a woven basket (hokai). If the man and woman agreedto marry, the man and his father would bring her to their house or the man would stay at her house for a while andthen bring her to his house. At the wedding ceremony, participants prayed to the god of fire. Bride and bridegroomrespectively ate half of the rice served in a bowl, and other participants were entertained.The worn-out fabric of old clothing was used for baby clothes because soft cloth was good for the skin of babies andworn-out material protected babies from gods of illness and demons due to these gods' abhorrence of dirty things.Before a baby was breast-fed, he/she was given a decoction of the endodermis of alder and the roots of butterburs todischarge impurities. Children were raised almost naked until about the ages of four to five. Even when they woreclothes, they did not wear belts and left the front of their clothes open. Subsequently they wore bark clothes withoutpatterns, such as attush, until coming of age.Newborn babies were named ayay (a baby's crying), shipo, poyshi (small excrement), shion (old excrement), etc.Children were called by these "temporary" names until the ages of two to three. They were not given permanentnames when they were born. Their tentative names had a portion meaning "excrement" or "old things" to ward offthe demon of ill-health. Some children were named based on their behavior or habits. Other children were namedafter impressive events or after parents' wishes for the future of the children. When children were named, they werenever given the same names as others.Men wore loincloths and had their hair dressed properly for the first time at age 15–16. Women were also consideredadults at the age of 15–16. They wore underclothes called mour and had their hair dressed properly and woundwaistcloths called raunkut, ponkut, etc. around their bodies. When women reached age 12–13, the lips, hands andarms were tattooed. When they reached age 15–16, their tattoos were completed. Thus were they qualified formarriage.

Ainu people 10

American continent connection theoryIn the late 20th century, speculation arose that people of the group related to the Jōmon may have been one of thefirst to settle North America. This theory is based largely on skeletal and cultural evidence among tribes living in thewestern part of North America and certain parts of South America.It is possible that North America had several peoples among its early settlers—these relatives of the Jōmon beingone of them. The best known evidence that may support this theory is probably Kennewick Man.[43] [44]

Genetic mapping studies by Cavalli-Sforza have shown a sharp gradient in gene frequencies centered in the areaaround the Sea of Japan, and particularly in the Japanese Archipelago, that distinguishes these populations fromothers in the rest of eastern Asia and most of the American continent. This gradient appears as the third mostimportant genetic movement (in other words, the third principal component of genetic variation) in Eurasia (after the"Great expansion" from Africa, which has a cline centered in Arabia and adjacent parts of the Middle East, and asecond cline that distinguishes the northern regions of Eurasia and particularly Siberia from regions to the south),which would make it consistent with the early Jōmon period, or possibly even the pre-Jōmon period.[45]

Institutions

Ainu cultural promotion center and museum, inSapporo (Sapporo Pirka Kotan)

Most Hokkaido Ainu and some other Ainu are members of an umbrellagroup called the Hokkaido Utari Association. It was originallycontrolled by the government to speed Ainu assimilation andintegration into the Japanese nation-state. It now is run exclusively byAinu and operates mostly independently of the government.

Other key institutions include The Foundation for Research andPromotion of Ainu Culture (FRPAC), set up by the JapaneseGovernment after enactment of the Ainu Culture Law in 1997, theHokkaido University Center for Ainu and Indigenous Studies [46]

established in 2007, as well as museums and cultural centers. Ainupeople living in Tokyo have also developed a vibrant political andcultural community.[47]

Current affairs

LitigationOn March 27, 1997, the Sapporo District Court decided a landmark case that, for the first time in Japanese history,recognized the right of the Ainu people to enjoy their distinct culture and traditions. The case arose because of a1978 government plan to build two dams in the Saru River watershed in southern Hokkaido. The dams were part of aseries of development projects under the Second National Development Plan that were intended to industrialize thenorth of Japan.[48] The planned location for one of the dams was across the valley floor close to Nibutani village,[49]

the home of a large community of Ainu people and an important center of Ainu culture and history.[50] In the early1980s when the government commenced construction on the dam, two Ainu landowners refused to agree to theexpropriation of their land. These landowners were Kaizawa Tadashi and Kayano Shigeru - well-known andimportant leaders in the Ainu community.[51] After Kaizawa and Kayano declined to sell their land, the HokkaidoDevelopment Bureau applied for and was subsequently granted a Project Authorization, which required the men tovacate their land. When their appeal of the Authorization was denied, Kayano and Kaizawa's son Koichii (Kaizawadied in 1992), filed suit against the Hokkaido Development Bureau.The final decision denied the relief sought by the plaintiffs for pragmatic reasons—the dam was already standing—but the decision was nonetheless heralded as a giant victory for the Ainu people. In short, nearly all of the

Ainu people 11

plaintiffs' claims were recognized. Moreover, the decision marked the first time Japanese case law acknowledged theAinu as an indigenous people and contemplated the responsibility of the Japanese nation to the indigenous peoplewithin its borders.[52] The decision included broad fact-finding that underscored the long history of the oppression ofthe Ainu people by Japan's majority, referred to as "Wajin" in the case and discussions about the case.[53] The legalroots of the decision can be found in Article 13 of Japan's Constitution, which protects the rights of the individual,and in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.[54] The decision was issued on March 27, 1997, andbecause of the broad implications for Ainu rights, the plaintiffs decided not to appeal the decision, which becamefinal two week later. After the decision was issued, on May 8, 1997, the Diet passed the Ainu Culture Law andrepealed the Ainu Protection Act—the 1899 law that had been the vehicle of Ainu oppression for almost onehundred years.[55] While the Ainu Culture Law has been widely criticized for its shortcomings, the shift that itrepresents in Japan's view of the Ainu people is a testament to the importance of the Nibutani decision.A later action seeking restoration of Ainu assets held in trust by the Japanese Government was dismissed in 2008.[56]

Governmental advisory boardsMuch national policy in Japan has been developed out of the action of governmental advisory boards, known asshingikai/審議会 in Japanese. One such committee operated in the late 1990s,[57] and its work resulted in the 1997Ainu Culture Law.[58] This panel's circumstances were criticized for including not even a single Ainu person amongits members.[57]

More recently, a panel was established in 2006, which notably was the first time an Ainu person was included. Itcompleted its work in 2008 issuing a major report that included an extensive historical record and called forsubstantial government policy changes towards the Ainu.[59]

Subgroups• Hokkaido Ainu (the predominant community of Ainu in the world today)• Tokyo Ainu (a modern age migration of Hokkaido Ainu highlighted in a documentary film released in 2010,

http:/ / www. 2kamuymintara. com/ film/ top. htm)• Tohoku Ainu (from Honshū, no known living population)• Sakhalin Ainu• Kuril Ainu (no known living population)• Kamchatka Ainu (extinct since pre-historic times)• Amur Valley Ainu (probably none remain)

See also• Ainu music• Aterui• Bronisław Piłsudski• Burakumin• Constitution of Japan• Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples• Emishi• Ethnic issues in Japan• Ethnocide• Hiram M. Hiller, Jr.• Ainu-ken• Human rights in Japan• Indigenous peoples

Ainu people 12

• Iomante• Kayano Shigeru• Kennewick Man• List of ethnic groups• Nibutani Dam• Nivkhs• Ryūkyū independence movement• Ryukyuan people• Shogun• Yamato people• Yukar

Notes[1] Poisson, B. 2002, The Ainu of Japan, Lerner Publications, Minneapolis, p.5.[2] Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.) (2005). Ethnologue: Languages of the World (15th ed.). Dallas: SIL International. ISBN 1-55671-159-X.

OCLC 224749653.. OCLC 60338097 (http:/ / www. worldcat. org/ oclc/ 60338097).[3] Encyclopedia of bilingualism and bilingual education, Volume 1997 (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=YgtSqB9oqDIC& lpg=PA163&

ots=1gHR0aGi6b& dq=pure ainu no longer& pg=PA163#v=onepage& q=pure Ainu ethnic group is no longer feasible& f=false) By ColinBaker, Sylvia Prys Jones

[4] "The Boone Collection – Image Gallery: Ainu Artifacts". http:/ / www. fieldmuseum. org/ research_collections/ anthropology/ anthro_sites/boone/ ainu/ ainu_map/ ainu_map6. html. Retrieved on May 8, 2008.

[5] Sato, Takehiro; et al. (2007). "Origins and genetic features of the Okhotsk people, revealed by ancient mitochondrial DNA analysis". Journalof Human Genetics 52 (7): 618–627. doi:10.1007/s10038-007-0164-z

[6] Weiner, M (eds) 1997, Japan’s Minorities: The Illusion of Homogeneity, Routledge, London.[7] "NOVA Online – Island of the Spirits – Origins of the Ainu" (http:/ / www. pbs. org/ wgbh/ nova/ hokkaido/ ainu. html). Retrieved on May

8, 2008.[8] Brett L. Walker, The conquest of Ainu Lands:Ecology and Culture in Japanese Expansion 1590-1800-University of California

Press,2001,Pages 49–56,61–71 and Pages 172–176[9] Sjöberg, K 1993, The Return of the Ainu, Harwood Academic Publishers, Switzerland.[10] Loos, N & Osani, T 1993, Indigenous Minorities and Education, Sanyusha Publishing Co., Ltd., Tokyo.[11] Fogarty, Philippa (June 6, 2008). "Recognition at last for Japan's Ainu" (http:/ / news. bbc. co. uk/ 2/ hi/ asia-pacific/ 7437244. stm). BBC

News (BBC). . Retrieved June 7, 2008.[12] Hohmann, S 2008, ‘The Ainu’s modern struggle’ in World Watch, Vol 21, No. 6, pp. 20–24.[13] Sjöberg, K 1993, The Return of the Ainu, Harwood Academic Publishers, Switzerland, p. 117.[14] Levinson, David (2002). Encyclopedia of modern Asia, Volume 1. Charles Scribner's Sons. p. 72. ISBN 9780684806174.[15] Ito, M 2008, ‘Diet officially declares Ainu indigenous’, Japan Times, June 7, viewed April 29, 2009,

<http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20080607a1.html>[16] The Japan Times | Diet officially declares Ainu indigenous (http:/ / search. japantimes. co. jp/ cgi-bin/ nn20080607a1. html)[17] Sjöberg, Katarina V. (1993). The Return of the Ainu: Cultural Mobilization and the Practice of Ethnicity in Japan. Studies in Anthropology

and History. 9. Chur: Harwood Academic Publ.. ISBN 3718654016. OCLC 27684176.[18] "The Boone Collection – Image Gallery: Ainu Artifacts" (http:/ / www. fieldmuseum. org/ research_collections/ anthropology/ anthro_sites/

boone/ ainu/ ainu_map/ ainu_map6. html). . Retrieved May 8, 2008.[19] Sato, Takehiro; et al. (2007). "Origins and genetic features of the Okhotsk people, revealed by ancient mitochondrial DNA analysis".

Journal of Human Genetics 52 (7): 618–627. doi:10.1007/s10038-007-0164-z. PMID 17568987.[20] "NOVA Online – Island of the Spirits – Origins of the Ainu" (http:/ / www. pbs. org/ wgbh/ nova/ hokkaido/ ainu. html). . Retrieved May 8,

2008.[21] Travis, John "Jomon Genes:Using DNA, researchers probe the genetic origins of modern Japanese" Science News February 15, 1997 Vol.

151 No. 7 p. 106 (http:/ / findarticles. com/ p/ articles/ mi_m1200/ is_n7_v151/ ai_19143382/ )[22] 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ainu[23] Tajima, Atsushi; et al. (2004). "Genetic origins of the Ainu inferred from combined DNA analyses of maternal and paternal lineages".

Journal of Human Genetics 49 (4): 187–193. doi:10.1007/s10038-004-0131-x. PMID 14997363.[24] http:/ / www. scs. uiuc. edu/ ~mcdonald/ WorldHaplogroupsMaps. pdf[25] Hammer, Michael F.; et al. (2006). "Dual origins of the Japanese: Common ground for hunter-gatherer and farmer Y chromosomes".

Journal of Human Genetics 51 (1): 47–58. doi:10.1007/s10038-005-0322-0. PMID 16328082.

Ainu people 13

[26] Tanaka, Masashi; et al. (2004). "Mitochondrial Genome Variation in Eastern Asia and the Peopling of Japan" (http:/ / www. pubmedcentral.nih. gov/ articlerender. fcgi?tool=pmcentrez& artid=524407). Genome Research 14 (10A): 1832–1850. doi:10.1101/gr.2286304.PMID 15466285. PMC 524407.

[27] Noboru Adachi, Ken-ichi Shinoda, Kazuo Umetsu, and Hirofumi Matsumura, "Mitochondrial DNA Analysis of Jomon Skeletons From theFunadomari Site, Hokkaido, and Its Implication for the Origins of Native American," American Journal of Physical Anthropology138:255–265 (2009)

[28] Han-Jun Jin, Ki-Cheol Kim, and Wook Kim, "Genetic Diversity of Two Haploid Markers in the Udegey Population From SoutheasternSiberia," American Journal of Physical Anthropology (2010)

[29] Miroslava Derenko, Boris Malyarchuk, Tomasz Grzybowski, Galina Denisova, Irina Dambueva, Maria Perkova, Choduraa Dorzhu, FainaLuzina, Hong Kyu Lee, Tomas Vanecek, Richard Villems, and Ilia Zakharov, "Phylogeographic Analysis of Mitochondrial DNA in NorthernAsian Populations," American Journal of Human Genetics, 2007 November; 81(5): 1025–1041.

[30] Toomas Kivisild, Helle-Viivi Tolk, Jüri Parik, Yiming Wang, Surinder S. Papiha, Hans-Jürgen Bandelt and Richard Villems, "TheEmerging Limbs and Twigs of the East Asian mtDNA Tree," Molecular Biology and Evolution 19:1737–1751 (2002).

[31] Reddy BM, Langstieh BT, Kumar V, Nagaraja T, Reddy ANS et al. (2007), "Austro-Asiatic Tribes of Northeast India Provide HithertoMissing Genetic Link between South and Southeast Asia." PLoS ONE 2(11): e1141. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0001141

[32] Yong-Gang Yao, Qing-Peng Kong, Hans-Jürgen Bandelt et al., "Phylogeographic Differentiation of Mitochondrial DNA in Han Chinese,"American Journal of Human Genetics 70:635–651, 2002.

[33] Shigematsu, Masahito; et al. (2004). "Morphological affinities between Jomon and Ainu: Reassessment based on nonmetric cranial traits".Anthropological Science 112 (2): 161–172. doi:10.1537/ase.00092.

[34] Russian Empire Census of 1897: Totals (http:/ / demoscope. ru/ weekly/ ssp/ rus_lan_97. php?reg=o) Russian Empire Census of 1897:Sakhalin (http:/ / demoscope. ru/ weekly/ ssp/ rus_lan_97. php?reg=113) (Russian)

[35] http:/ / www. perepis2002. ru/ ct/ doc/ English/ 4-2. xls[36] http:/ / www. perepis2002. ru/ ct/ doc/ English/ 4-3. xls[37] http:/ / www. perepis2002. ru/ index. html?id=87[38] Hohmann, S. 2008, "The Ainu's modern struggle" in World Watch, Vol 21., No. 6, pp. 20–24.[39] Vovin, A. 1993, A Reconstruction of Proto-Ainu, Brill, p. 3[40] Shibatani, M. 1990, The Languages of Japan, Cambridge University Press, London, p. 3[41] Shibatani, M. 1990, The Languages of Japan, Cambridge university Press, London, p. 5[42] Omniglot, 2009, “Ainu”, retrieved August 2, 2009, http:/ / www. omniglot. com/ writing/ ainu. htm[43] Kennewick Man Skeletal Find May Revolutionalize Continent's History (http:/ / www. sciencedaily. com/ releases/ 2006/ 04/

060425183740. htm), Science Daily, April 2006.[44] ANTHROPOLOGY: Kennewick Man's Contemporaries (http:/ / www. sciencemag. org/ cgi/ content/ summary/ 280/ 5361/ 191), Science.[45] Cavalli-Sforza. The History and Geography of Human Genes p.253, ISBN 0-691-08750-4: "The synthetic maps suggest a previously

unsuspected center of expansion from the Sea of Japan but cannot indicate dates. This development could be tied to the Jōmon period, but onecannot entirely exclude the pre-Jōmon period and that it might be responsible for a migration to the Americas. A major source of food in thosepre-agricultural times came from fishing, then as now, and this would have limited for ecological reasons the area of expansion to thecoastline, perhaps that of the Sea of Japan, but also father along the Pacific Coast."

[46] http:/ / www. cais. hokudai. ac. jp/ en/ index. html[47] Links to these organizations needed, also Tokyo Ainu documentary, http:/ / www. 2kamuymintara. com/ film/ top. htm, and http:/ / www.

2kamuymintara. com/ film/ groups. htm has links to Tokyo area Ainu groups.[48] Mark A. Levin, Essential Commodities and Racial Justice: Using Constitutional Protection of Japan’s Indigenous Ainu People to Inform

Understandings of the United States and Japan (http:/ / ssrn. com/ abstract=1635451), New York University Journal of International Law andPolitics, Vol. 33, pp. 445-46, 2001

[49] Levin, Mark (trans.), Kayano et al. v. Hokkaido Expropriation Committee: ‘The Nibutani Dam Decision’ (1999). International LegalMaterials, Vol. 38, p. 394, 1999. Available at SSRN: http:/ / ssrn. com/ abstract=1635447 p. 11

[50] Mark A. Levin, Essential Commodities (http:/ / ssrn. com/ abstract=1635451) p. 447[51] Idem. (http:/ / ssrn. com/ abstract=1635451), p. 443[52] Nibutani Dam Decision (Levin trans.) (http:/ / ssrn. com/ abstract=1635447); see also Idem. (http:/ / ssrn. com/ abstract=1635451), p. 442[53] Nibutani Dam Decision (Levin trans.) (http:/ / ssrn. com/ abstract=1635447); see also Mark A. Levin, The Wajin’s Whiteness: Law and Race

Privilege in Japan (http:/ / ssrn. com/ abstract=1551462), Horitsu Jiho, Vol. 80, No. 2, 2008[54] [Constitution of Japan http:/ / www. solon. org/ Constitutions/ Japan/ English/ english-Constitution. html], Art. 13; [International Covenant

on Civil and Political Rights http:/ / www2. ohchr. org/ english/ law/ ccpr. htm][55] Act for the Promotion of Ainu Culture & Dissemination of Knowledge Regarding Ainu Traditions (Hitchingham trans.) (http:/ / www.

hawaii. edu/ aplpj/ articles/ APLPJ_01. 1_hitchingham_masako. pdf); see also, Mark A. Levin, Essential Commodities (http:/ / ssrn. com/abstract=1635451) p. 467

[56] Citation to Levin and Tsunemoto in Oklahoma Law Review[57] Citation to Siddle's book[58] Act for the Promotion of Ainu Culture & Dissemination of Knowledge Regarding Ainu Traditions (Hitchingham trans.) (http:/ / www.

hawaii. edu/ aplpj/ articles/ APLPJ_01. 1_hitchingham_masako. pdf)

Ainu people 14

[59] Citation needed

References and further reading• Batchelor, John (1901). "On the Ainu Term `Kamui". The Ainu and Their Folklore. London: Religious Tract

Society.• Etter, Carl (2004) [1949]. Ainu Folklore: Traditions and Culture of the Vanishing Aborigines of Japan. Whitfish,

MT: Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 1417976977.• Fitzhugh, William W.; Dubreuil, Chisato O. (1999). Ainu: Spirit of a Northern People. Seattle: University of

Washington Press. ISBN 0295979127. OCLC 42801973.• Honda Katsuichi (1993) (in Japanese). Ainu Minzoku. Tokyo: Asahi Shimbun Publishing. ISBN 4022565772.

OCLC 29601145.• Ichiro Hori (1968). Folk Religion in Japan: Continuity and Change. Haskell lectures on History of religions. 1.

Chicago: University of Chicago Press.• Junko Habu (2004). Ancient Jomon of Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521776708.

OCLC 53131386.• Hitchingham, Masako Yoshida (trans.), Act for the Promotion of Ainu Culture & Dissemination of Knowledge

Regarding Ainu Traditions (http:/ / www. hawaii. edu/ aplpj/ articles/ APLPJ_01. 1_hitchingham_masako. pdf),Asian-Pacific Law & Policy Journal, vol. 1, no. 1 (2000).

• Kayano, Shigeru (1994). Our Land Was A Forest: An Ainu Memoir. Westview Press. ISBN 0-8133-1880-7. ISBN978-0-8133-1880-6.

• Landor, A. Henry Savage (1893). Alone with the Hairy Ainu. Or, 3,800 miles on a Pack Saddle in Yezo and aCruise to the Kurile Islands. London: John Murray.

• Levin, Mark, Essential Commodities and Racial Justice: Using Constitutional Protection of Japan’s IndigenousAinu People to Inform Understandings of the United States and Japan (2001). New York University ofInternational Law and Politics, Vol. 33, p, 419, 2001 . Available at SSRN: http:/ / ssrn. com/ abstract=1635451

• Levin, Mark (trans.), Kayano et al. v. Hokkaido Expropriation Committee: ‘The Nibutani Dam Decision’ (1999).International Legal Materials, Vol. 38, p. 394, 1999. Available at SSRN: http:/ / ssrn. com/ abstract=1635447

• Siddle, Richard (1996). Race, Resistance and the Ainu of Japan. London: Routledge. ISBN 0415132282.OCLC 243850790 33947034.

• Starr, Frederick (1905). "The Hairy Ainu of Japan". Proceedings of the Second Yearly Meeting of the IowaAnthopological Association (Iowa City: State Historical Society of Iowa).

• Walker, Brett (2001). The Conquest of Ainu Lands: Ecology and Culture in Japanese Expansion, 1590–1800.Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0520227360. OCLC 45958211 59471355 70749620.

• Article on the Ainu in Japan's Minorities: The Illusion of Homogeneity.

External links• The Ainu Museum at Shiraoi (http:/ / www. ainu-museum. or. jp/ english/ english. html)• Smithsonian Institution (http:/ / www. mnh. si. edu/ arctic/ features/ ainu/ )• Hokkaido Utari Kyokai (http:/ / www. ainu-assn. or. jp/ )• Sapporo Pirka Kotan Ainu Cultural Center (http:/ / www. welcome. city. sapporo. jp/ pirka/ index-e. html)• Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Ainu (http:/ / city. hokkai. or. jp/ ~ayaedu/ ) in Samani,

Hokkaido• Ainu-North American cultural similarities (http:/ / www. molli. org. uk/ explorers/ the_regions/ north_america.

asp)• Foundation for Research and Promotion of Ainu Culture (centers located in Sapporo and Tokyo) (http:/ / www.

frpac. or. jp/ eng/ e_prf/ index. html)

Ainu people 15

• Hokkaido University Center for Ainu and Indigenous Studies (http:/ / www. cais. hokudai. ac. jp/ en/ index. html)• Ainu Lineage (http:/ / www. cwo. com/ ~lucumi/ shogun. html)• The Boone Collection (http:/ / www. fieldmuseum. org/ research_collections/ anthropology/ anthro_sites/ boone/

ainu/ gal_jp_ainua. html)• Nibutani Ainu Cultural Museum (in Japanese) (http:/ / www. ainu-museum-nibutani. org/ )• Ainu Komonjo (18th & 19th century records) – Ohnuki Collection (http:/ / digital. library. wisc. edu/ 1711. dl/

EastAsian. JapanRice)• Article in The Christian Science Monitor (http:/ / www. csmonitor. com/ 2008/ 0609/ p04s01-woap. html), June 9,

2008

Ainu language 16

Ainu language

Ainu アイヌ・イタㇰ Aynu itak

Pronunciation [ˈainu iˈtak]

Spoken in Japan

Region Hokkaidō

Total speakers ~100s

Language family Ainu. When considered a single language, classified as a language isolate

Writing system Japanese katakana syllabaries, Latin alphabet

Language codes

ISO 639-1 None

ISO 639-2 ain[1]

ISO 639-3 ain [2]

Linguasphere

Ainu (Ainu: アイヌ・イタㇰ, Aynu itak; Japanese: アイヌ語 Ainu-go; Cyrillic alphabet: Аину итак) is one of theAinu languages, spoken by members of the Ainu ethnic group on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaidō.Until the twentieth century, Ainu languages were also spoken throughout the southern half of the island of Sakhalinand by small numbers of people in the Kuril Islands. All but the Hokkaidō language are extinct, with the last speakerof Sakhalin Ainu having died in 1994; and Hokkaidō Ainu is moribund, though there are ongoing attempts to reviveit.Ainu has no generally accepted genealogical relationship to any other language family. For the most frequentproposals, see Ainu languages.

Speakers

Pirka Kotan museum, Ainu language and culturalcenter in Sapporo (Jozankei area)

Ainu is a moribund language, and has been endangered for at least thepast few decades. Most of the 25,000 – 200,000 ethnic Ainu in Japanspeak only Japanese. In the town of Nibutani (part of Biratori,Hokkaidō) where many of the remaining native speakers live, there are100 speakers, out of which only 15 used the language every day in thelate 1980s.

However, use of the language is on the rise. There is currently anactive movement to revitalize the language — mainly in Hokkaidō butalso elsewhere — to reverse the centuries-long decline in the numberof speakers. This has led to an increasing number of second-languagelearners, especially in Hokkaidō, in large part due to the pioneeringefforts of the late Ainu folklorist, activist and former Diet member Shigeru Kayano, himself a native speaker.

Ainu language 17

PhonologyAinu syllables are CV(C) (that is, they have an obligatory syllable onset and an optional syllable coda) and there arefew consonant clusters.

VowelsThere are five vowel sounds in Ainu:

Front Central Back

Close i u

Mid e o

Open a

Consonants

Bilabial Labio-velar

Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal

Stop p t k ʔ

Affricate ts

Nasal m n

Fricative s h

Approximant w j

Tap/flap ɾ

The glottal stop /ʔ/ only occurs at the beginning of words, before an accented vowel. The sequence /ti/ is realized as[t ͡ʃi], and /s/ becomes [ʃ] before /i/ and at the end of syllables. The affricate /ts/ has voiced and post-alveolar variants.There is some variation among dialects; in the Sakhalin dialect, syllable-final /p, t, k, r/ lenited and merged into /x/.After an /i/, this /x/ is pronounced [ç].There is a pitch accent system. The accentuation of specific words varies somewhat from dialect to dialect.Generally, words including affixes have a high pitch on the stem, or on the first syllable if it is closed or has adiphthong, while other words have the high pitch on the second syllable, although there are exceptions to thisgeneralization.

Typology and grammarTypologically, Ainu is similar in word order (and some aspects of phonology) to Japanese.Ainu has a canonical word order of SOV[3] , and it uses postpositions rather than prepositions. Nouns can cluster tomodify one another; the head comes at the end. Verbs, which are inherently either transitive or intransitive, acceptvarious derivational affixes. Ainu does not have grammatical gender. Plurals are indicated by a suffix.[3]

Ainu traditionally featured incorporation of nouns and adverbs; this is rare in the modern colloquial language.Applicatives may be used in Ainu to place nouns in the dative, instrumental, comitative, locative, allative, or ablativeroles. Besides freestanding nouns, these roles may be assigned to incorporated nouns, and such use of applicatives isin fact mandatory for incorporating oblique nouns. Like incorporation, applicatives have grown less common in themodern language.Ainu has a closed class of plural verbs, and some of these are suppletive.

Ainu language 18

WritingOfficially, the Ainu language is written in a modified version of the Japanese katakana syllabary. There is also aLatin-based alphabet in use. The Ainu Times publishes in both. In the Latin orthography, /ts/ is spelt c and /j/ as y;/ʔ/, which only occurs initially before accented vowels, is not written. Other phonemes use the same character as theIPA transcription given above. An equals sign (=) is used to mark morpheme boundaries, such as after a prefix. Itspitch accent is denoted by acute accent in Latin (e.g., á). This is usually not denoted in katakana.

Special katakana for the Ainu language

A Unicode standard exists for a set of extended katakana (Katakana Phonetic Extensions) for transliterating the Ainulanguage and other languages written with katakana.[4] These characters are used to write final consonants andsounds that cannot be expressed using conventional katakana. The extended katakana are based on regular katakanaand either are smaller in size or have a handakuten. As few fonts yet support these extensions, workarounds exist formany of the characters, such as using a smaller font with the regular katakana ク ku to produce ク to represent theseparate small katakana glyph ㇰ ku used as in アイヌイタㇰ (Aynu itak).This is a list of special katakana used in transcribing the Ainu language. Most of the characters are of the extendedset of katakana, though a few have been used historically in Japanese, and thus are part of the main set of katakana.A number of previously proposed characters have not been added to Unicode as they can be represented as asequence of two existing codepoints.

Character Unicode Appearance Name Ainu usage

ㇰ 31F0 ク Katakana Letter Small Ku Final k

ㇱ 31F1 シ Katakana Letter Small Shi Final s [ɕ]

ㇲ 31F2 ス Katakana Letter Small Su Final s, used to emphasize it's pronounced [s] rather than normal[ɕ]. [s] and [ʃ] are allophones in Ainu.

ㇳ 31F3 ト Katakana Letter Small To Final t

ㇴ 31F4 ヌ Katakana Letter Small Nu Final n

ㇵ 31F5 ハ Katakana Letter Small Ha Final h [x], succeeding the vowel a. (e.g. アㇵ ah) Sakhalin dialectonly.

ㇶ 31F6 ヒ Katakana Letter Small Hi Final h [ç], succeeding the vowel i. (e.g. イㇶ ih) Sakhalin dialectonly.

ㇷ 31F7 フ Katakana Letter Small Fu Final h [x], succeeding the vowel u. (e.g. ウㇷ uh) Sakhalin dialectonly.

ㇸ 31F8 ヘ Katakana Letter Small He Final h [x], succeeding the vowel e. (e.g. エㇸ eh) Sakhalin dialectonly.

ㇹ 31F9 ホ Katakana Letter Small Ho Final h [x], succeeding the vowel o. (e.g. オㇹ oh) Sakhalin dialectonly.

ㇺ 31FA ム Katakana Letter Small Mu Final m

ㇻ 31FB ラ Katakana Letter Small Ra Final r [ɾ], succeeding the vowel a. (e.g. アㇻ ar)

ㇼ 31FC リ Katakana Letter Small Ri Final r [ɾ], succeeding the vowel i. (e.g. イㇼ ir)

ㇽ 31FD ル Katakana Letter Small Ru Final r [ɾ], succeeding the vowel u. (e.g. ウㇽ ur)

ㇾ 31FE レ Katakana Letter Small Re Final r [ɾ], succeeding the vowel e. (e.g. エㇾ er)

ㇿ 31FF ロ Katakana Letter Small Ro Final r [ɾ], succeeding the vowel o. (e.g. オㇿ or)

Rejected characters (Unicode represents them using combining characters)

Ainu language 19

ㇷ゚ 31F7 +309A

プ Katakana Letter Small Pu Final p

セ゚ 30BB +309A

セ゜ Katakana Letter Se WithSemi-Voiced Sound Mark

ce [tse]

ツ゚ 30C4 +309A

ツ゜ Katakana Letter Tu WithSemi-Voiced Sound Mark

tu. ツ゜ and ト゜ are interchangeable.

ト゚ 30C8 +309A

ト゜ Katakana Letter To WithSemi-Voiced Sound Mark

tu. ツ゜ and ト゜ are interchangeable.

Basic syllables

a[a]

i[i]

u[u̜]

e[e]

o[o]

a ア[a]

i イ[i]

u ウ[u̜]

e エ[e]

o オ[o]

k[k] 1

ka カ[ka]

ki キ[ki]

ku ク[ku̜]

ke ケ[ke]

ko コ[ko]

-k ク[-k̚]

s[s] ~ [ʃ]

sa シャ/サ2

[sa] ~ [ʃa]

si シ[ʃi]

su シュ/ス 2

[su̜] ~ [ʃu̜]se シェ/セ 2

[se] ~ [ʃe]so ショ/ソ 2

[so] ~ [ʃo]

-s シ/ス 2

[-ɕ]

t[t] 1

ta タ[ta]

ci チ[tʃi]

tu ト゜/ツ゜2

[tu̜]

te テ[te]

to ト[to]

-t ト/ッ 3

[-t̚]

c[ts] ~ [tʃ] 1

ca チャ

[tsa] ~ [tʃa]ci チ[tʃi]

cu チュ

[tsu̜] ~ [tʃu̜]ce チェ

[tse] ~ [tʃe]co チョ

[tso] ~ [tʃo]

n[n]

na ナ[na]

ni ニ[nʲi]

nu ヌ[nu̜]

ne ネ[ne]

no ノ[no]

-n ヌ/ン 4

[-n, -m-, -ŋ-] 5

h 6

[h]

ha ハ[ha]

hi ヒ[çi]

hu フ[ɸu̜]

he ヘ[he]

ho ホ[ho]

-h 6

[-x]

-ah ハ[-ax]

-ih ヒ[-iç]

-uh フ[-u̜x]

-eh ヘ[-ex]

-oh ホ[-ox]

p[p] 1

pa パ[pa]

pi ピ[pi]

pu プ[pu̜]

pe ペ[pe]

po ポ[po]

-p プ[-p̚]

Ainu language 20

m[m]

ma マ[ma]

mi ミ[mi]

mu ム[mu̜]

me メ[me]

mo モ[mo]

-m ム[-m]

y[j]

ya ヤ[ja]

yu ユ[ju̜]

ye イェ

[je]yo ヨ[jo]

r[ɾ]

ra ラ[ɾa]

ri リ[ɾi]

ru ル[ɾu̜]

re レ[ɾe]

ro ロ[ɾo]

-ar ラ2

[-aɾ]-ir リ2

[-iɾ]-ur ル2

[-u̜ɾ]-er レ2

[-eɾ]-or ロ2

[-oɾ]

-r ル2

[-ɾ]

w[w]

wa ワ[wa]

wi ウィ/ヰ2

[wi]

we ウェ/ヱ2

[we]

wo ウォ/ヲ2

[wo]

1: k, t, c, p are sometimes voiced [ɡ], [d], [dz] ~ [dʒ], [b], respectively. It doesn't change the meaning of aword, but it sounds more rough/masculine. When they are voiced, they may be written as g, d, j, dz, b, ガ, ダ,ヂャ, ヅァ, バ, etc.2: Both used according to actual pronunciations, or to writer's preferred styles.3: ッ is final t at the end of a word. (e.g. pet = ペッ = ペト) In the middle of a polysyllabic word, it's a finalconsonant preceding the initial with a same value. (e.g. orta /otta/ = オッタ. オロタ is not preferred.)4: At the end of a word, n can be written either ヌ or ン. In the middle of a polysyllabic word, it's ン. (e.g.tan-mosir = タンモシリ = タヌ+モシリ, but not タヌモシリ.)5: [m] before [p], [ŋ] before [k], [n] elsewhere. Unlike Japanese, it does not become other sounds such as nasalvowels.6: Initial h [h] and final h [x] are different phenomes. Final h exists in Sakhalin dialect only.

Diphthongs

Final [ɪ] is spelled y in Latin, small ィ in katakana. Final [ʊ] is spelt w in Latin, small ゥ in katakana. [ae] is speltae, アエ, or アェ.Example with initial k:

[kaɪ] [ku̜ɪ] [koɪ] [kaʊ] [kiʊ] [keʊ] [koʊ] [keɪ]

kay kuy koy kaw kiw kew kow key

カィ クィ コィ カゥ キゥ ケゥ コゥ ケィ

Since the above rule is used systematically, some katakana combinations have different sounds from conventionalJapanese.

Ainu language 21

ウィ クィ スィ ティ トゥ フィ

Ainu [wi], [u̜ɪ] [ku̜ɪ] [su̜ɪ] [teɪ] [toʊ] [ɸu̜ɪ]

Japanese [wi] [kɰi] ~ [kwi] [si] [ti] [tɯ] [ɸi]

Long vowels

There are long vowels in Sakhalin dialect. Either circumflex or macron is used in Latin, long vowel sign (ー) is usedin katakana.Example with initial k:

[kaː] [kiː] [kuː] [keː] [koː]

kâ kî kû kê kô

kā kī kū kē kō

カー キー クー ケー コー

Oral literatureThe Ainu have a rich oral tradition of hero-sagas called Yukar, which retain a number of grammatical and lexicalarchaisms.

Notes[1] http:/ / www. loc. gov/ standards/ iso639-2/ codechanges. html[2] http:/ / www. sil. org/ iso639-3/ documentation. asp?id=ain[3] (http:/ / wals. info/ languoid/ lect/ wals_code_ain)[4] See this page (http:/ / www. alanwood. net/ unicode/ katakana_phonetic_extensions. html) at alanwood.net and this section (http:/ / www.

unicode. org/ charts/ PDF/ U31F0. pdf) of the Unicode specification.

References and further reading• Refsing, Kirsten (1986). The Ainu Language: The Morphology and Syntax of the Shizunai Dialect. Aarhus:

Aarhus University Press. ISBN 8-772-88020-1.• Refsing, Kirsten (1996). Early European Writings on the Ainu Language. London: Routledge.

ISBN 0-700-70400-0.• Shibatani, Masayoshi (1990). The Languages of Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

ISBN 0-521-36918-5.• Tamura, Suzuko (2000). The Ainu Language. Tokyo: Sanseido. ISBN 4-385-35976-8.

Ainu language 22

See also• List of Ainu terms• Ainu music• Kannari Matsu• Kyōsuke Kindaichi• Bronisław Piłsudski

External links• Literature and materials for learning Ainu (http:/ / jinbunweb. sgu. ac. jp/ ~ainu/ biblio/ european.

html#AinuLib1)• The Book of Common Prayer in Ainu (http:/ / justus. anglican. org/ resources/ bcp/ Japan/ ainu. htm)• Ethnologue entry for Ainu (http:/ / www. ethnologue. com/ show_language. asp?code=ain)• Information at the Rosetta Project (http:/ / www. rosettaproject. org/ archive/ language-isolate/ asia/ ain/

view?searchterm=Ainu)• Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Ainu (http:/ / city. hokkai. or. jp/ ~ayaedu/ ) in Samani,

Hokkaidō• A Grammar of the Ainu Language (http:/ / www. bbc. co. uk/ dna/ h2g2/ A17278257) by John Batchelor• An Ainu-English-Japanese Dictionary, including A Grammar of the Ainu Language (http:/ / www. archive. org/

details/ ainuenglishjapan00batcuoft) by John Batchelor• "The 'Greater Austric' hypothesis" (http:/ / jdbengt. net/ articles/ Austric. pdf) by John Bengtson (undated)• Ainu for Beginners (http:/ / www. unilang. org/ course. php?res=58) by Kane Kumagai, translated by Yongdeok

Cho• (Japanese) Radio lessons on Ainu language presented by Sapporo TV (http:/ / www. stv. ne. jp/ radio/ ainugo/

index. html)• (Japanese) Ainu word list (http:/ / www. geocities. jp/ ainuitak/ aynu. htm) ( Archived (http:/ / www. webcitation.

org/ query?id=1256433739517945) 2009-10-24)

Ainu cuisine 23

Ainu cuisineAinu cuisine is the cuisine of the ethnic Ainu in Japan. The cuisine differs markedly from that of the Wajin, orethnic Japanese. Ainu cuisine, for instance, does not prepare raw meats like sashimi instead preferring to boil, roastor cure meat. The island of Hokkaidō in northern Japan is where most Ainu live today; however, they once inhabitedmost of the Kuril islands, the southern half of Sakhalin island, and parts of northern Honshū Island.Until recently, the Ainu were thought to be exclusively a hunter-gatherer society, but recent excavations on theHokkaido University campus have revealed extensive fossilized grains. There are very few Ainu restaurants in theworld, such as Ashiri Kotan Nakanoshima in Sapporo, and Poron'no and Marukibune in Ainu Kotan, Hokkaidō.

Ingredients of the Ainu Cuisine

Traditionally, women usually gathered wild plants suchas Pukusa.

Crops

• Deccan grass• Foxtail and Chinese millet• Wheat• Buckwheat• Beans

Wild plants

• Pukusa, a wild garlic also known as kitopiro, gyouja nin'niku (ギョウジャニンニク or ascetic garlic) andainu-negi (アイヌネギ or ainu negi) in Japanese. Pukusa is very similar to ramps found in Canada and theUnited States in taste, texture and appearance.

Animals

Hunting

• Bear• Deer• Fox• Raccoon dogs• Rabbits• Seals• Whales• Hazel Grouse• Mallard

Ainu cuisine 24

Recipes and dishes of note in Ainu cuisine• Kitokam - a sausage flavored with pukusa• Munciro sayo - millet porridge• Ruibe - a thin slice of frozen salmon• Sito - a dumpling made from rice or millet• Ohaw or rur, a savory soup flavored with fish or animal bones. Kelp is also used to add flavor to the stock. Unlike

the majority of the traditional Japanese soups, the Ainu do not use miso or soy sauce in their soups.[1] The solidingredients such as meat, fish, vegetables and/or wild edible plants are added to the stock.• cep ohaw - salmon soup• kam ohaw - meat soup• yuk ohaw - venison soup• pukusa ohaw - pukusa soup• pukusakina ohaw - anemone soup

• Munini-imo [munin ("fermented" in Ainu) + imo ("potatoes" in Japanese)], savory pancakes made with potatoflour. Potatoes are first fermented underground by the repeated freeze-thaw cycles, and then milled and dried. Theflour is soaked in water in order to remove the bitter taste and then baked on a griddle like a thick pancake. Thepotato flour made with this process can be easily stored for at least twenty years. The munini-imo is very stickylike mochi.

Sources• Ainu Agriculture [2]

• Origins of Ainu [3]

• English site of the Ainu Museum [1]

• Official site of an Ainu restaurant in Tokyo, "Rera Cise" [4] (Japanese)

• Official site of an Ainu restaurant in Ainu Kotan, "Poron'no" [5] (Japanese)

• Official site of an Ainu restaurant in Ainu Kotan, "Marukibune by Moshiri" [6] (Japanese)

References[1] http:/ / www. ainu-museum. or. jp/ english/ english. html[2] http:/ / www. ainu-museum. or. jp/ english/ eng06. html[3] http:/ / www. pbs. org/ wgbh/ nova/ hokkaido/ ainu2. html[4] http:/ / www2. odn. ne. jp/ rera/[5] http:/ / jns. ixla. jp/ users/ taka20001116845/ autumn_y_005. htm[6] http:/ / www. sh. rim. or. jp/ ~moshiri/ marukibune/ rest. html

Ainu music 25

Ainu music

Oki Ainu Dub Band live in Rudolstadt, July 6, 2007. The two musicians are playingzithers called tonkori.

Ainu music refers to the musicaltraditions of the Ainu people ofnorthern Japan.

Genres include the oldest, yukar(mimicry), which is a form of epicpoetry, and upopo, in which "thesecond contrapuntal voice had toimitate the musical formula in the firstcontrapuntal voice (not heard until thelast moment), at an interval muchshorter than that in our western canons,since the second voice attacks thepreceding musical formula before thefirst voice has finished it." (Nattiez1990, p.71)

The most famous contemporaryperformer of Ainu music appears to bethe revivalist Oki.

Traditional Ainu music

Ainu music carries spiritual resonance in almost all of its forms, and it has played an important role in both thecultural history and the cultural renaissance of the Ainu people. Almost every type of Ainu song is sacred, and eventhe musical instruments are said to be imbued with souls (Ohnuki-Tierney 53). Traditional Ainu music can bedivided into two major groups — everyday songs and epic songs. Everyday songs in Ainu tradition were sung inmany situations and on an impromptu basis. They were often accompanied by the two most prevalent Ainu musicalinstruments: the tonkori, a plucked zither, and the mukkuri, a Jew's harp played by women. These everyday songs areshort, fairly simple, and center on an activity like a game or work. The act of singing is itself used as a game in someinstances, such as Rekuhkara (Ainu throat-singing) competitions between women. Work songs are rhythmic, withlyrics and melodies based on the work with which they are sung. However, even such everyday songs have sacredrather than mundane meanings. "Chants like the kar upopo (sake-making song) and the iyuta upopo (the poundingsong)…are not labor songs; rather, they are magic-oriented, for they are sung to ward off evil spirits," (Kazuyuki283). Short, everyday songs are also a way of praying. These prayer songs are (or were) performed regularly beforemeals, after a fishing trip, to ask for luck in hunting, and in many other contexts. Unfortunately, material abouteveryday songs is very difficult to obtain. Many have never been recorded.

Ainu epic songs, yukar, are performed as long monologues. The singer performs the song entirely from memory, and, traditionally, in a non-formal setting such as a friend’s house or before the hearth at a gathering. While somewhat casual, these epics are still more formal than the short prayer songs mentioned earlier. Both men and women recite Ainu epics, though the vocal qualities of women are considered preferable to those of men. The epic songs are fairly rhythmic melodic chants. The voice of the singer usually fluctuates within words, and phrases and sentences are distinguished by the melody. Singers strive for their audience to understand every word. The epic is unaccompanied by musical instruments, though at times both the singer and the listener might tap repni, or simple blocks of wood, against the hearth or the floor to help keep time and punctuate the epic. Certain paintings also show

Ainu music 26

these epics being performed lying down, with the singer beating time on his or her abdomen with the hands, but thispractice has faded into obscurity (Philippi 26).Epics themselves take several different forms. Following Philippi’s model and dividing them in two different ways,they can be distinguished by both subject and style. Philippi divides epic subjects into two groups: mythic narrativesand heroic narratives (23). Mythic narratives are those epics featuring origin stories and stories of deities, whileheroic narratives are those narratives featuring the cultural heroes of the Ainu. Mythic narratives can be told eitherfrom the point of view of a human observer or from the point of view of the divine participant. One of the mostdistinctive aspects of Ainu epics is this first person god point of view. Heroic narratives feature one of several majorculture heroes, or recurring protagonists of mythical origins, such as Kotan-Kor-Kamui, or the Owl God. Thoughthese culture heroes are often presented as gods, they are more human than they seem. They are analogous to theNavajo and Apache Coyote; while he is a god, he is representative of human interests and foibles. Stylistically, epicscan be divided into two more categories. Some epics are novelistic and feature a set chain of events involving godsand humans, while others, which Philippi refers to as parodies, feature abnormal situations — unexplainedphenomena and dreams, presented without a clear chronological narrative (24). These "parody" epics are very rare.Epics, as well as a few of the more everyday songs, are regularly featured in Ainu ceremonies. For example, themost famous of Ainu cultural events, the "bear-sending ceremony," is accompanied by a whole host of songs, not theleast of which is the "Song of a Bear," a mythic epic. This epic relates the story of the bear god, who, in saving hisyoung son, is killed by human hunters. The song both presents the situation from the god’s point of view — he isconfused when he is killed, and doesn’t recognize his own dead body for what it is — and prescribes the methods forthe bear-sending ceremony. The premise for the bear-sending is that the bear god is trapped in his mortal body, andby killing the bear in a ritualized, respectful manner, humans are doing the god a favor and sending him home. Thesong describes the inau, or carved sticks that are used as holy objects by the Ainu, as well as the prayers andceremonies that are used to send the bear home. In this way, the ceremony and the epic are somewhat inseparable.The activities of the ceremony are outlined by the epic, and the epic accompanies the ceremony to reinforce it.Though the epic can be performed outside of the ceremony, it cannot exist without the ceremony as context, and theceremony cannot be performed without the epic. These epics, as well as the everyday songs, represent the culturalheritage of the Ainu and allow us to understand customs and their mythic significance, but they also act as indicatorsof the relative well-being of the Ainu culture.

Identity and marginalizationAinu music has been important throughout the years in both reflecting and establishing the Ainu cultural identity.Ainu music, historically, has represented the state of Ainu society. The folkloric epics of the Ainu often refer directlyto the state of the Ainu as a group. For example, when the Ainu were first conquered, in the period of decline afterthe 16th century, the culture heroes featured in the heroic types of epics were said to have "departed in indignation,"(Philippi 14). In addition to this kind of direct representation of Ainu cultural identity, the variable increase anddecline of Ainu music is also indicative of Ainu culture. In the peak Ainu period, the most complex and fantasticepics were created, stretching out to tens of thousands of verses and building on new and complex ideas. In the mostdesperate period for the Ainu, however, in late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the population declined to only15,000 or so, Ainu music was very scarce; even the famous bear-sending ceremony was described as a"once-in-a-lifetime" experience in 1948 (Kayano 99).The pressure on Ainu music throughout their history as a people under the rule of a dominant majority has come largely from the Japanese government. The Japanese government deliberately banned Ainu language, music, and dance (including the bear ceremony) in 1799 in an attempt to homogenize the Ainu with the larger Japanese population. In addition to this, through pressure and in governmental institutions such as schools (Siddle 17), "on every possible occasion the Bakufu persuaded the natives to follow the Japanese way," (Shinichiro 77). This attitude, that the Ainu should do as much as possible to become Japanese, existed in the government well into the 20th

Ainu music 27

century. A railway tourism manual published in 1941 reflects not only this attitude, but also the idea that the Ainuwere happy to have their culture suppressed in this way. "They have a special aversion to distinctive treatment, andhave Japanized themselves in every respect. They have abandoned their native customs and manners, forgotten theAinu tongue and effected a complete change in their daily life." It continues, "They requested of the Government acensus whereby they might become recognized Japanese subjects. This the Government instituted and the Ainu wereaccepted as common people. Consequently, they are now so Japanesque that their characteristics as an Ainu race willvanish before long," (Kyosuke 10). While these excerpts are indicative of the attitude of the government that theAinu should conform to the rest of Japanese society, the pamphlet’s very existence counters the idea that they fit in.The pamphlet goes on to detail the very differences that make the Ainu worth writing a tourism pamphlet on,describing their customs and ceremonies and even pointing out their racial differences.This kind of contradiction is actually characteristic of the way the Japanese government has treated the Ainu,especially in the early 20th century. Besides publications such as the aforementioned pamphlet, the government alsocreated cultural shows featuring Ainu song and dance that acted as tourist attractions (this occurred, of course, afterthe ban on Ainu music had been lifted). Ainu singers and dancers could often only find an avenue for their talents,and in some cases, find any job at all, in these cultural shows. The shows featured sacred, ceremonial songs,especially those of the famous bear-sending. The songs would be repeated three or four times a day, for dozens oftourists. Kayano Shigeru, who some have called "Ainu personified" (Sjoberg 154), a prominent Ainu public figure,recalls the shows he participated in with shame. "It is beyond words for me to explain to others how miserable itmade us feel to sing and dance — albeit for money — in front of curious tourists from throughout Japan when weweren’t even happy or excited," (Kayano 119). The government was, in effect, encouraging certain aspects of Ainuculture while concurrently suppressing it as a whole. Ceremonial songs and dances became both a viable means ofmaking a living and a shameful badge of dishonor.In recent years, however, Ainu music has begun to take part in an intense Ainu cultural revival. The Ainu beganreclaiming their identity as a cultural group in the 1960s and 70s, meeting with one another, creating organizedgroups, and even developing an Ainu flag. While most of this reclamation occurred by way of peaceful meetings andbeneficial organizations such as Kayano Shigeru’s work for a national Ainu museum, some groups, like AinuLiberation, used terrorist tactics such as the bombing of October 23, 1972 to attract attention to their cause. As awhole, however, the movement for Ainu cultural identity has been exacted through cultural media such as art,storytelling, and music, and political tactics like voting blocs and nonviolent protests. In the 70s and 80s, festival andceremonial revivals began to occur, acting as a catalyst for cultural unity (Siddle 36). When Ainu ceremonies wereperformed regularly for the first time in years, it allowed Ainu to come together, to identify and get to know oneanother through the avenue of culture, and to bond through that avenue as well. In addition to the creation ofcommunity in this way, and because Ainu song is so firmly rooted in history, Ainu were able to reclaim theirfolkloric history through these ceremonies (Siddle 37).The revival of Ainu culture, and especially music, has meant more than just the development of a cohesive group ofAinu people, however. It has, not surprisingly, also resulted in the rise of an Ainu-music pop star on the Japanesestage. Oki Kano, the most prominent player of Ainu-inspired pop music in Japan, plays songs that are based on Ainuceremonial songs. They use indigenous Ainu instruments, Ainu language, and Ainu subject matter, but also includeWestern influences such as guitar and bass, and sound similar to American blues music. Oki Kano is fairly wellknown in Japan, and represents the idea of Ainu music to many Japanese people, even though his music is veryWesternized.

Ainu music 28

Famous Ainu composers• Akira Ifukube was very interested in Ainu music, and often utilized it in his film scores such as the famous Farou

Island chant in King Kong vs. Godzilla.

External links• Vanishing Ainu of North Japan [1] excerpt by Takakura, Shin'ichiro (Oct 1966)• Japan Times: Ainu group brings to U.S. musical message of peace [2] By Carolyn Nardiello - Requires login• THE TRADITIONAL MUSIC OF THE AINU – NEW APPROACHES AND FINDINGS [3] Journal of

Comparative Cultures - NO. 16. Sapporo University 2005, by Carlo Forlivesi

Sources• Kayano, Shigeru. Our Land Was a Forest: An Ainu Memoir. Boulder: Westview Press, 1980.• Kazuyuki, Tanimoto. "To Live is to Sing." Ainu: Spirit of a Northern People. Ed. William Fitzhugh and C.O.

Dubrueil. Washington, D.C.: University of Washington Press in assoc. Arctic Studies Center, National Museumof Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, 1999.

• Kazuyuki, Tanimoto."Music of the Ainu, Nivkhi, and Uilta." The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music. Eds.R.C. Provine, Y. Tokumaru, and J.L. Witzleben. New York: Routledge, 2002.

• Kyosuke, Kindaiti. Ainu Life and Legends. Tokyo: Board of Tourist Industry, Japanese Government Railways,1941.

• Nattiez, Jean-Jacques (1990). Music and Discourse: Toward a Semiology of Music (Musicologie générale etsémiologue, 1987). Translated by Carolyn Abbate (1990). ISBN 0-691-02714-5.

• Ohnuki-Tierney, Emiko. The Ainu of the Northwest Coast of Southern Sakhalin. Prospect Heights, IL: WavelandPress, 1974.

• Phillipi, Donald. Songs of Gods, Songs of Humans: The Epic Tradition of the Ainu. Tokyo: University of TokyoPress, 1979.

• Shinichiro, Takakura. "The Ainu of Northern Japan: A Study in Conquest and Acculturation." Transactions of theAmerican Philosophical Society. 4th part. 50 (1960).

• Siddle, Richard. "Ainu: Japan’s Indigenous People." Japan’s Minorities: The Illusion of Homogeneity. Ed.Michael Weiner. London: Routledge, 1997.

• Sjoberg, Katarina. The Return of the Ainu: Cultural Mobilization and the Practice of Ethnicity in Japan.Switzerland: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1993.

References[1] http:/ / cogweb. ucla. edu/ Discourse/ Narrative/ Takakura_96. html[2] http:/ / 202. 221. 217. 59/ print/ news/ nn02-2004/ nn20040226b7. htm[3] http:/ / ci. nii. ac. jp/ cinii/ servlet/ QuotDisp?LOCALID=ART0008078566& DB=NELS& USELANG=en

Article Sources and Contributors 29

Article Sources and ContributorsAinu creation myth  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=375241054  Contributors: Professor marginalia

Ainu people  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=395954132  Contributors: 1549bcp, 5 albert square, 84user, A-giau, A.Octavia, ABF, ACSE, AMorozov, Aelffin,Ahoerstemeier, Aitias, Ajcounter, Al-Andalus, Al95521, Alansohn, Alanyst, AlecTrevelyan402, Alexrcook, Alperkaan, Altenmann, Amake, Amikeco, Amire80, AmitLev, Andres,Andrewjlockley, Angr, Anthon.Eff, Apatheticresistance, Aphaia, AprilInParis, Ark25, Arthena, Arx Fortis, Ascidian, AsianAstronaut, Aterui6, Aterui666, AtheWeatherman, Atoric, Ausir,AustraloidJomonjin, Axuan, BD2412, Badagnani, Balthazarduju, Banitsiotis, BarnardKnox, Batman Jr., Beeblebrox, Beesley's Bookbinder, Beland, Belligero, Bender235, Bendono, Beteltreuse,Betterusername, Big Adamsky, BilabialBoxing, Bobo192, Bobrayner, Boccobrock, Brandizzi, Brion VIBBER, Budelberger, Bueller 007, Bullet train, CJLL Wright, CL, CPAScott, CalJW,Calliopejen, Calmargulis, Can't sleep, clown will eat me, CapnPrep, Casito, Catgut, Cayzle, CelineDionFan82, Chachilongbow, Charangito, CharlotteWebb, Chastacosta, Chris 73, Christian List,Citizen Premier, Claidheamohmor, ClovisPt, Cmhbob, Coelacan, Coemgenus, CommonsDelinker, ConfuciusOrnis, Conti, Contributor777, Conversion script, Crywalt, Cuchullain, Cwiltshire,DHBoggs, Danimo25, Dark Tea, Dark Tichondrias, Darrell Greenwood, Daven200520, Davewild, Dbachmann, Dcljr, Dekimasu, Derim Hunt, Devvyn, Diabolika, Digitalcollections, Diluvial,DocWatson42, DopefishJustin, Doseiai2, Dougweller, Dreaded Walrus, Duane Frasier, Dude fart, Ebizur, Edward, Eginhard, El C, Elias Enoc, Elmer Clark, Elvenscout742, Emc2, Endroit,Erianna, Etz Haim, Everyking, ExRat, Exploding Boy, F-451, Felisone, Fennessy, Fg2, FlashSheridan, Fodient, Freshacconci, Furrykef, Garion96, GarryMann, Gerbrant, Ghostexorcist, GideonF,Gilgamesh, Gioto, Gku, Godardesque, Gokcealtinbas, GoodCop, Green Giant, Grimaudi, Gryffindor, Guy M, Gwernol, Hannes Hirzel, Havertrend, HeikoEvermann, Hill of Beans, Himasaram,Hiona, Historian932, HkCaGu, Hmains, Hontogaichiban, Hottentot, Hunterst44, Hyacinth, Hyad, Hydrargyrum, Icairns, Ikiroid, Ilkali, Ilse@, Ines it, Infrogmation, Interiot, Intershark,Intranetusa, Iridescent, Irislackey, It's-is-not-a-genitive, Itai, J M Rice, J. Spencer, JD554, JForget, JackofOz, Jauerback, Jayen466, Jcw69, Jean.Miller, Jeff G., Jeff3000, Jennylen, Jerome CharlesPotts, Jeronimo, Jhendin, John of Reading, Jomonjin, Jonny-mt, Joostik, Jose Ramos, Joseph Solis in Australia, Joshua, Junesun, Jusdafax, K1Bond007, Kdammers, Kharacter, Khoikhoi,Kintetsubuffalo, Kiwigobyebye, Kotra, Kpjas, Krellis, Kross, Kukini, Kunchan, Kusunose, Kwamikagami, LLTimes, Lara04, Le Anh-Huy, Lenineleal, Lexicon, Lightmouse, Lights, Ligulem,Lithoderm, Longhair, LordAmeth, MGTom, Mandarax, Mani1, Mark98115, Martijn faassen, Masgatotkaca, Master of the Oríchalcos, Max rspct, Maximaximax, Maximus Rex, Mboverload, Mcfluff, Meursault2004, Micrll, Mikau735, Miss Madeline, Missmarple, Moosh88, Morven, Moxy, Musachachado, Nakamura2828, Nandesuka, Naniwako, Naviguessor, Ncpie, Neilbeach,Neschek, Neutrality, Next362, Nicke Lilltroll, Night Gyr, Nihonjoe, Nikai, Nishidani, Niteowlneils, Nn123645, Node ue, Nolelover, Ntsimp, Ocon, Olivier, Oloumi, Oniazuma, Optakeover,Ospalh, Packersh, PahaOlo, Parkjunwung, Paul foord, Pauli133, Pax:Vobiscum, Pedro, Per Honor et Gloria, Peter Isotalo, Peyre, Pharos, Phil Boswell, Philip Trueman, Physis,Piledhigheranddeeper, PlatinumX, PleaseStand, Pmsyyz, Poiu900, Policratus, Pollinator, Pygenot, Quadell, Quantpole, Qui1che, Rainbowwarrior1977, Rakista, Raul654, RebelAt, Red dwarf,Revth, RexNL, Rhillman, Rich Farmbrough, RickardA, Rjwilmsi, Rodion10, Ronz, Rosenleben, RoyBoy, Rubicon, Ryulong, S. Neuman, SM, SUL, Saitou, Sake neko, Scanlan, Schlüggell,ScottJ, Seekerx, Seth Nimbosa, Shadowjams, SidP, Sigurd Dragon Slayer, Sillygoose89, SimonP, Sirasu, Sirius85, Skylark42, Socrates999, Sodaplayer, Soetermans, Sour pickle, Spellmaster,Spencer, Steeev, Strawinthewind, TAKASUGI Shinji, TShilo12, Tainter, Tapioca Dextrin, Team4Technologies, TedE, Thatdog, The Blade of the Northern Lights, The Singing Badger, TheThing That Should Not Be, The Ungovernable Force, TheHerbalGerbil, TheLastAlive, Theelf29, Thezerovoidshow, Thingg, Thue, Thuresson, Thylacinus cynocephalus, Timwi, Tobby72, Tonne,Tony1, Truthanado, UnseemlyWeasel, Urutapu, Username3105, Vafthrudnir, Vanished 6551232, Vargenau, Velho, Viriditas, Vitriden, Vladko, Vmenkov, Voyager01, WBardwin, Waitak, WalterHumala, Walton One, Wdshu, WhisperToMe, WikipedianMarlith, Wikipism, Wikky Horse, Wlodzimierz, WoodElf, Woohookitty, Writtenright, Wulvie, WvdPut, Wwoods, Wōdenhelm, Xensu,Xhin, Xiaopo, Y, YUL89YYZ, Yas, YeshuaDavid, Zondi, Zscout370, 541 anonymous edits

Ainu language  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=395883175  Contributors: *, .:Ajvol:., 1549bcp, A-giau, Adam Conover, Adjusting, Aeusoes1, Aknorals, Altenmann, Alton,Angr, Aphaia, Aranel, Avihu, Azalea pomp, BD2412, Barefact, Bastique, Bendono, Betterusername, Bletch, Bobblewik, Brion VIBBER, Bruinfan12, Burschik, CJLippert, Caeruleancentaur,Calcwatch, Canterbury Tail, Cassowary, Chamdarae, Chrajohn, Chris 73, Clorox, Cometstyles, Croquant, Cuchullain, Dbachmann, Diluvial, Dirgela, Ebizur, Eirikr, Emrrans, Ergative rlt,Evan1975, Everyking, ExRat, Flauto Dolce, Freshgavin, Furrykef, Gabbe, Gaius Cornelius, Garzo, Gdr, Gerbrant, Girdi, Godfrey Daniel, Hackwrench, Hippietrail, Hoary, Hokanomono,Hottentot, Humphreyswill, IceKarma, Ike-bana, Imars, Innotata, Ish ishwar, J. 'mach' wust, JLCA, Johncapistrano, Jonny-mt, Joseph Solis in Australia, Jpatokal, Kbdank71, Keinstein, Khoikhoi,Kiloalpha, Kim 金, Ko'oy, Kpjas, Ksnow, Kulkuri, Kwamikagami, Kzaral, Lankiveil, Limetom, Ling.Nut, MacedonianBoy, Man vyi, Masgatotkaca, Mike hayes, Moocowsrule, Morkyll, Mps,Muke, Mustafaa, NHJG, Nanshu, Neier, Neutrality, Nishidani, Node ue, OCCASVS, Open2universe, PierceG, PierreAbbat, Pippu d'Angelo, Pronti Via, PuzzletChung, Pygenot, Raayen,Rjwilmsi, Rocastelo, Ryulong, Shii, ShizuokaSensei, SimonP, Socrates999, SouthernNights, Steinbach, Summer Song, Svartalf, Takanoha, Tempchecker, ThaddeusB, The Blade of the NorthernLights, The wub, Thewayforward, Tokek, Triona, Typhlosion, Tzetzes, Unixslug, Vicki Rosenzweig, VikSol, Vipuser, Viskonsas, Wikipeditor, Yes0song, Yolgnu, Zhen Lin, ZmiLa, Zscout370,六田清二, 102 anonymous edits

Ainu cuisine  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=368451510  Contributors: AMorozov, Aelffin, Appeltree1, BD2412, Bendono, Bhadani, Bookandcoffee, Californiacondor,CommonsDelinker, Dekimasu, Dr.frog, Fuhghettaboutit, GagHalfrunt, Goustien, Hno3, Hottentot, IkonicDeath, Jpatokal, Jszack, Knarkh, Master of the Oríchalcos, Max rspct, Mboverload,Neier, Neutrality, Nipisiquit, Philippe, Phonemonkey, R'son-W, Rakista, Xanxz, Zoicon5, Zscout370, 18 anonymous edits

Ainu music  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=364281856  Contributors: AMorozov, Afaz, Akerbeltz, Andycjp, BD2412, Badagnani, Bhadani, Caerwine, Deb, Dennis Brown,Dr.alf, Flyingidiot, Hyacinth, Invisible Noise, JCarriker, Jeepday, Johannes Rohr, Johnnydio2, Jwy, Kerowyn, Khoikhoi, Kitten b, Kyoko, LilHelpa, M-le-mot-dit, Magioladitis, Munci, N2e,Ncpie, Nesnad, Nihonjoe, Paul foord, Pharos, Poccil, Qwerty Binary, Rigadoun, Rosenleben, Sushiya, TUF-KAT, Trebor27trebor, Unyoyega, WBardwin, Woohookitty, 11 anonymous edits

Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors 30

Image Sources, Licenses and ContributorsFile:AinuGroup.JPG  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:AinuGroup.JPG  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Geofrog, Hailey C. Shannon, Hno3, Khoikhoi, Melanom,Ranveig, Shizhao, Wdshu, World Imaging, 1 anonymous editsFile:AinuBearSacrificeCirca1870.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:AinuBearSacrificeCirca1870.jpg  License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.5 Contributors: User:PHGCOM, User:PHGCOMFile:AinuManStilflied.JPG  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:AinuManStilflied.JPG  License: Public Domain  Contributors: BanyanTree, Dylan Lake, World Imaging, 1anonymous editsFile:Ainu ceremonial dress.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Ainu_ceremonial_dress.jpg  License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0  Contributors:User:PHGCOMFile:Ainu promotion center, Sapporo.JPG  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Ainu_promotion_center,_Sapporo.JPG  License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: User:MasgatotkacaFile:Pirka Kotan, Sapporo.JPG  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Pirka_Kotan,_Sapporo.JPG  License: GNU Free Documentation License  Contributors:User:MasgatotkacaFile:Japanese wild grasses.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Japanese_wild_grasses.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: User:Carbon, User:LuxoImage:Oki Ainu Dub Band at tff.Rudolstadt 2007.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Oki_Ainu_Dub_Band_at_tff.Rudolstadt_2007.jpg  License: Creative CommonsAttribution-Sharealike 2.5  Contributors: User:Johannes Rohr

License 31

LicenseCreative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unportedhttp:/ / creativecommons. org/ licenses/ by-sa/ 3. 0/