ainu (5 Ergebnisse)

Paperback. Zustand: Very Good. Japanese, Russian, and English language text. Profusely illustrated.

Eight black and white photographic illustrated postcards, one black and white photograph embossed with the studio name s. Kinoshita with an Ainu name on reverse handwritten on the reverse, 19 x 9cm, original envelope (15 x 9.5cm), captions in Japanese and English. Original envelope chipped and torn, postcards and photograph in very good condition. The postcards depict Ainu people and aspects of their traditional way of life and customs. Captions are printed in both Japanese and English. Included is a photographic portrait of an Ainu man shown bare-chested.On the reverse of one card appears the inscription: ?Miyamoto Ikashmatoku, Shiraoi Town, Shiraoi County?, dated 15 June (no year stated). Miyamoto Ikashmatoku was a prominent Ainu leader in the pre-war period.The original envelope is present and features an illustration of an Ainu man in ceremonial dress holding a bow and arrow.

Six colour post cards, 14.5 x 10cm, pictorial folder measuring 16.5 x 11.5cm, captions in Japanese and English on reverse. Minor wear paper folder but otherwise very good. Six colour post cards featuring Ainu people in their traditional costumes, performing their rituals and dances. The Japanese text on the envelope says that the Ainus are the only "primitive people" in Japan, and they need to be studied.

Tokyo, Kato Masao for Japan Broadcasting Coporation NHK (Nippon Hoso Kyokai), 1965, 1st ed., 566 pag., coloured photogr. frontispiece, b/w illustrations, numerous music examples, text in Japanese with a summary in English, original cloth lettered in white with dustjacket and original lettered board slipcase, quarto (27 x 19,5 cm.). = Rare. With loosely inserted presentation-leaflet: "With the compliments of the N H K (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) Tokyo. This book entitled "Traditional Ainu Music" contains 440 pieces of music scores and recorded sheets (containing 64 music pieces) of the traditional music of the Ainu, the aboriginal race of Japan now living in Hokkaido, Japan's northern-most island, and whose way of living has been assimilated to that of the Japanese. We hope that this book compiled after 3 years of researches and investigations conducted by NHK will be of some use in researches of ethnic music. (An English outline is given at the end of the volume).".

A vibrant late-Edo rendition of the most popular early modern work to depict the customs and lifestyles of the Ainu people. This example shows one Ainu creation myth, "The Tale of the Dog Ancestor", traditional Ainu dress such as the sapanpe headband and tamasay necklace, hunting practices, housing, and ceremonies like the Iomante bear sacrifice. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, the Tokugawa shogunate recognized the need to survey and prepare the north of Japan against a possible Russian incursion. They commissioned a number of geographer-explorers to survey the island of Ezo (now Hokkaido). One of them was Murakami Shimanojo (1764-1808), who was sent to the region in 1799 by the senior councillor Matsudaira Sadanobu (1758-1829). He wrote his observations in the manuscript Ezo-shima kikan (original held in the Tokyo National Museum, accession number QB-10015) in 1800, which "endures as among the best ethnographic renditions of late eighteenth-century Ainu life" (Walker, p. 289). Murakami wrote that "I hope to avoid losing the past descriptions of the Ainu and show them to those who have never seen them" (Irimoto, p. 63). Indeed, his descriptions and illustrations of Ainu culture were so popular that over 65 manuscript copies have been traced in institutions. Each of these manuscripts is unique, containing a different selection of the over 100 illustrations in Murakami's original. This is because "the manuscripts that survive today were not just based on the complete original, but also on the author's earlier drafts and partial copies" (Azuma, p. 73). The drawing style of each example is individual to its copyist, with this present manuscript distinguished by its use of bright yellow shades. This copy opens with a retelling of one Ainu creation myth popular among the mainland Japanese: "The Tale of the Dog Ancestor". According to the myth, "Long ago, a goddess arrived on the coast of Shizunai. She was alone and carried many rare objects. but had no house to weather the winds and storms, nor any way to hunt for food. As she began to starve, a dog ran up to her barking and wagging its tail. She followed the dog to a cave and made her home there. The dog ran to the coast to get her seafood, and he ran to the hills and fields to gather her fruits and nuts, saving her life. Over time she fathered the dog's child. As such, it is said that the women of the Ainu are descended from the goddess and the men are descended from dogs" (Matoba, p. 27). This is only one of many Ainu creation stories, but it became the most popular among the Japanese colonizers of Hokkaido as it claimed the Ainu were descended from animals. The manuscript continues by describing traditional clothing and jewellery, such as the sapanpe headband and tamasay necklace. It also shows an arm that had been heavily tattooed, a centuries-old Ainu tradition passed through the matrilineal line. Facial and arm tattoos were a staple part of the Ainu religion, being a prerequisite for women to both marry and enter into the afterlife. However, Japanese colonizers associated tattooing with crime, as they commonly used it as a punishment and means to identify thieves and murderers. Therefore the Edo and Meiji governments made multiple attempts to ban the practice following Hokkaido's colonization. Other scenes in the manuscript include seal hunting and the Iomante bear sacrifice. This festival was one of the most important in traditional Ainu culture, depicted here over five leaves. Through this sacrifice, the Ainu believed they were "sending off" (the literal meaning of iomante) their gods back to the spirit world. It was banned under animal protection laws in 1955, and while this ban was rescinded in 2007, the practice has not been revived in its original form. This copy ends with an inside view of an Ainu house, the Tai-fu-kari dance, the ukari fight used to settle disputes, and a musician playing the tonkori zither. Altogether, it is valuable as a window into pre-colonial Hokkaido, tempered by the lens of its colonizers. Matoba Mitsuaki, Gendaigo de yomu Ezo-shima kikan - Ainu-e bunken, 2021; Azuma Shunsuke, "'Ezoshima kikan' shahon no kenkyu ichi", Hokkaido Hakubutsukan Kenkyu Kiyo, vol. 9, 2024; Irimoto Takashi, "Northern Studies in Japan", Japanese Review of Cultural Anthropology, vol. 5, 2004; Brett L. Walker, "Mamiya Rinzo and the Japanese exploration of Sakhalin Island: cartography and empire", Journal of Historical Geography, vol. 33, 2007. Oblong folio (268 x 382 mm). Hand-coloured illustrations in text. Together, 48 sheets of manuscript in black ink, each sheet filled on one side with text and illustrations, bound in contemporary light brown paper wrappers, black cloth backstrip. Housed in a black cloth flat-back box by the Chelsea Bindery. Later ownership stamp of one Harada in red and near-contemporary seal in black to f. [1] recto. Vertical crease throughout where folio has been folded in half, moderate foxing, illustrations bright: a very good example.