The Indigenous people: AINU

Submitted by:
Name: Nusrat Ali Momo
ID: 2021-2-33-007

Submitted to:
Dr. Fouzia Mannan
Professor,
Department of Sociology, East West University.

Submission date: 30/04/2022

 The Indigenous people: AINU
Introduction:
The indigenous people inhabiting the land surrounding Hokkaido, southern Sakhalin, and the
Kurile Islands in Japan are referred to as the Ainu people. Ainu means “People” or “Human” in
their language. Ainu people live in small villages scattered around the island. They used to lead a
Their hunting-gathering way of life because of that They valued nature highly. Ainu has its own
language. The language consists of different dialects, as their language does not have any written
characters. Ainu language does not have any roots from other languages. Ainu people have
unique physical characteristics such as hairlessness, deep set of eyes, and wavy hair which is
different from other Japanese people. According to some anthropologists, rather than one single
ethnic group, The Ainu Peoples are a mixture of different ethnic groups. Even so, they spoke
different languages and have different and Rich cultures. Ainu people have their own culture and
own way of life. They are following their tradition for hundreds of years with pride. Their beliefs
and cultural tradition will be discussed in this paper.

Origin:
Many Anthropologists have many views on the origin of the Ainu people. Ainu peoples have
darker-skinned than usual east Asian people like China Japan or Korea. But the most common
speculation is they are the direct descendant of the Jomon people who inhabited the island of
Japan and are thought to be created the first culture here. Some scholar believes that in the stone
age most people who inhabited the four main island of Japan were Ainu people. they are
believed to be having contact with Chinese and Mongolian people by the 10th century.

Ainu Culture

The Ainu people inhabited northern Honshu as well as Hokkaido and some of the islands that are
now part of Russia. The Ainu people are rich in culture. They have their own tradition, religion,
and way of life they have maintained for hundreds of years. The Ainu people and the Japanese
lived in peace for many years, they traded goods with each other. The Ainu people Traded Furs
for sale, hunting materials, and their hunting knowledge. there is evidence of them doing trade
with other neighboring cultures like the Chinese, Tungus, and the Russians.

Ainu religion:
Generalizations of the Ainu religion are not easy to make as the intracultural variation varies
with the region and the tribal communities but There were common denominators in their
beliefs. To them, Religion and life were intertwined. The soul was an important factor in the
Ainu belief system. in the Ainu culture, they believed That most beings had a soul. A Lot of
things had religious meaning like throwing away one's bones because it was connected with the
spirits.
Three types of spiritual beings were believed in the Ainu culture: Deities, spirits of the dead, and
Evil spirits. The Ainu people believed that the gods were the Earthly things that sustained them
in disguise like the animals and plants they ate hunting knives, bamboo houses, etc. they are the
spirits that come down to the land of man for a temporary visit. The term they use to refer to the
deities is “kamuy”.The Ainu people thought everything must be treated with respect as they
believed everything in the physical world such as trees and mountains inhabited by spirits. If
anyone mistreats any spirits the deities possess the power to punish the Ainu at will. As the
protector of Gods of children, they worshiped Flying squirrels.
As Ainu peoples believe on souls and spirits were strong, they also believed souls of a person
can leave their body and travel and experience a place where the person is never been to.
Similarly, the souls of the dead can come back to the world of the living. Because of that, they
treated the dead bodies with respect otherwise the souls of that bodies will not feel properly
treated and come back as evil spirits and demons to haunt people. The Ainu people take the
handling of Evil spirits seriously they performed religious rituals and exorcism methods. the
Ainu deities do not directly involve themselves in dealing with the demons, they extend their aid
to the Ainus.

Ainu Rituals:
Ainu peoples practice different rituals to keep away the evil spirits and bring peace also getting
blessings from the deities. The blessing rituals are traditionally performed by a shaman who
carries a sacred stick. The shaman is believed to have the power to travel across the realm of the
spirits and bring back a spirit to the land of the living that can help with the problem they are
facing. shamans are treated with respect and with high status. Shamans are mostly men but
sometimes there are women. The Ainu people practice different rituals like the Blessing ritual,
Blood Sacrifice Ritual, and Bear Ritual. They offer rice, sword, and sake to the deities for good
luck.
Blessing ritual: in the past The Ainu peoples were Travelers and merchants They Traveled
around the world and traded with people. The shaman conducts a ceremony to the God of trees
through Fuchi, the fire goddess. They are blessed with inaw and sake a yellow cedar log that was
used to build boats for travels.
Blood Sacrifice Ritual: to show their gratitude and fulfilling lives in this world The Ainu
peoples ritually Sacrifice animals such as owls, bears, or foxes on special occasions to set their
spirits free and let them return to the world of spirit
Bear Ritual: among all the rituals the bear ritual is the most important one. Bear was the most
important animal for them. bear was a good source of the resource. bears provide meat for food,
fur, and bones for tools. So, Ainu people hunt bears or keep and raise bears as pets. They also
captured cubs and the woman took turns and nurse them. The bears' spirits were concerts as the
mountain god. The most important Ainu ceremony was “iyomante”, iyomante is also referred to
as a bear sending ritual. It was for the mountain god spirit to give him a proper send-off. The
ritual happens in springtime. In this ritual a female bear and her cubs get caught and the female
bear gets sacrificed and her spirit is sent to the gods. and for her cub the Ainu people raise it for a
couple of years then it also gets sent as an offering. At this festival, people put on their best
clothes and there is lots of drinking and dancing and feasting. They kill the bear in its home skin
it and cut off his head and put it on a alter, then they shoot arrows to the east to guide the spirit
on its journey the ritual festival last for 4 days.

Ainu Lifestyle and politics:

In the old days, The Ainu people migrate and switch between summer and winter. In the
summertime, they stay along the coastline. And in winter they go inland and often set along the
rivers. Ainu lived in a semi-underground pit house that fit no more than 4-5 families.
Ainu families have claims on the hunting grounds and the rights passed down to the male
members of the families. some groups practiced polygamy. they had a settlement group to
dispute any issues. The male elder makes the most important decisions for the tribe.

Ainu Economy:

Farming played very little role in their life. In the old days, the Ainu people divided their land for
the purpose of hunting and gathering it is called “iwor”. Here they fished and hunted for bears
and deers. gathered berries and fruits for food and also collected woods. The man hunted animals
and fish for food and women, gathered fruits and plants. Dogs are used for hunting. The Ainu
people made canoes from large logs that can be as long as 10 meters. Sometimes they bind 2
canoes to make a caterman for the rough seas. They fished salmon in the seas. Their traditional
diets consist of Deer, Salmon, grasses, and plants. They grill and make soup with the ingredients.
They also make traditional potato starch dumplings. It's been said that the strong garlic smell
from the vegetable Gyoja-ninniku can keep evil away.

Ainu clothes:
Their unique culture can be expressed in their clothing. Ainu men have long beards and
mustaches. They carry a prayer stick with them. This prayer stick is said to be used for their
rituals. Early observers called these sticks “mustache lifters". Ainu men use this stick to hold up
their mustache while drinking for the ritual.
The name of the traditional clothing of the Ainu people is the attush robe. The attush robe is
worn by both men and women. it is made from the fabric that was extracted from the soft inner
strips of elm bark. In springtime, women collected the bark and sock them until they separate
into a fiber. then those fibers are used to make fabric. The white fabric was the most popular one.
Ainu decorated their robes with embroidery. Man's embroidery was more elaborate. The Pattern
of the embroidery identifies a person's status and gender and village. It was also believed that it
will also protect the wearer from evil spirits. Nowadays women who ware traditional clothes
wares fizz like hats.
In the older days, women did tattoos on their faces to attract a husband. The tattooing process
starts from the age of two or three and patterns are added till she is ready to be married. the
tattoos are made by injecting cooking ash with small cuts around the lips area resembling a smile
and a crown. This practice is now banned by the Japanese government, though few Ainu women
still tattoo their hands for the tradition. The Ainu people absorb ideas from a different culture.
Atsuko Matsumoto wrote in the Daily Yomiuri, “A good example of this is the kaparamip, a
ceremonial dress. Traditional Ainu dresses were usually made with fabric woven from the bark
of indigenous trees, such as ohyonire and nettle, as they did not produce cotton or silk garments.
But this kaparamip is decorated with pieces of printed cotton material on the collar and around
the cuff of each sleeve, while covered with a large piece of white cotton cloth cut out along a
geometric Ainu pattern traditionally passed down from mother to daughter, making each design
distinctive.” (Atsuko Matsumoto, Daily Yomiuri, October 22, 2010)

Ainu weapons, tools, and hunting method:

For the longest time, the Ainu people weren't military people. the fighting only occurred because
of the fishing rights or hunting rights. They used their weapon and tools for hunting purposes.
Hunters used poison bows and arrows to capture games. they placed lures and traps and then
patiently waited for the animals to take the bait. they also used dogs for hunting. for fishing, the
Ainu man used to spear and fishing nets, and a basket.
Ainu people crafted their bows from a single piece of Japanese yew and wrapped them with
cherry bark for strength. other than bows and arrows Ainu men also carried swords and knives,
they traded with the Japanese people. In Ainu culture man and woman trained together for
combat.

Ainu arts and crafts:

Ainu people made their crafts from woods and other perishable materials. they curved their
artifacts from woods. because of that, there are very little archaeological art can be found in the
Ainu people. Their arts and creativity can be shown in their clothes, the quality of the
embroidery on the clothes is beautiful and well crafted. these are associated with their everyday
life.
The Ainu people are fond of folk poems they call “yukar”. The yukar poems are a tribute to the
deity and it is the source of knowledge of the moral codes and history of the culture. because
Ainu people do not have any written language These poems are handed down from one member
to another in the families. Anthropologists believe that if it is not preserved properly, it might die
out soon as the new generation Ainu children are not that interested in this.

Conclusion
The Ainu people are filled with rich cultures and traditions. But with the flow of time, the culture
is mixing with the other cultures and soon it might go away. Anthropologists have been trying to
discover more of this culture and record as much as they can. A culture defines its people and the
people also define its culture. Anthropology is the study of humans. From the descendants of the
first island dwellers to becoming indigenous minorities in the hundreds of years.
References

● Batchelor, J. (n.d.). Ainu Hunting Techniques. From tota:

https://www.tota.world/article/178/

● MARMENLIND, A. (2021, 05 20). The Story of the Ainu. From metropolis:

https://metropolisjapan.com/the-story-of-the-ainu/

● William W Fitzhugh, C. O. (1999). Ainu: spirit of a northern people. In C. O. William W

Fitzhugh, Ainu: spirit of a northern people.

● Tajima, A., Hayami, M., Tokunaga, K. et al. Genetic origins of the Ainu inferred from
combined DNA analyses of maternal and paternal lineages. J Hum Genet 49, 187–193
(2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10038-004-0131-

● Low, M. (2012). Physical anthropology in Japan: the Ainu and the search for the origins
of the Japanese. Current Anthropology, 53(S5), S57-S68.

● Reuters. (2019, 10 19). Hunting for identity: Japan’s indigenous Ainu hopes to keep
traditional way of life. From news first: https://www.newsfirst.lk/2019/10/29/hunting-for-
identity-japans-indigenous-ainu-hopes-to-keep-traditional-way-of-life/ Ainu Religion.
(n.d.). From https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-
transcripts-and-maps/ainu-religion