Fly that flag.

Date : Thursday, December 9, 2010
Time : 2:26 PM

Indigenous group of Japan: Ainu

Ainu, also known as Ezo in historic texts, is an indigenous group located in Japan (Hokkaido) and Russia. In Hokkaido, their common language is Japanese, and few speaks Ainu (have no writing language), which is a dying language. 400 years ago, Ainu was one of the stronger group and was in control of Hokkaido, but today, they are only a small minority, living on hunting and fishing.

An Ainu couple.

In 1807, their population was 23,797, and in 1986, there was 24,381, and currently, there is 25,000 Ainu people estimated by the Japanese Government.

Ainu people are pantheistic, that they believe in many gods, such as god of the mountains, god of the water, and god of fire which were gods that relates with the nature. They also believe in animals being worldly beings that assumed animal forms as a disguise and respects bears, killer whales and striped owls as divinities. God of fire (female) were the most important god to them.

Killer whale carved from wood by the Ainu people, a symbol of their beliefs.

One of the major festival of the Ainu group is the spirit-sending festival, I-omante, in which the sacrifice is either a bear or a striped owl. The ritual goes on for three days through prayers, dancing and singing, and they will shoot the sacrifice with arrows, finally placing the head at the altar and eating its meat. They believe that this is the method to release the animal’s spirit for them to return to their rightful realms.

Ainu children were educated at home in the past, but from the late 19th Century onwards, Ainu attended Japanese school, although many hid their background.

Upon reaching adulthood, Ainu people have to go through the rites of passage, that boys learnt hunting, carving, tool making, while girls learnt sewing, weaving and embroidery. Tattooing used to be practiced, whereby girls will be tattooed around their mouth or forearms, but Japan banned tattoos in 1871. Women in the Ainu group farmed, cooks and cared for babies while men fished, hunted and carved wood. However, from 19th century onwards, such activities have been replaced by commercial farming and rice cultivation. During a proposal, a young man gifts a knife mounted in carved wood to the young woman, showing his skills and love, while the young woman accepts his proposal with a gift of embroidery.

Art of weaving.

Ainu have many oral traditions, such as literary Ainu, yukar and oina, old tales and stories, uwepekere and upasikma, dance songs and lullabies. They are also known for their use of a mouth harp, mukkuri. Sports included canoeing and swimming.

Ainu’s attire was made from fibers of inner elm barks, wore with a sash. Menswear were calf-length while women’s were ankle-length, as the robes were hand-embroidered. The wearing of traditional robes today were only reserved for special occasions as Ainu people wears common clothes as the other population these days. During mourning, relatives and neighbors are dressed in embroidered costumes with a ceremonial sword for men, and necklace of beads for woman, where the deceased will be cremated under the prayers to the fire deity.

Traditional Ainu robes.

Ainu housing used to be made of thatch plant and poles so that it was well insulated, and houses were built close so that help could be quickly reached. Ainu people used to eat deer meat, salmon, home-raised millet, and harvested herbs and roots, while in colder regions, younger Ainu children enjoy maple ice candy.

“A formal greeting, irankarapte, which corresponds to "how are you" in English, literally means "let me softly touch your heart. Ukocaranke (mutual argumentation) was a custom of settling differences by debating instead of fighting." – Countries & Their Culture

Effects of commercialization.

Click to view video showing the discriminated felt by the Ainu people.

Produced by ABC Australia

Distributed by Journeyman Pictures