The Melting World

Last week Arashiyama was the setting for the Chi-nomi-Shiri-Kamuy-nomi, an Ainu ceremony of prayer to the gods and blessing of prayer sticks. The ceremony was led by the local Chikabumi Ainu.

Here are the foods prepared for the gods.

Here Ota-sensei (L) blesses the new prayer sticks with Kawamura Kenichi (R), the leader of the Chikabumi. The sticks are called Inaw. The inaw are carved into birds who will then fly the prayers to the chosen gods (lIwasaki-Goodman & Nomoto, 1999, p. 223, in Ainu: Spirit of a Northern People, Dubrueil & Fitzhugh, eds.).

Here are the opening prayers conducted inside the chise. The male elders and other respected male leaders said prayers, while the leader’s wife poured the sake. I didn’t see the entire ceremony because my son decided to shout his own prayers out loud and so I thought it best he do that outside.

Here is a picture of the smaller chise (traditional Ainu house) on the grounds of the park at Arashiyama (Storm mountain).

This piece was made by the sculptor, Mikako Tomotari, in dedication to the Ainu lands submerged by the Hokkaido government-sponsored dam in the Nibutani area of Hokkaido. Her comments and then comments on her comments (in English) are here. She had wanted to throw it into the waters, so that only by the elimination of […]

This is the first book-length work in English I’ve found to comprehensively explain Wajin-Ainu power relations: Siddle, Richard. (1996). Race, Resistance, and the Ainu of Japan. London: Routledge. And what a book! It details the complexities and contradictory historical records about the Wajin conquest of Hokkaido and the impact on the Ainu, who are Hokkaido’s […]

Today Ota-sensei, an Ainu language teacher, came to my cross-cultural class to deliver his version of Hokkaido/Ainu history, Part II. Although I think what he said had a lot of importance for the students, I was dismayed to see most of them doing other schoolwork, sending text messages on their cell phones, or whispering with […]

Radio Archive of Ainu Language Lessons Sapporo TV Radio hosts an Ainu language class with accompanying textbook (which you can order) every Sunday morning, from 7:05am to 7:20am, and repeated Saturday evenings from 11:15-11:30pm. They also have the lessons archived on Real Player audio files since it began in 1999. A look at one lesson […]

In my cross-cultural seminar this past Friday, I had the privilege of having Chisato “Kitty” Dubreuil give my students a slideshow/talk comparing Ainu and Native American political histories. She is the only active Ainu scholar who is an expert in Ainu art history, Japanese art history, and Native American & First Nations art history. She […]

I am finishing up a book by John Lie (2001), called “Multi-ethnic Japan.” I plan on using much of its argument to teach Identity and Culture here at Hokkaido U of Education. Fascinating stuff, and I learned much about the hybrid character of Japanese culture, or rather it opened my eyes to what is already […]

I was traveling all over Japan last week, not able to participate much in the class forum. But I did try the chat bots as well and was not impressed with them. Darth Vader as a chat bot seemed annoying and very stupid to me, I wonder if he ever guesses correctly? My thought he […]

The Ainu carve willow branches in particular ways to honor the many spirits (Kamuy) of the world. This prayer stick is for Happiness, which surprsied me. I had never heard of the Ainu honoring concepts (non-living things), but then again, maybe happiness is an entity to them? That is a fascinating possibility…

This prayer stick is for the Earth god

This prayer stick is for the Mountain god.

This prayer stick is for the Water god.

A woman helping to build a traditional Ainu house, called a chise: the walls are made with sa-sa (bamboo) leaves. I think the “sa-sa” name matches the way these bamboo grasses sound when the wind blows through them.

Students putting on ‘Ainu’ dress (actually made for the tourists to try on). Tuesday my world culture seminar (all four students!) went to the nearby Ainu Memorial Museum run by the Kawamura family. We learned the Ainu language has over 80 words for bear, an animal who is probably the most important spirit-god in the […]

A small painting I did while in Crosby, Minnesota (my dad’s hometown) back in 2001, a few weeks before I met my lovely luv. I used this image as paradise for the last hyperlink in a poem I wrote in the voice of an old Ainu woman, but I am not content yet, suspect I […]