THE AINOS
A book on Japan would be incomplete without some reference to the
Ainos, that mysterious race found, and found only, in the northern
island of Yesso. The Ainos have long been the puzzle of the
ethnologist. Where the Ainos came from or to what other race they are
akin are problems that have given occasion for much learned
dissertation, but are still as far off solution as ever. Mr. Basil
Chamberlain, all of whose writings upon Japan are replete with
erudition and information, has observed that the Aino race deserves to
be studied because "its domain once extended over the entire Japanese
Archipelago," and also "because it is, so to speak, almost at its last
gasp." Unfortunately the evidence for the latter fact is more
conclusive than for the former. The Ainos are, it seems, to be no
exception to that mysterious law of the survival of the fittest, which
decrees that an inferior race shall go down before the superior, and
in due course become merely a name. I have called this a mysterious
law because such disappearance is not necessarily the result of
conquest or of ruthless destruction. When the inferior race is brought
into contact with the superior it seems, by some mysterious process,
to be infected with the elements of decay, to be impregnated with the
germs of annihilation. And, accordingly, it comes about, in accordance
with the dictates of the law I have referred to, that although a
society has been founded in Japan very much on the lines of our
Aborigines Protection Society, an Aino Preservation Society, the Ainos
seem doomed to extinction at no far-distant date.
Whether or not the Ainos once inhabited the whole of the Japanese
islands and trekked north to get away from their conquerors, there can
be no doubt of the fact that they are in almost every respect the very
antithesis of the Japanese. The latter are a smooth-skinned race, the
Ainos an extremely hairy one. The Japanese are essentially a clean, a
scrupulously clean people, the Ainos just as essentially dirty. The
long beards and general facial appearance of the latter are altogether
in startling contrast to the physiognomy of the average Japanese.
When ethnology fails to place a race, philology often steps in with
more or less of success. The Aino language has been profoundly studied
by many eminent philologists, but I do not think the results have
tended to throw much, if any, light on the mystery as to the origin
and racial affinities of the Ainos. In general structure the language
is not unlike that of the Japanese, but this might be expected as the
result of centuries of intercourse between the two people.
The Ainos live almost solely by fishing and hunting. The Japanese
laws, which have year by year been made more stringent, have somewhat
interfered with the sporting proclivities of the people. Nets and fish
traps are now forbidden, and fishing for the most part is effected by
means of a spear or harpoon, either from the shore or from the
somewhat primitive canoes used by the people. Poisoned arrows were
once largely used for the purpose of capturing game, but they are now
forbidden by law. Originally the _modus operandi_ in hunting was to
set a trap with one of these arrows placed in it, and drive the game
on to the same. The head of the arrow was only loosely fastened, and
broke, leaving the poison inside even if the animal managed to pull
out the shaft. The bear is found in Yesso, and that animal has entered
very largely into every phase of Aino life, somewhat circumscribed
though this is. That animal was, or used to be, the objective point of
Aino festivals, and seems, to some extent at any rate, to have had a
part in their crude religious ideas. Bears, are, however, becoming
rare in Yesso, and the Japanese Government, which is paternal even in
regard to the fauna of the islands, has from time to time interfered
with many venerable Aino customs.
The religion of this interesting race is almost as mysterious as
everything else appertaining to it. The Ainos have no idols and no
temples, and their religious rites are of a decidedly simple nature.
They, however, seem to believe in an infinity of spirits inhabiting
various and varied things, and their pantheon is seemingly a crowded
one. I have said seemingly, because the beliefs of a people such as
this are difficult to get at, and even when one has got at them almost
impossible to comprehend. One writer has termed the religion of the
Ainos, "a very primitive nature-worship," and their gods "invisible,
formless conceptions." Such definitions do not convey much
information. Nature-worship is a vague description and "invisible,
formless conceptions" of the deity or deities are not confined to the
Ainos. Possibly, like all peoples but little advanced or developed
mentally, their religious conceptions are of the vaguest and have
assumed no definite shape. A fear of the unknown, a blind groping in
the dark are, mayhap, all that the Aino possesses in reference to the
spiritual world.
Although the religion of the Aino when living is somewhat
incomprehensible his religious ceremonies in reference to the dead are
of a somewhat elaborate nature. After life has become extinct the
first proceeding is to light an enormous fire in the house. The corpse
is then dressed in its best clothes and laid beside the fire, where
are also placed dishes, a drinking-cup, and the implements of the
chase. In the case of a woman, instead of these, her beads and other
ornaments are laid alongside of her; for both sexes a pipe and a
tobacco-box, so greatly used during life, are considered essentials
when dead. Cakes made of rice or millet and a cup of sake, are also
put upon the floor. A kind of wake or funeral feast follows, at which
the mourners throw some sake on the corpse as a libation to its
departed spirit, break off pieces of the cake and bury it in the
ashes. The body is covered with a mat slung upon a pole and carried to
the grave, followed by the mourners, each of whom places something in
the grave, which, it is believed, will be carried to the next world
with the spirit of the deceased person. At the conclusion of the
ceremony the mourners wash their hands in water which has been brought
for the purpose. This is then thrown on the grave and the vessel which
conveyed it is broken in pieces and also thrown on the grave. The
widow of the deceased shaves her head, while the man cuts his beard
and hair, as outward symbols of grief. Many of these ceremonies, it
will be seen, are such as are more or less common to all primitive
races. There is, indeed, a marked resemblance between the habit of the
Ainos in burying articles with the deceased for his use in the next
world and that of the North American Indians. But I am not inclined to
deduce any theory in reference to the origin of the Ainos from the
existence of these customs. Mankind, in every part of the world, seems
to have evolved his religious beliefs in very much the same way. His
conception of the hereafter appears to have proceeded on precisely
similar lines. The higher his scale in civilisation the more spiritual
and the less material his conception of the future. The lower his
scale precisely the reverse is the fact. The savage, which of course
the Aino really is, cannot imagine a future state where there is no
eating and drinking and hunting, and he, accordingly, thinks it
incumbent on him, in order to show his respect for the dead, to
provide the corpse with those articles which he deems essential in
that unknown world where, according to his conception, eating and
drinking and hunting will be as prevalent as in this.
The Ainos have a great respect for the graves of their dead, and
Japanese legislation has taken the necessary steps to prevent any
tampering therewith. Some years ago a few scientists from Europe went
on an expedition from Hakodate with a view of obtaining information
respecting the manners and customs of the Ainos. In the course of this
expedition some graves were broken into and skulls and limbs extracted
therefrom for the purpose of being taken to Europe for scientific
research. This proceeding occasioned an angry outburst on the part of
this usually placid people, and the Japanese authorities gave the
necessary instructions to prevent the possibility of such an
occurrence in future. I suppose the scientists, in the ardour of their
enthusiasm, are hardly to be blamed. Science too frequently overlooks
sentiment, which is, after all, one of the most potent forces in the
world.
The dwellings of the Japanese are supposed to have been evolved from
those of the Ainos. Both build their houses roof first, making the
framework and placing the supports with shorter pieces for rafters,
all being tied together with a rope made of some kind of fibre. Poles,
5 or 6 feet high at regular intervals are then placed in the ground,
each pole having a fork at the top and short horizontal pieces from
one to the other, the roof frame is then erected on and secured to the
poles and subsequently thatched with straw. The floor is of earth,
with the fireplace in the centre. As in Japanese houses, mats are used
for sitting and sleeping purposes. The utensils of the Ainos are much
more primitive than those in use by the Japanese people, and generally
it may be remarked of the Ainos that their wants are few and that the
people are content to live their own life in their own way and only
desire to be severely left alone.
The dress is very similar to that of the Japanese peasant. The men,
however, wear at certain seasons thick rain-coats made of salmon skin,
as also leggings made of a fibre peculiar to themselves, and high
boots constructed of straw. I am sorry to have to relate that the
Ainos have a fondness for sake, and there is a good deal of
intoxication among them. The climate of the island of Yesso, as I have
already remarked, is extremely severe in the winter-time, and there
can be little doubt that many of the Ainos suffer extreme privations.
There have been a few cases of intermarriage between the two races,
but unions of this nature are not looked on with any favour by either.
Attempts have been made by some of the missionaries in Japan to
convert the Ainos to Christianity, but I fear the attempts made in
this direction have been attended with a very scant measure of
success. A people such as this possesses minds of childlike
simplicity, and to endeavour to get it to comprehend the abstruse
doctrines and dogmas of Christianity is an almost hopeless task. The
climate of Yesso is such as to render it possible for missionary
efforts to take place only at certain seasons of the year, and I do
not think there has been, so far as my information goes, any
systematic propaganda of Christianity among this interesting race.
It is certainly a somewhat extraordinary fact that while the other
islands of Japan have been rapidly assimilating and are being steadily
influenced by the civilisation of Europe and America, the northern
island appears to be, except possibly at Hakodate, in a state of
complete isolation from all these influences and effects. Whether the
Ainos have any conception of the influences at work in and the
progress being made by the Empire of which they are subjects, I do not
know, but to me it is both interesting and curious to regard this
ancient and decaying race, either indifferent to or ignorant of all
the bustle and hurry and worry of modern civilisation so close to them
and yet so far removed from their childlike minds and ideas.
The question may be asked, How comes it that a highly civilised people
such as the Japanese have been for many hundreds of years, have
exercised practically no influence upon this subject race inhabiting a
portion of their territory? A nation such as Japan, with a literature
and an art of its own, with two highly developed religious systems,
and with many of those other characteristics which are included in the
term civilisation? How is it that neither art nor literature nor
religion, nor any other characteristic of civilisation has, in the
slightest degree, influenced this aboriginal race? Indeed, if the
theories of ethnologists in regard to the Ainos be correct, and we are
to judge by the ancient remains that have been found throughout Japan,
the Ainos, when they were in undisputed possession of the Japanese
Archipelago, were in a much more advanced condition of civilisation
than they are to-day. The questions that I have put afford food for
reflection, but they are difficult, if not impossible, to answer. I am
certain, however, that the Japanese Government desires to, if
possible, preserve the Aino race from extinction, and that it aspires
to give this ancient people all the advantages of education and
civilisation generally. Unfortunately the Ainos themselves are the
obstacle to the carrying into effect of this project. They desire to
live their own life in their own way. They have not only no wish to
be, but they resent any effort to make them, either educated or
civilised. They are what some people would term children of nature,
out of place decidedly in a modern go-ahead eclectic Power like Japan,
but an interesting survival of the past, and likewise an interesting
reminder that the highly civilised races of to-day have, in their
time, been evolved from very similar children of nature.