Intro

 

In the documentary “Have You Heard About The Ainu?” directed by Dr.Kinko Ito, the Ainu indigenous ethnic minority group of Japan are introduced through exploring their culture in their homeland Hokkaido. The director is a sociology professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock who conducted research and interviews in Hokkaido from 2011 to 2016 which was the year the documentary was published (2016). The ethnographic film reveals different aspects of the Ainu culture that includes their lifestyle, history, rituals, norms, identity, and much more.

 

Backstory

Dr.Kinko used the style of doing unstructured interviews with the local community by visiting and interacting with them by staying at one of her friend’s house. She covered multiple topics by almost asking the same people similar questions throughout the documentary. In between, the audience could see the daily activities and landscapes of the Ainu culture. The interview topics include identity, marriage and family, human relations with non-Ainu Japanese, their history, school, and work experiences.

Insight

Located at Biratori, Hokkaido, Japan, the Ainu indigenous ethnic minority group faced discrimination in the 19’s from all over Japan. They avoided speaking their language back in the day due to how bad people treated them if they found out they are Ainu. During world war two the Ainu soldiers would participate in the war, however, they were not considered officers due to their lack of education. Thus, the people of Ainu practiced the Peotanke ritual where mostly women dance when there is a call of crisis praying for victory in the war.  

 

Most of the locals described a very tough life in general, including their childhood too, they enjoyed playing Gateball in order to ease this harsh life’s on themselves. Local farmers grew corn and the whole family would be involved in labor from the kids to the wife of the family. One of the locals, Kazunobu Kawanano, who grew up without a father, talked about men back in the day who took marriage without thinking about its actual responsibility, without calculating how much work is involved in such commitment. He then talked about how they value family and women in their society, “A home without fire and a woman is a lonely house” he said which shows how much they care about their wives. “Fighting” is the secret for a successful marriage he said ironically, I felt like he meant it builds a stronger relationship between both sides in the marriage relationship. Another interesting aspect is that they did not practice birth control a long time ago causing having up to 10 kids and they found raising kids was tough because they were poor. Women back then never get divorced like today because they took taking care of their kids and being poor for granted. This tells a lot about the Ainu culture in terms of valuing family and having a full commitment to making it work out even if it’s hard.

 

The Ainu people were very religious, and they prayed every morning before doing any task. During school hours, students would bow to the emperors in front of Hoanden shrine which is an important ritual of their culture. Kids used to carry gallons of water on their shoulders and cleaned lamps and this was part of their hard work during their young years.

 

Due to what is considered today as “ethnic cleansing”, The Ainu were forced to speak Japanese, and women’s tattoos and men’s earrings were prohibited.  Hokkaido became national land and was directly controlled by the government. The colonization Board promoted Japanese immigration by providing travel money, housing, farming equipment, and food. The key insight here is even though they were pressured by the government, many still stayed there and kept their identity as is which shows how united the Ainu people are. It got to a point where fishing and hunting were prohibited which impacted thousands of people. A museum staffer said to Dr.Kinko, “Salmon was the staple food of Ainu. Making it not allowed to fish meant “Death to Ainu”. I was fascinated to learn that Salmon was related to Ainu spiritually where they offered Salmon to the gods. Being spiritual to that extent in your life makes you do things with good intention and care.

 

Theme

“Survival”

The Ainu dealt with a lot of challenges as a minority group in order to establish a voice in Japan. They have suffered from all aspects of life whether it’s the lack of economy, resources, and forceful laws. However, today they are proud to say that they are from Ainu as the interviewers mentioned. The Ainu language now where the revised Japan Industrial Standard enabled the writing of Ainu language using small case katakana and half-voiced sounds in 200. Today, they have established their own political party, the “Ainu Ethnic Minority Party” in Japan where they have a representative in the national assembly of mainland Japan.

A-ha moment

There were two “a-ha” moments as I watched the documentary:

1. One of the interviewers talked about how he and his brother had different last names and for a second I was confused. He then explained that in their culture they had rituals where changing the last name of siblings might make them grow healthier as babies. This is interesting because even though changing last names seems wrong and might cause future confusion, they still believed and trusted their spiritual beliefs which are powerful.

 

2. Another famous act between the Ainu culture is adopting Japanese kids and taking care of them. Even though they suffer from many things in life they managed to always give back and do more for kids who were abandoned by their parents is a tough responsibility with great impact.

 

“Fading away” By Fares Al-Madani (visual artwork)

 

This collage represents the fact that the Ainu people in 2016 believed that they are the last generation of the Ainu culture. I felt like their identity is fading away, however, there are efforts to preserve their culture. You can see the women wearing their handmade traditional robe dancing trying to remove the smoke away and ironically save the Ainu people.

 

 

Relationship and Interaction Matrix

Relationships – Sheet1 (1)

 

 

The Japanese Ainu micro-culture has minimum rights for their lands. However, they have access to their lands in terms of visuality and feeling free in their own land. In terms of claiming resources and freedom of action, they are very limited due to the tough laws and regulations set by the Japanese government. They cannot hunt certain animals or plants certain crops which threatened the population as a whole. The Ainu did not have the concept of “private” land” and the land was redistributed by the government which ties back to lack of fairness in terms of ownership and disposition.

 

The picture here represents the lack of full freedom of land to the Ainu people. The fence symbolizes the feeling of being stuck and forced into harsh laws that are implemented by the government.

The Tip of Ice Berg

 

Place: Kumano Jinja Shrine – Kawagoe.

What?

Located at Kawagoe, the Kumano Jinja Shrine lies along the street where it is open to the public since it is a religious place. I see a concrete structure (Shinto shrine) at the entrance of an enclosed pathway. On the right side, you can see a rectangular concrete structure that has Japanese engravings referring to the name of the shrine. Therefore, on its left is a much smaller Concrete structure with engravings in the color red referring to the type of shrine: which enshrines the three Kumano mountains: Hongū, Shingū, and Nach. On the right of the pathway, people took off their shoes and walks on stone and water. There was a change of material of large brick-like concrete that guides the visitors through the path. 

How?

The people in the middle of the sideway are observing the actions of the middle-aged lady that is not wearing her shoe which shows that her actions were abnormal and unique, they seem fascinated and appreciative. The ritual seemed effortless and calming since it made the followers connect with their believers through their senses. She was not doing a huge effort since the steel pole helped her lean and she walked barefoot. She seemed happy and relaxing as you can observe her shoulder posture as its resting. 

Why?

In terms of the tip of the iceberg, this scene and place have revealed to me what keeps them together as a nation, which is through religion and their beliefs. These rituals have made the Ainu people get closer as a nation and are what made them united with each other. Having a way of connecting with god where you do certain rituals to get wisdom, mercy, and happiness is powerful. The context and history of this place are what made it significant for the past thousand years. A place can have its own relevance, connotations, and value to it. Through the scale of the structure and how it looks (Shinto shrine), its identity and social impact spread all around Japan.

 

 

This destination will the one of the main religious shrines of the Ainu community where people can come together and practice religious, mediational, or spiritual rituals either alone, through walks, engaging with nature, or finally in groups and sessions. This center will also serve as an adoption center that eases the process for parents who are looking for an opportunity to help these young lost kids. The caring part of the center will provide a facility for the kids and build their religious values from a young age.  Furthermore, the whole unique destination will symbolize HOPE for the community, where it is going to serve a place that strengthens the community together as ONE.