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Sacred Dances

"upopo"

Origin of the Ainu

Scholars have advocated various theories about the origin of the Ainu people. The theories include the Caucasoid (Caucasian) Theory, the Mongoloid Theory, the Oceania Race Theory, the Old Asian Race Theory, and the Solitary Race Theory. Some scholars have recently advocated the following hypothesis into which the Mongoloid Theory has developed. Mongoloid peoples once were of two types : Southern Mongoloid and Northern Mongoloid. Before the Jomon Period (several tens of thousands of years ago), the Southern Mongoloid started moving northward and settled the Japanese archipelago, including Okinawa, over a long period of time. Later, the Southern Mongoloid played a major role in the Jomon Period throughout Japan. However, in the Yayoi and Tumulus Periods, the Northern Mongoloid came across the sea to Japan in great numbers. The ethnic Japanese (non-Ainu) are the people who have evolved rapidly through the strong influences of these migratory processes. On the other hand, the Ainu in Hokkaido and the Tohoku region and the Ryukyu people in Okinawa are the ones who have hardly affected by this process.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BASQUE AND AINU

The language of the Ainu bear-worshippers of Northern Japan has generally been considered a language-isolate, supposedly being unlike any other language on earth. A few researchers noticed a relationship with languages in south-east Asia, others saw similarity with the Ostiak and Uralic languages of northern Siberia. The Ainu look like Caucasian people, they have white skin, their hair is wavy and thick, their heads are mesocephalic (round) and a few have grey or blue eyes. However, their blood types are more like the Mongolian people, possibly through many millennia of intermixing. The Ainu are a semi-nomadic hunting and fishing tribe but also practice simple planting methods, which knowledge may have been acquired from the newcomers. The invading people, under their Yamato government, called them the Ezo, the unwanted, and forced the Ainu in fierce fighting to retreat north to the island of Hokkaido. The name Ezo likely is an abbreviation of the Basque word ezonartu (to disapprove of) The Ainu are a people with a cultural and racial background which is different from that of the ethnic Japanese. They have been populating Hokkaido, northern Tohoku, the Kurile Islands and Sakhalin, but today only a small population remains mainly in Hokkaido.

According to one of several theories, the Ainu are descendants of Mongoloid migrants who entered the Japanese islands before the Jomon period. They were later displaced and assimilated,
when the ethnic Japanese expanded their territory northernwards.

The Ainu people originally did not have an alphabet. Therefore, they have orally transmitted literature such as tales, legends, experiences, and morals for everyday life from generation to generation.

" Yukar" are the tales of heroes. They are also called "yayerap," "sakorpe," or "haw" in some areas. Yukar are called "hawki" in Sakhalin. The hero is an orphan boy called by various names, including "Poiyaunpe," "Pon-shinutapkaunkur," "Pon-otasamunkur," and " Yayresupo," depending on the area. The narrator of yukar sits at the fireside and recites the adventure stories of this boy all night, beating the fireside with a stick called "repni. "

In some stories, the heroes are men ; in others, they are gods whose appearance resembles men. In a story in which heroes are gods, gods with such names as "Aeoynakamuy," "Ainurakkur" and "Okikurmi" descend from the heavens to the human world and experience various dramatic events with man. In the lburi and Hidaka districts, such stories are called "oyna." However, in other areas, such stories are included in " kamuy yukar" as described below.

Return to Indigenous Peoples' Literature

Compiled by: Glenn Welker





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