Ainu Ethnobiology
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Williams Ainu Ethnobiology In the last 20 years there has been an increasing focus on study of Ainu culture in Japan, the United States, and in Europe. is has resulted in a number of major exhibitions and publications such as “Ainu, Spirit of a Northern People” published in 1999 by the Ainu Ethnobiology Smithsonian and the University of Washington Press. While such e orts have greatly enhanced our general knowledge of the Ainu, they did not allow for a full understanding of the way in which the Ainu regarded and used plants and animals in their daily life. is study aims at expanding our knowledge of ethnobiology as a central component of Ainu culture. It is based in large part on an analysis of the work of Ainu, Japanese, and Western researchers working in the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. Ainu Ethnobiology Dai Williams was born in Lincoln, England in 1941. He received a BA in Geography and Anthropology from Oxford University in 1964 and a MA in Landscape Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania in 1969. He spent the majority of his career in city and regional planning. His cultural research began through museum involvement in the San Francisco Bay Area. Based in Kyoto from 1989, he began research on the production and use of textiles in 19th century rural Japan. His research on the Ainu began in 1997 but primarily took place in Hokkaido between 2005 and 2009. Fieldwork focused on several areas of Hokkaido, like the Saru River Basin and the Shiretoko Peninsula, which the Ainu once occupied. In addition, Williams met with and worked with a number of Japanese researchers who focus on Ainu culture and ethnobiology. Contributions in Ethnobiology is a peer-reviewed monograph series presenting original book-length data-rich, state-of-the-art research in ethnobiology. It is the only monograph series devoted expressly to representing the breadth of ethnobiological topics. Contributions Contributions in Ethnobiology e Society of Ethnobiology is a professional organization dedicated ISBN 978-0-9887330-6-0 to the interdisciplinary study of the relationships of plants and animals 90000> with human cultures worldwide, including past and present relationships between peoples and the environment. Dai Williams S E 9 780988 733060 Ainu Ethnobiology Contributions in Ethnobiology Contributions in Ethnobiology Marsha Quinlan and Justin Nolan, Series Editors Contributions in Ethnobiology is a peer-reviewed monograph series presenting original book-length data-rich, state-of-the-art research in ethnobiology. It is the only monograph series devoted expressly to representing the breadth of ethnobiological topics. Explorations in Ethnobiology: The Legacy of Amadeo Rea Marsha Quinlan and Dana Lepofsky, Editors Sprouting Valley: Historical Ethnobotany of the Northern Pomo from Potter Valley, California James R. Welch Secwepemc People and Plants: Research Papers in Shuswap Ethnobotany Marianne B. Ignace, Nancy J. Turner, and Sandra L. Peacock, Editors Small Things Forgotten: Artifacts of Fishing in the Petén Lakes Region, Guatemala Prudence M. Rice, Don S. Rice, and Timothy W. Pugh Ainu Ethnobiology Dai Williams Ainu Ethnobiology Dai Williams S E 2017 Copyright © 2017 Society of Ethnobiology All rights reserved Library of Congress Control Number: 2017944159 ISBN 978-0-9887330-6-0 (paperback) ISBN 978-0-9887330-7-7 (PDF) Society of Ethnobiology Department of Sociology & Anthropology, University of Puget Sound 1500 North Warner St., CMB#1092, Tacoma, WA 98416 Cover photo: An Ainu man debarking an elm, Ulmus lacianata. Note, lying on the ground, the knife with which the initial cut into the bark was made. Murakami 1799. Table of Contents Table of Contents ...............................................................v List of Figures .................................................................vii Preface .......................................................................ix 1. History of the Ainu ...........................................................1 The Hokkaido Ainu .......................................................1 The Kuril Ainu ...........................................................6 The Sakhalin Ainu ........................................................7 2. Geography and Climate . 9 Introduction . .9 Physical Geography and General Ecology ...................................10 Hokkaido...........................................................10 Sakhalin............................................................11 The Kurils ..........................................................12 Climate and Seasons .....................................................12 3. Ainu Society ................................................................15 The Settlement . 16 The Economy ...........................................................19 Fishing .............................................................19 River Fishing in Hokkaido ........................................19 River Fishing in Sakhalin .........................................23 Salmon and White-spotted Char...................................23 Ice Fishing......................................................25 Gathering at the Shore ...........................................26 Offshore/Ocean Fishing ..........................................27 Hunting ............................................................29 Hunting in the Mountains in Sakhalin..............................29 Brown Bear (Ursos arctos yezoensis) ................................30 Hunting at the Den ..............................................32 Pursuing Brown Bear in the Mountains.............................32 Fixed Bow Traps ................................................34 Poison .........................................................35 Raising Brown Bears for Iyomante .................................35 Hunting Sika Deer (Cervus nippon) ................................37 4. Ainu Diet..................................................................41 5. Medicine ..................................................................45 6. Clothing and Footwear......................................................47 7. Other Uses of Plant Materials ................................................51 8. Plants Collected by Season ..................................................53 9. Flora Collected in Spring....................................................57 10. Flora Collected in Summer ..................................................89 11. Flora Collected in Autumn .................................................117 12. Flora Collected in Winter or As Needed......................................153 Appendix 1: Fauna of Hokkaido................................................195 Appendix 2: Birds of Hokkaido ................................................197 Appendix 3: Hokkaido Place Names ............................................199 References Cited..............................................................203 Plant Index in English.........................................................209 Plant Index in Latin...........................................................213 List of Figures Figure 1. An Ainu Chieftan ....................................................5 Figure 2. Seal Hunting in Sakhalin ..............................................7 Figure 3. Map of Hokkaido, Sakhalin and the Kurils ...............................9 Figure 4. Key Map of Hokkaido................................................10 Figure 5. Mountains of Shiretoko seen from Shari ................................11 Figure 6. Coastal village in the 19th century ......................................18 Figure 7. Men telling yukar ...................................................19 Figure 8. Fishing with harpoon and torch .......................................21 Figure 9. Fishing in shallow waters .............................................24 Figure 10. Ice fishing ..........................................................26 Figure 11. Fishing at sea .......................................................28 Figure 12. Altar in Chitose mountains ...........................................31 Figure 13. Hunting brown bear at the den ........................................33 Figure 14. Brown bear cub in captivity ...........................................36 Figure 15. Hunting Sika deer ...................................................38 Figure 16. Sealskin sacks for storing oil ..........................................43 Figure 17. Sakhalin Ainu clothing...............................................48 Figure 18. Butterbur leaf used as an umbrella .....................................48 Figure 19. Sasparilla ginseng (Aralia cordata), upper Sorachi River ..................64 Figure 20. Sacred staffs ........................................................67 Figure 21. Lysichiton (Lysichiton camtschatcense)..................................75 Figure 22. Butterbur (Petasites japonicus), Tokachi River ...........................76 Figure 23. Weaving a basket ....................................................82 Figure 24. Fire Drill ...........................................................84 Figure 25. Weaving cloth of the bast of Manchurian elm............................86 Figure 26. Tapping the sap of birch (Betula platyphylla) ............................93 Figure 27. Tattoos.............................................................93 Figure 28. The bulbs of cardiocrinum lily (Cardiocrinum glehnii) ....................97 Figure 29. Digging sticks.......................................................97