Ainu Research Articles

Кинодокументы по этнографии айнов в коллекциях музеев и архивов Сахалина

The article is based on visual-anthropological materials from the Sakhalin archives and museums collected by the author during his expedition undertaken in June–August 2019. In addition to the general review of the filmography with respect to the Ainu ethnic studies of the first half of the 20th century, this study is focused on two major documentary films: “Traditional Life and Rites of the Ainu people” (Japan, 1920) and “Across Sakhalin” (USSR, 1948). These films, being unique records of material and spiritual culture of the Ainu people living on Hokkaido and Sakhalin, who were earlier an authentic ethnic group, but currently assimilated into the Japanese environment, are introduced into the scientific discourse for the first time. The cinematic works are analyzed in the historical and anthropological context against the study results of the scholars studying the Ainu people. The paper provides a conclusion about the archival films being multi-layered documentary films of their time that upon proper scholarly criticism can be valuable historical sources of scientific interest with respect to a wide range of humanitarian studies.

Ударные инструменты айнов

Ainu people are the indigenous inhabitants of Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, and Hokkaido. This work aimed to study Russian and Japanese museum funds, analyze musical transcripts performed by the author, and review Russian and Japanese academic literature. The article deals with the percussion musical and sound instruments of the Ainu – idiophones and membranophones. The term “sound instrument” refers to archaic sound instruments that were not usually perceived as musical. They were considered as such only at the moment of their sounding. The author pays special attention to poorly studied instruments, such as a sonic log, sticks, a board, a lacquered barrel lid, rattles, bells, a shaman tambourine, and a beater. The article analyzes the etymology of the names of instruments, structure, material of manufacture, techniques of playing. Most of the Ainu tools were made of wood and had a simple design. Percussion instruments are multifunctional. On the one hand, they performed a musical function – they rhythmically organized a song or recitation. They sounded during the performance of epic legends, various songs. On the other hand, instruments were sacred objects. The author traces their close connection with the worldview, mythological ideas of the ancient people. All of them were associated with the ritual practice: they were used in shamanic rituals, bear holidays, magic actions. Their sounding was thought to provide communication with the spirit world.

Ударные инструменты айнов

Ainu people are the indigenous inhabitants of Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, and Hokkaido. This work aimed to study Russian and Japanese museum funds, analyze musical transcripts performed by the author, and review Russian and Japanese academic literature. The article deals with the percussion musical and sound instruments of the Ainu – idiophones and membranophones. The term “sound instrument” refers to archaic sound instruments that were not usually perceived as musical. They were considered as such only at the moment of their sounding. The author pays special attention to poorly studied instruments, such as a sonic log, sticks, a board, a lacquered barrel lid, rattles, bells, a shaman tambourine, and a beater. The article analyzes the etymology of the names of instruments, structure, material of manufacture, techniques of playing. Most of the Ainu tools were made of wood and had a simple design. Percussion instruments are multifunctional. On the one hand, they performed a musical function – they rhythmically organized a song or recitation. They sounded during the performance of epic legends, various songs. On the other hand, instruments were sacred objects. The author traces their close connection with the worldview, mythological ideas of the ancient people. All of them were associated with the ritual practice: they were used in shamanic rituals, bear holidays, magic actions. Their sounding was thought to provide communication with the spirit world.

A Survey on the Representation of Ainu People in Exhibitions in Contemporary Japan

A Survey on the Representation of Ainu People in Exhibitions in Contemporary Japan

Construction of a ‘Place of Memory’ by Indigenous Ainu People: The Commemoration of Shakushain in Mautayama, Hokkaido

先住民による「記憶の場所」の構築と，支配的マジョリティがそこに与えた文化的・社会的な影響を分析することは，先住民のアイデンティティと過去，そして場所の関係性を解明する一助となりうる。本稿は，アイヌによってシャクシャインに関する「記憶の場所」へと構築された北海道新ひだか町の真歌山を事例に，その構築がいかに彼（女）らをめぐるポストコロニアル状況に影響されていたのかを考察する。真歌山は従来からシャクシャインに対する顕彰行為の場であったが，1960年代末以降，和人のまなざしの影響を受けながら，アイヌ・アイデンティティと結びつく「記憶の場所」へと構築され，各地のアイヌを巻き込んでいった。その後も，アイヌによる和人のまなざしの受け止め方が変化するたびに，真歌山という「記憶の場所」は再構築され続けている。こうした動きには，文化的な喪失と同化を経験し，今なお和人のまなざしから解放されていない，現代のアイヌをめぐる文化的・社会的なポストコロニアル状況が映し出されていた。その意味で，真歌山は現代のアイヌを取り巻くコロニアリズムの残滓を反映した，ポストコロニアルな「記憶の場所」として位置づけられる。このようなコロニアリズムの残滓について，多様な解釈が存在することを想定し，それらを丁寧に読み解くことが，真歌山という「記憶の場所」の構築をより深く理解するためには必要である。

Indigenous Shôjo

Little scholarly attention has been given to the visual representations of the Ainu people in popular culture, even though media images have a significant role in forging stereotypes of indigeneity. This article investigates the role of representation in creating an accessible version of indigenous culture repackaged for Japanese audiences. Before the recent mainstream success of manga/anime Golden Kamuy (2014–), two female heroines from the arcade fighting game Samurai Spirits (Samurai supirittsu)—Nakoruru and her sister Rimururu—formed a dominant expression of Ainu identity in visual culture beginning in the mid-1990s. Working through the in-game representation of Nakoruru in addition to her larger mediation in the anime media mix, this article explores the tensions embodied in her character. While Nakoruru is framed as indigenous, her body is simultaneously represented in the visual language of the Japanese shôjo, or “young girl.” This duality to her fetishized image cannot be reconciled and is critical to creating a version of indigenous femininity that Japanese audiences could easily consume. This paper historicizes various representations of indigenous Otherness against the backdrop of Japanese racism and indigenous activism in the late 1990s and early 2000s by analyzing Nakoruru’s official representation in the game franchise, including her appearance in a 2001 OVA, alongside fan interpretations of these characters in self-published comics (dôjinshi) criticized by Ainu scholar Chupuchisekor.

The Ainu People's Recognition of the Eruption Process of Mt. Usu in Hokkaido, Northern Japan: Superstition and Scientific Thinking

The Ainu People's Recognition of the Eruption Process of Mt. Usu in Hokkaido, Northern Japan: Superstition and Scientific Thinking

New isoflavone glucosides in yabumame (Amphicarpaea bracteata (L.) Fernald subsp. edgeworthii (Benth.) H.Ohashi var. japonica (Oliv.) H.Ohashi) and their effect on leukotriene B4 production in mast cells.

Yabumame (Amphicarpaea bracteata (L.) Fernald subsp. edgeworthii (Benth.) H.Ohashi var. japonica (Oliv.) H.Ohashi) is a legume plant that the Ainu people eat as a traditional food, although the bioactive ingredients other than vitamins have not been studied. In this study, the structures of yabumame isoflavone glucosides were determined and their effect on leukotriene (LT) B4, a chemical mediator of type I allergy, produced in mast cells, was investigated in vitro. Seven compounds were isolated from yabumame. Their structures were determined by spectroscopic and spectrometric analyses, which were genistein-7-O-β-D-glucoside (1), formononetin-7-O-(2″-O-β-D-glucosyl)-β-D-glucoside (2), formononetin-7-O-β-D-glucoside (3), biochanin A-7-O-(2″-O-β-D-glucosyl)-β-D-glucoside (4), formononetin-7-O-(6″-O-malonyl)-β-D-glucoside (5), biochanin A-7-O-(2″-O-β-D-glucosyl-6″-O-β-D-glucosyl)-β-D-glucoside (6), and biochanin A-7-O-(6″-O-malonyl)-β-D-glucoside (7). Compounds 2, 4, and 6 were determined as new compounds. Compound 3 showed statistically significant suppressive effect on LTB4 production in mast cells, although the activity was not strong. On the other hand, biochanin A, an aglycone common to compounds 4, 6, and 7, strongly inhibited the LTB4 production. The results suggest that some of yabumame isoflavone glucosides might contribute to mitigate type I allergy. Seven isoflavone glucosides including 3 new compounds were found in yabumame and their anti-allergic effect was evaluated.

A Study on Yoichi Funado’s <i>Ezochi Bekken</i>：Exploring How the Armed Uprising of the Ainu People in the Kansei Era of the Edo Period was Described in Hardboiled Fiction

A Study on Yoichi Funado’s <i>Ezochi Bekken</i>：Exploring How the Armed Uprising of the Ainu People in the Kansei Era of the Edo Period was Described in Hardboiled Fiction

Secrets of the Ainu People

Secrets of the Ainu People

A Study on Yoichi Funado’s <i>Ezochi Bekken</i>：Exploring How the Armed Uprising of the Ainu People in the Kansei Era of the Edo Period was Described in Hardboiled Fiction

A Study on Yoichi Funado’s <i>Ezochi Bekken</i>：Exploring How the Armed Uprising of the Ainu People in the Kansei Era of the Edo Period was Described in Hardboiled Fiction

Japońskie filmy o Ajnach w perspektywie amerykańskiego westernu

Recently the topic of transnationalism in the arts has become a popular strand of academic research. Nevertheless, this phenomenon is not an entirely new concept. In cinema it has been a constant element since its inception. One of the most important inspirations for world cinema has been the traditional cinematography of the USA, especially from the period of the great film studios, with the western being one of the most popular and imitated genres. Although it seems to be inextricably connected with the American myth of the frontier, the Wild West, the theme of expansion, and the conflict of ‘civilization’ and ‘wildness/savagery’ has reverberated outside the USA. In Japan westerns resonated on both the consumer-commercial and artistic levels. Japanese filmmakers utilized elements of the genre while weaving in some native contexts. The history of colonization of the northern island of Hokkaidō and its native inhabitants – the Ainu people – have been a point of reference for Japan-based western films. In this article, the authors analyze the western-specific genre elements in Japanese films about the Ainu people, while concentrating on the portrayal of individuals, groups and human relations on the frontier.

MiNgMatch—A Fast N-gram Model for Word Segmentation of the Ainu Language

Word segmentation is an essential task in automatic language processing for languages where there are no explicit word boundary markers, or where space-delimited orthographic words are too coarse-grained. In this paper we introduce the MiNgMatch Segmenter—a fast word segmentation algorithm, which reduces the problem of identifying word boundaries to finding the shortest sequence of lexical n-grams matching the input text. In order to validate our method in a low-resource scenario involving extremely sparse data, we tested it with a small corpus of text in the critically endangered language of the Ainu people living in northern parts of Japan. Furthermore, we performed a series of experiments comparing our algorithm with systems utilizing state-of-the-art lexical n-gram-based language modelling techniques (namely, Stupid Backoff model and a model with modified Kneser-Ney smoothing), as well as a neural model performing word segmentation as character sequence labelling. The experimental results we obtained demonstrate the high performance of our algorithm, comparable with the other best-performing models. Given its low computational cost and competitive results, we believe that the proposed approach could be extended to other languages, and possibly also to other Natural Language Processing tasks, such as speech recognition.

The Assimilation Strategies by Ainu People in the Prewar period

アイヌ民族にかかわる先行研究では，アイヌ民族の主体的な「アイヌ史」の構築が求められている一方で，マジョリティである和人が同化を強制したとする「悲劇」的な歴史観が強かった。加えて，現在まで継承されているアイヌ文 化が存在することを踏まえられていない。そこで本稿は，同化をマイノリティが経験する現象と理解し，『蝦夷の光』『エカシとフチ』を対象に，差別的な状況を改善しようとするアイヌ民族個々人の戦略の中に同化を位置づけ，考察した。その結果，まず1900 年代から1910 年代は困窮に対する戦略が意図せざる結果としての文化的同化を引き起こしていたこと，1920 年代以降，差別が増加することで意識的な戦略としての文化的同化が生じていったことが明らかと なった。このように，困窮が意図せざる結果としての同化を，差別が意識的な文化的同化をもたらしたといえる。一方で，1930 年代以降の困窮に対する戦略の中に，アイヌ文化を観光業の中で利用する「観光化」が存在していた。この「観光化」がアイヌ文化継承の糸口となったことが示唆された。このように，アイヌ民族個々人の戦略を分析すること，継承の可能性を踏まえながら同化を考察することができた。また，アイヌ民族の戦略は同化のみにとどまらず，「観光化」が存在したように，常にその構造を超える可能性をはらむものであったのではないだろうか。

First Cinematographic Encounter with the Ainu People

First Cinematographic Encounter with the Ainu People

Działalność pedagogiczno-prawna Bronisława Piłsudskiego

Cel badań. Przedstawienie działalności edukacyjnej i prawnej Bronisława Piłsudskiego na podstawie dokumentu jego autorstwa pt. Projekt zasad zarządzania Ajnami z wyspy Sachalin, z krótkimi komentarzami do poszczególnych punktów oraz podejmowanych przez niego badań nad ludem Ajnu. Celem badań jest też propagowanie wiedzy na temat działalności tego Polaka na terenach krajów Dalekiego Wschodu i analiza najdonioślejszych prac badawczych, kolekcjonujących jego badania, dokonanych przez polskich naukowców.
 Metoda badań. Analiza artykułów 23 i 24 dokumentu Projekt zasad zarządzania Ajnami z wyspy Sachalin, z krótkimi komentarzami do poszczególnych punktów autorstwa B. Piłsudskiego (Piłsudski, 1991). Analiza i przegląd literatury zagranicznej oraz polskiej dotyczącej działalności B. Piłsudskiego (przede wszystkim prac profesora Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika w Toruniu Alfreda F. Majewicza, a także profesorów Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego Antoniego Kuczyńskiego oraz Władysława Łatyszewa.
 Wyniki i wnioski. Z przeanalizowanego materiału badawczego czytelnik może dowiedzieć się o działalności edukacyjnej i prawnej B. Piłsudskiego. W polskiej literaturze nie ma jeszcze biografii tego Polaka, zaś w niniejszym artykule przedstawione zostały prace uniwersyteckich badaczy, którzy podjęli starania zebrania informacji, przybliżając się swoimi pracami do zanalizowania wielu wątków dotyczących życia brata Józefa Piłsudskiego, aby propagować wiedzę o tym niedocenionym w Polsce badaczu kultur Dalekiego Wschodu.

The Fabric of Indigeneity: Ainu Identity, Gender, and Settler Colonialism in Japan by ann-elise lewallen

Reviewed by: The Fabric of Indigeneity: Ainu Identity, Gender, and Settler Colonialism in Japan by ann-elise lewallen Kinko Ito (bio) The Fabric of Indigeneity: Ainu Identity, Gender, and Settler Colonialism in Japan. By ann-elise lewallen. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, 2016. xx, 289 pages. $49.95, paper. The Fabric of Indigeneity and Ainu Identity is excellent, informative, and insightful. This thought-provoking book is about contemporary Ainu women artists' efforts in cultural revival and vitalization as they perform cloth work (sewing, embroidery, appliqué, etc.). It is a must-read for anyone [End Page 469] who wants to study about Japan, especially the Ainu, a racial and ethnic minority group. In this book, ann-elise lewallen covers the long history of the Ainu and the Japanese in general, with her main focus on the period between the end of World War II and 2008. The author guides her readers through the major social and historical events of the Ainu, including the Ainu Cultural Promotion Act of 1997, which led to the revival of Ainu culture. She also provides context on political and cultural backgrounds surrounding the relationship between the Ainu and the wajin (non-Ainu Japanese). This contextual understanding is indispensable for analyzing racism, the gendered nature of settler colonialism, and contemporary women's cloth work and its significance. Throughout the book, lewallen introduces readers to the history of the Ainu. The ancestors of the Ainu lived in the Ainu mosir (Ainu homeland, including the Kuril Islands, Sakhalin, Hokkaido, and the northern part of Honshu). The Japanese government claimed Ezo (non-Japanese territories in the northern part of today's Japan) in the fifteenth century, and colonization started in 1604. Ezo was renamed Hokkaido, and formal settler colonialism started in 1869. The wajin engaged in colonial violence, and they brought diseases unknown to the Ainu (such as smallpox, sexually transmitted infection, and measles). They instituted forced labor camps that placed Ainu men far from their homes and families and pushed the Ainu women to become "local wives" of the wajin settlers. Today's Ainu live mostly in Hokkaido and in metropolitan areas near Tokyo. The author brings her description of the Ainu up to the present by highlighting the rise of citizens' groups tackling the problem of hate speech that affects not only the Ainu but other ethnic minorities in contemporary Japan. The Ainu are socially and politically categorized as an ethnic collectivity in Japan, but they are not a monolithic group. Regional, social, and cultural differences are found among different Ainu groups as well as between Ainu women and men. Wajin babies and children left behind by their settler parents who could not succeed in Hokkaido were often adopted by the Ainu people and brought up as Ainu. These people may look like Japanese physically but they self-identify as Ainu. Throughout the book, lewallen describes and explains the relationship between women's craftwork and their identity as well as the relationship between their work and the settler patriarchy and formal colonialism that started in 1869. I found the book unique in that its main focus is on Ainu women artists' craftwork as it relates to Indigenous modernity and self-identification.1 The term "Indigenous modernity" seems to be a contradiction, [End Page 470] but lewallen explains it in a convincing manner. The threads of the Ainu women artists' lives in the contemporary world and those of their Ainu ancestors' lives under settler colonialism are beautifully woven together by the author. The history of the Ainu is essentially the same as that of other Indigenous people in North and South America, Oceania, and elsewhere. Many of these groups have been exposed to colonialism, settler colonialism, racism, ethnic cleansing, exploitation, oppression, violence, and social stigma. Women almost always became objects of sexism and sexual violence as well. The author introduces the experiences of various Indigenous groups in Japan (those of Okinawa, for example) and in other countries (such as India under British rule and Aboriginal communities in Canada and Australia). She compares and contrasts them with those of the Ainu to make her points. This comparative approach helps readers to situate the unique experiences of the Ainu in...

Behaviour of the Foramen Ovale Flow in Fetuses with Intrauterine Growth Restriction.

Background Foramen ovale (FO) flow may be altered in IUGR. This study was designed to test this hypothesis. Methods Forty pregnant women (24–38 weeks) were divided into 3 groups: group I (IUGR), group II (adequate growth and maternal hypertension), and group III (normal controls). Impedance across the FO was assessed by the FO pulsatility index (FOPI): (systolic velocity − presystolic velocity)/mean velocity. Statistical analysis utilized ANOVA, Tukey test, and ROC curves. Results Mean FOPI in IUGR fetuses (n = 15) was 3.70 ± 0.99 (3.15–4.26); in the group II (n = 12), it was 2.84 ± 0.69 (2.40–3.28), and in the group III (n = 13), it was 2.77 ± 0.44 (2.50–3.04) (p=0.004). FOPI and UtA RI were correlated (r = 0.375, p=0.017), as well as FOPI and UA RI (r = 0.356, p=0.024) and, inversely, FOPI and MCA RI (r = −0.359, p=0.023). Conclusions The FO flow pulsatility index is increased in fetuses with IUGR, probably as a result of impaired left ventricular diastolic function.

Transmitting Ainu traditional food knowledge from mothers to their daughters.

Since 2004, research has been conducted in the Ainu Indigenous community of the Saru River Region of Biratori in Northern Japan examining traditional food use knowledge. The purpose was to improve the socio-cultural environment for the Ainu People by implementing interventions meant to reintroduce traditional Ainu food use, so that they can live with dignity and in harmony with non-Ainu people in the heterogeneous community where Japanese cultural values dominate. Ten years after the start of this research, a series of interviews was conducted with Ainu mothers and daughters active in the community to evaluate the result of the interventions because, in accordance with culturally established Ainu gender roles, the Ainu women prepare the Ainu dishes. The interviews indicated that the community of both Ainu and non-Ainu people shared traditional Ainu food as a communal food at community events organized by the Ainu members of the community. The people in the community now identify traditional Ainu dishes with Ainu names, indicating the establishment of culinary and linguistic boundaries between Ainu traditional food and mainstream Japanese food. This also signals that the Ainu People have begun to establish a basis for reconstructing their unique ethnic identity, once suppressed by the government's former assimilation policy.

The fight for self-representation

Film representation of the Ainu people is as old as cinema but it has not remained stable over time. From the origins of cinema, Ainu people were an object of interest for Japanese and foreign explorers who portrayed them as an Other, savage and isolated from the modern world. The notion of “otherness” was slightly modified during wartime, as the Ainu were represented as Japanese subjects within the “imperial family”, and at the end of the fifties when entertainment cinema presented the Ainu according to the codes of the Hollywood Western on the one hand; and Mikio Naruse proposed a new portrayal focusing on the Ainu as a long-discriminated social collective rather than as an ethnic group, on the other. However, Tadayoshi Himeda’s series of seven documentaries following the Ainu leader Shigeru Kayano’s activities marked a significant shift in Ainu iconography. Himeda challenged both the postwar institutional discourse on the inexistence of minorities in Japan, and the touristic and ahistorical image that concealed the Ainu’s cultural assimilation to Japanese culture. The proposed films do not try to show an exotic people but a conventional people struggling to recover their collective past.