Ainu of Ainu Moshiri (Hokkaido, Japan)
The Bear Clan, Sacred Tattoos, Chise Female Priestesses & Spirit Weaving
The Ainu are considered to be one of the earliest continuous world cultures alongside only the Australian Aborigines and the San (Kalahari Bushmen), descending from the indigenous Japanese hunter-gatherers who lived in Japan during the Jōmon period (c. 14,000 to 300 BCE).1
Today many artistic traditions of the Ainu seem to have evolved from the ancestral Jomon. As such, this artistic continuum represents one of the oldest ongoing cultural traditions in the world spanning at least ten millennia.
The Ainu are the earliest settlers of Ainu Moshiri (Land of the Ainu) now called Hokkaido, Japan's northern island. Ainu means ‘human’ in Ainu language. They also identify themselves as Utari ‘comrades’ or ‘people’.
Spiritual Beliefs
The Ainu beliefs are centered on animism, believing that everything in nature has a kamuy (spirit or god) on the inside. The most important include Kamuy-huci, goddess of the hearth. Her full name is Apemerukoyan-mat Unamerukoyan-mat (Rising Fire Sparks Woman/ Rising Cinder Sparks Woman), and she is also known as Iresu Kamuy (People Teacher). She is among the most important kamuy of Ainu mythology, serving as keeper of the gateway between the world of humans and the world of kamuy.2
‘Every Ainu home was constructed according to plan with reference to the central hearth and a sacred window facing a stream. Within the hearth was kindled fire, and within the fire was the home of an important deity who served as mediator between all Ainu gods Fuchi. The fire goddess Fuchi was invoked prior to all ceremonials because communication with other kamuy (deities and spirits) was impossible without her divine intervention. Fuchi guarded over families and lent her spiritual support in times of trouble and illness or at times of birth and death. In this respect, the central hearth was a living microcosm of the Ainu mythological universe, because as a ritual space, it replicated and provided a means from which to actively intervene in the cosmos. However, it was also a space where Ainu and the gods grew wary of one another, especially if the fire was not burning at all times.’3