Ainu Art, Ainu Marks, Ornamentations, Weapons--Graves and Tattoos.
The expression of ideas by graphic signs is utterly unknown to the Ainu.
They have no alphabet, and furthermore, they have no methods whatever of
writing. Hence the utter incapacity of the hairy people to record
events, time, or circumstances in their history; for even the system of
picture-writing is not known to them.
Thus they have neither graven records nor any form of visible history;
and tradition transmitted from mouth to mouth is all they have by way of
historic continuity. The nearest approach made to graphic signs is in
the owner's marks, which we occasionally find on some of their
implements. The moustache-lifter is the article on which this mark is
most commonly found. What these marks are meant to represent I do not
know for certain; but I believe that Fig. 1 is supposed to convey the
idea of a house, and Fig. 2 that of a boat; Fig. 3 a bear cage, and 4
the mere result of fancy. Even these marks are only rarely found, and
have probably been suggested by Japanese writing.
The illustration shows the four specimens which I found carved on
moustache-lifters.
[Illustration: 1 2 3 4]
Closely allied with writing is, of course, map-drawing and
ornamentations. Map drawing can be dismissed at once, like that famous
chapter on snakes in Iceland, as the Ainu know nothing of it.
Rough ornamentations on bone and wooden implements are their only
artistic efforts. Truthful representations of figures and animals are
seldom attempted,[37] but conventionalised symbols, suggested by and
based on certain forms of animal or vegetable life, are occasionally
used for ornamentation.
[37] The only attempt at animal representation is the small
bear-head in chiefs' crowns.
The Ainu have no rock-sculptures, and can neither paint nor draw in any
form; what they have are mere simple wood-carvings. But only a few have
any aptitude for even this crude work, though of course they are not all
alike. As with us we have people who are artistic and people who are
Philistine, so with the Ainu, in that very humble degree which is to
Western art what an acorn is to an oak.
Like all early work, Ainu art--if we may call it so--aims at a certain
uniformity, especially in leaf-portraiture, so as to produce a somewhat
symmetrical pattern; for at all times geometry has been the mother of
design.
An Ainu does not go for his models direct to Nature, neither does he
servilely copy his neighbour's work; but he gets his ideas indirectly
from both these sources, and through inability to copy accurately,
negligence in close study, and some amount of native imagination
combined, varies the design which he has seen to such an extent as to
make it in a sense original. The talent shown by different men in the
art of carving varies considerably, even in men of the same tribe; while
certain tribes show both aptitude and fondness for these ornamentations,
whereas others have little of either.
It is the Ainu of the upper Ishikari River who chiefly excel in these
carved ornamentations. The knife represented in the illustration comes
from Kamikawa, and was carved with the point of a knife by the chief of
the Ainu there. It took the man many months to accomplish, and it is by
far the best specimen of Ainu workmanship that I saw in Yezo, though the
ornamentations on it are not purely Ainu in character.
This man was a genius as compared to other Ainu, and his ideas of form
and precision were considerably more developed than in most of his race.
He has ornamented the sheath with conventionalised symbols, which were
apparently suggested to him by leaves and branches of trees; and the
suggestion of a flower can be noticed in the upper part of the handle.
A suggestion of fish-scales has been used by him to fill up small open
spaces; others he filled up with parallel lines. The sheath is made of
two parts, to allow the carver to cut the space for the blade inside;
but these two parts are well fitted together, and kept fast by six rings
of neatly-cut bark fastened on while fresh, so that by shrinking the two
sides of the sheath are brought close together, and are as if made of
one single piece.
The side view of the same knife shows the clever contrivance for
fastening it on to the girdle without removing the latter from around
the body. This knife may be ranked among the _chefs d'[oe]uvre_ of Ainu
art.
[Illustration: SIDE VIEW.]
The principal characteristics of the more usual ornamentations are
interesting to study.
[Illustration: KIKE-USH-BASHUI, OR MOUSTACHE-LIFTERS.]
Art of course is only the personification, so to speak, the expression
of the mind, character, and knowledge of the artist; thus, in Ainu
ornamentations we have patterns which could be nothing but Ainu, taken
collectively, yet which show distinctly the temperament of each
individual. For instance, taking the moustache-lifters (Figs. 1, 2, 4 in
the illustration). Fig. 1, with its roundish, undecided, lines, was
carved by a man weak in physique and _morale_; Fig. 2, which is much
simpler and with more decided lines, was the work of a quiet but strong
and proud man; and Fig. 4, with its coarse incisions, was the outcome of
a brutal mind.
Ainu designs, though slightly varied by each individual, are principally
formed of simple geometrical patterns; then of coils and scrolls; and,
rarest of all, because the highest attainment of all, of
conventionalised representations of animal or vegetable forms. Of the
representations from animal forms the fish-scale is the only one adopted
by the Ainu, but suggestions of leaves may not infrequently be found in
these designs. Some of these are long and narrow; others are short and
stumpy.
[Illustration: SUGGESTIONS OF LEAVES.]
The above are, to my mind, the models which the Ainu have chiefly taken
for their leaf patterns, following nature at a long distance indeed!
[Illustration: ROPE-PATTERN AND SIMPLE BANDS.]
Beside these, and much more common, are the rope-pattern and the simple
bands. Often the rope-pattern has bands above and below, especially in
drinking vessels.
Triangles filled with lines parallel to one of the sides are frequently
met with in moustache-lifters, and occasionally the annexed patterns are
found: but as a rule the Ainu are not fond of merely straight single
lines except for "filling" purposes. These patterns are mostly used on
their graves. In articles of every-day use they prefer curves as a
foundation of their ornamentations. The lozenge pattern, especially one
lozenge inside the other, is a favourite among their geometrical
designs; also contiguous and detached circles, chevrons, double
chevrons, and triple chevrons. The chevrons are mainly used by them on
their graves, and they are invariably enclosed between two or four
lines.
[Illustration: TRIANGLES.]
[Illustration: CHEVRONS.]
The two following patterns are elaborations of the foregoing, but are
much more uncommon.
[Illustration: ELABORATIONS OF CHEVRONS.]
The parallel incised lines and parallel lines crossing each other at
right angles are met with again and again in Ainu patterns. More common
still is the occurrence of a number of parallel lines meeting
perpendicularly another lot of parallel lines without crossing them.
[Illustration: A COMMON PATTERN.]
Parallel lines have a fascination for the Ainu, as we find them in most
of their designs.
Concentric circles are not often met with, neither is the plain or loop
coil often found, owing to the difficulty of execution; but the wave
pattern and double wave are typical Ainu patterns; also the reversed
wave.
[Illustration: WAVE PATTERNS.]
From these may have been derived the other two, the last of which is a
mere double reversed coil.
[Illustration: REVERSED COIL.]
Triangular marks are occasionally "put in" by the Ainu in some of their
more complicated designs, and finally we find that, though rarely, they
sometimes attempt a kind of fret.
Other strange forms of lines which are thoroughly characteristic of the
Ainu are the following.
[Illustration: FRETS.]
[Illustration: OTHER CHARACTERISTIC DESIGNS.]
I never came across any Ainu wood-carvings that were coloured, but in
bone-carvings--which, I must add, are very rare--black is used to assist
shade, and bring out the higher lights by contrast. The Ainu have no
idea of tones, semi-tones, or gradations; the contrast is merely between
the strong black and strong white. Enamelling is not known by them.
The objects which bear these incised ornamentations, beside the sheaths
and handles of their knives and swords and their moustache-lifters, as
has been shown, are the _Tchutti_, or war-clubs; the _Hera_, or
netting-mesh used in weaving; drinking-vessels, quivers, pipes and
tobacco-boxes, the thread-reeds, cloth-hangers, and graves.
[Illustration: TCHUTTI, OR WAR-CLUBS.]
The modern Ainu are not a warlike people, therefore many of the weapons
which were used in former days for defence and offence are rarely found
now. For instance, the old war-clubs are not used by the present
generation. These clubs were long and heavy, and were carried on the
wrist by a piece of rope passed through a hole at the upper end. Some
were plain and straight, others were curved towards the end to make them
heavier. Now and again some carved all over are found. Pieces of leather
or rope were often knotted round the heavier part to make the blow more
severe. In some of the very old clubs a stone was inlaid to add to the
weight and consequent efficiency of the weapon. These clubs are from two
to two and a half feet in length, and are made of hard wood.
[Illustration: TROUGH IN WHICH RESIN IS KEPT FOR FIXING ARROW-POINTS.]
Ainu bows are simple, and not very powerful. They are about fifty inches
in length, and made of only one piece of yew. The arrows, which are
poisoned, are of bamboo or bone. The poison is extracted from aconite
roots mixed with other ingredients. It is somewhat greasy owing to
certain fatty matters which it contains, and is smeared into the cavity
in the arrow-point, which has previously been treated with pine-tree gum
to fix the poison. The arrow-point is barbed, and so fashioned that when
the shaft is drawn from the wound this poisoned point remains.
[Illustration: POISONED ARROWS.]
The illustration gives two different kinds of poisoned arrows. In Figs.
2 and 3, the black part in the point shows the cavity filled with
poison. Fig. 2 shows how the arrow-head is separated from the reed, and
how when the arrow is drawn from the flesh the poisoned point remains
inside the wound.
The arrows, when in war or hunting, are kept in a quiver, and a small
_Inao_ is hung to it to bring good luck to the owner.
Spears and harpoons of one barb are common, and some of the poisoned
spears have heads similar to the arrows but of a larger size. Spears are
out of date now, but harpoons are still employed in fishing.
Knives are the weapons on which a modern Ainu most relies. Some of these
knives are of such length that they might pass for swords. The blade is
single-edged, and is protected by a wooden sheath. Nearly every man
possesses one, which he carries in his girdle when dressed; when naked,
he carries it in his hand. The illustration shows knives of different
sizes, and with different patterns worked on them. From an artistic
point of view the sheaths of knives are the most carefully wrought over,
and ornamented to a greater extent than any other article of Ainu
manufacture.
[Illustration: AINU KNIVES.]
Then come the graves. The Ainu are very jealous of these places of
eternal rest, and good care is taken to hide them either in the midst of
a forest, on a distant and almost inaccessible hill, or in some remote
spot, difficult to find or reach.
[Illustration: WOODEN MONUMENTS OVER MEN'S GRAVES.]
[Illustration: MONUMENTS FOR WOMEN.]
Each village has its own semi-secret graveyard, in which all its dead
are buried. Occasionally, when the site of a graveyard has become known
to others than these local Ainu, the place is deserted, and a fresh
place of sepulture is chosen. The manner of burial is as follows. The
body, wrapped up in a _Kinna_ (mat), is fastened to a long pole and
carried to the grave by two men. All the villagers follow, each carrying
some article which was owned by the deceased. A grave is dug, wide and
long enough to hold the body laid flat. In it are placed the bow and
arrows with their quiver, the knife--from which, for the sake of
economy, the blade has been previously removed--and the drinking-vessel
which belonged to the deceased, if he were a man. Women are usually
buried with some beads, earrings, and furs. All these articles, carried
by the mourners, are broken before they are laid in the grave with the
corpse; a few boards are then placed over the body, and earth is thrown
over these till the ground is level again.
The grave is generally so shallow that the body is only a few inches
underground--sometimes not more than four inches. The body lies flat on
its back. Close to its head is erected a monument. For men it is the
trunk of a tree, about six feet in length, from which the bark has been
peeled off, and whereon certain ornamentations are cut. A short branch
is left on one side. The top of the tree-trunk and the end of the branch
are cut either in the shape of a lozenge, a hexagon, or a semicircle;
and a hole is made through it. At the branch end, the cloth-earrings or
the head-gear of the deceased are hung and left to decay.
[Illustration: WOODEN BLADE.]
Women have simpler graves; they are flat instead of round, and are cut
into the shape of a canoe-paddle. The chief of a village has a more
elaborate tomb than others if he has been liked by the villagers. At
Raishats, on the Ishikari River, I saw a really imposing monument put
over the grave of the chief who had recently died. It was of very large
size, and well carved--in the same patterns as those shown in the
illustration. Its chief peculiarity was that the body, instead of being
covered by earth, was covered by what appeared to be a canoe or
"dug-out" turned upside down, the bottom of which had been laboriously
carved. On each of the two sides, at the head and foot of the grave, was
stuck into the ground a wooden blade twenty-one inches in length,
resembling in shape the blade of a sword. Each of these four blades was
carved alike, and had a strange design resembling the number 88. Whether
a meaning is attached by the Ainu to this design I cannot say, and the
curious circumstance, as my readers will remember, through which I came
into possession of one of these blades, did not permit me to ask many
questions on the subject. I often wondered whether it meant that life
begins, goes its way round, and ends where it began? It is more likely,
though, that no meaning whatever is attached to those lines, for such
deep thoughts would hardly harmonise with the Ainu philosophy--such as
it is. The Ainu do not stop to mourn or pray or trouble themselves about
a grave when the body is once buried. Those who have touched the body
wash their hands in a tub of water which has been brought for the
purpose; afterwards the water is thrown over the grave and the tub is
smashed. The Ainu seldom visit their graveyards except when some one has
to be buried. They hate their dead to be disturbed, and nothing makes
them more angry than to know that a stranger has been near their
burial-ground. When a man is dead they try to forget all about him and
his doings, in which they generally succeed to perfection. This
naturally is not conducive to anything like continuity in the history of
the country, and may partly account for their having none. Moreover,
none of the tombs bear the name or the mark of the person to whom it was
erected. Tombs of children are of similar shape to those of adults, only
smaller in size. When carrying the dead--or, as we should say, going to
a funeral--the Ainu put on their best clothes, and when the burial is
over they all get helplessly drunk to make up for the loss of the
departed friend.
To leave this somewhat grim subject and to return to every-day art, it
may be well to mention that the designs for embroideries differ in no
way from the wood-carvings. They are often more accurately finished,
owing to the greater facility of materials, but the lines and all the
characteristics of the patterns are the same. In the tattoos the lozenge
pattern and bands are the two more commonly used. The Egyptian cross is
sometimes met with([Illustration: egyptian cross]), and also a kind of
reversed _fylfot_, or _svastika_. Moreover, the St. Andrew's cross with
an additional line is not uncommon(X|). In the present volume this is
all I have to say on Ainu art. I may, however, add that their
ornamentations could not be more primitive, but their frequency on
weapons, clothing, implements, and graves shows us that art, though not
understood by the Ainu, has a certain fascination, which, in their
ignorance, they cannot explain. They know art without knowing what art
means. Certain lines and simple designs which are familiar to them
appeal to their taste, else they would not ornament all their articles
with them. But this does not show any great intellectual activity, for
beyond that point the Ainu brain cannot go. As art in its natural state
is merely the pictorial outcome of what the brain has grasped, we have
in these crude beginnings another strong proof that the brain-power of
the Ainu is indeed very limited, and their inability to represent animal
form seems extraordinary in view of what other savages have done; but of
course superstition may have something to say to the omission. The Ainu
rank very low in the scale of civilisation; they are probably below the
Australian blacks and the tree-dwellers of India, who are supposed to be
among the lowest races in creation. The Terra del Fuegians and certain
African tribes run them hard; but, taken all in all, the Ainu are the
furthest behind in the great race of human development.
[Illustration: AN AINU PIPE.]