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PREFACE.
PREFACE.
This book is not meant as a literary work, for I am not and do not pretend to be a literary man. It is but a record—an amplified log-book, as it were—of what befell me during my solitary peregrinations in Hokkaido, and a collection of notes and observations which I hope will prove interesting to anthropologists and ethnologists as well as to the general public. Without any claim to infallibility I have tried to take an open-minded and sensible view of everything I have attempted to describe; in
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CHAPTER I. From Hakodate to Mororran—Volcano Bay—The first Ainu—A strange Institution among them.
CHAPTER I. From Hakodate to Mororran—Volcano Bay—The first Ainu—A strange Institution among them.
I have often asked myself why I went to Yezo; and, when there, what possessed me to undertake the laborious task of going round the island, up its largest rivers, travelling through jungles and round lakes, climbing its highest peaks, and then proceeding to the Kuriles. There are certain things in one's life that cannot be accounted for, and the journey which I am going to relate is one of them. Pleasure and rest were the two principal objects which had primarily induced me to steer northwards;
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CHAPTER II. From Mororran to the Saru River.
CHAPTER II. From Mororran to the Saru River.
Thirteen more miles in a basha —for I was still in civilised regions—took me to Horobets—a village half Ainu and half Japanese. The Ainu often name their villages after rivers, and this word Horobets, which in English means "large river," is an instance of this custom. In Southern Japan, previous to my visiting Yezo, I was told that nearly all the Ainu of Horobets had become "good Christians." If such were the case, which I do not wish my readers to doubt, the small experience which I had here,
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CHAPTER III. Up the Saru River—Piratori and its chief.
CHAPTER III. Up the Saru River—Piratori and its chief.
A large number of Ainu have taken up their abode on the banks of the River Saru, or Sharu, as it is called by them, and Piratori, nearly fifteen miles from the coast, is the largest village of the whole series. The scenery from the coast to this village is not grand, but pretty, through a thickly-wooded country and along grassy plains. The Ainu give to the plain itself the name of Sharu-Ru, which corresponds in English to a "track in a grassy plain." Along this water-way, or not far from it, one
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CHAPTER IV. An Ainu Festival.
CHAPTER IV. An Ainu Festival.
The Ainu have few public performances, and no special time of the year is fixed for them. As it so happened, a festival—a "Iyomanrei"—took place while I was at Piratori. The performance was held in a large hut belonging to the heir apparent to the chieftainship of Piratori. I went to the hut and asked whether I could attend the performance. The host, in answer, came to meet me at the door, and, taking me by the hand, led me in. I was shown where to sit, on the southern side of the hut, the place
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CHAPTER V. From the Saru River to Cape Erimo.
CHAPTER V. From the Saru River to Cape Erimo.
After quitting Saru Mombets I was altogether out of the beaten tracks. The twenty-two miles to Shimokebo were monotonous in the extreme. High cliffs towered above me on the one side, and the sea stretched into infinity on the other. River after river had to be waded, the At-pets, [7] the Nii-pak-pets, [8] and the Shibe-gari-pets. [9] The Nii-pak-pets is wide and fairly deep. Near the At-pets river the Japanese Government has established a horse farm, in order to improve the breed of Yezo ponies.
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CHAPTER VI. From Cape Erimo to the Tokachi River
CHAPTER VI. From Cape Erimo to the Tokachi River
The mountain pass between Horoizumi and Shoya is supposed to be very dangerous on account of bears. I rode the ten miles quietly, but failed to meet or see any. The way through thick woods is exceedingly pretty. After traversing a small valley with a dense growth of scrub-bamboo, it climbs a small hill, from the top of which a lovely view of Cape Erimo lies like a picture before one's eyes. There are only thirty houses at Shoya, and the place could not be better described than by the words "a mi
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CHAPTER VII. The Tokachi Region—Pure Ainu Types—Curious Mode of River Fishing.
CHAPTER VII. The Tokachi Region—Pure Ainu Types—Curious Mode of River Fishing.
The Tokachi River is one of the largest and most important in Yezo. Knowing that the Ainu either settle on the sea-shore or up river-courses, I formed an idea that some good types were to be found up this river. On reaching Otsu, a small settlement at the mouth of the Otsugawa—a branch of the large delta formed by the Tokachi—my idea was confirmed by the report that there were no Japanese villages in the interior. The expedition up the Tokachi River was by no means easy from the accounts I heard
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CHAPTER VIII. From the Tokachi River to the Kutcharo River.
CHAPTER VIII. From the Tokachi River to the Kutcharo River.
I decided to stop a day at Otsu, so as to recover from the fatigue of my late travels and adventures, and I chose my quarters in the yadoya of a Japanese called Inomata Yoshitaro. I was told that he was an ex-convict. Be that as it may, he had now turned into a fisherman and innkeeper. Like all Japanese, he was an inexhaustible talker, and his politeness was so great that it became a bore. It was about three in the morning when I reached Otsu. I had taken off my boots on entering his house—for i
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CHAPTER IX. The Koro-pok-kuru, or Pit-dwellers.
CHAPTER IX. The Koro-pok-kuru, or Pit-dwellers.
All over Yezo and the Kurile Islands remains of an extinct race of pit-dwellers are to be seen. It is especially near lakes and swamps or along the coast that rectangular, circular, and elliptical pits are numerous, but square pits are not so common. None of these pits have yet been discovered on the main island of Nippon, but many are still to be found as far south as Hakodate, in Yezo. On the east and north-east side of the peak, at the latter port, these pits, flint implements, and rude potte
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CHAPTER X. The Kutcharo River and Lake—A Sulphur Mine—Akkeshi and its Bay.
CHAPTER X. The Kutcharo River and Lake—A Sulphur Mine—Akkeshi and its Bay.
The Kutcharo River is of some importance, for though not of great length, it is navigable by small boats for nearly twenty miles from its mouth. I left Kushiro one morning, and made my way up the river, not by boat but along its banks on horseback, so as to get a better idea of the surrounding country and its inhabitants. At Kushiro I left more than half my luggage, to be sent down to Hakodate by the first ship that happened to call, and this greatly changed my mode of travelling. Instead of two
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CHAPTER XI. From Akkeshi to Nemuro—A Horse Station—Nemuro and its People.
CHAPTER XI. From Akkeshi to Nemuro—A Horse Station—Nemuro and its People.
The road in the proximity of Akkeshi was extremely muddy and slippery, owing to the continuous fogs and rain. A north wind was blowing hard the day I left for Kiritap, and it drove the mist and drizzly rain right through one's skin into one's bones. The fogs, which are prevalent all along the coast, seem to excel between Akkeshi and Kiritap; so much so that the Japanese in the neighbourhood make them answerable for their baldness, and the local Ainu say they are so scantily hirsute because of th
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CHAPTER XII. The Kurile Islands.
CHAPTER XII. The Kurile Islands.
From Nemuro I put to sea in a miserable little Japanese craft—a kind of tug-boat—which once or twice a year goes to the principal islands of the Kurile group, and brings back their products to Nemuro. It is needless to say that I was the only passenger on board, though it is fair to add that the saloon was large enough to "accommodate" two, but not more. As for the only cabin, it had two berths, one over the other, but no available space for dressing or undressing, which therefore had to be got
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CHAPTER XIII. On the East and North-East Coast—From Nemuro to Shari-Mombets.
CHAPTER XIII. On the East and North-East Coast—From Nemuro to Shari-Mombets.
I did not remain long at Nemuro after my return from the Kuriles; in fact, I remained only a few hours, and again my baggage was lashed to the pack-saddle, again I was perched on the top of this instrument of torture, and soon was rapidly moving north towards the inhospitable coast of the Okhotsk Sea. The first few days of the lonely life of a peripatetic Robinson Crusoe are unmistakably disagreeable, but after that initiation there is no doubt that it is a fascinating life. I was more than glad
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CHAPTER XIV. Along the Lagoons of the North-east Coast—From Shari Mombets to Poronai.
CHAPTER XIV. Along the Lagoons of the North-east Coast—From Shari Mombets to Poronai.
I proceeded north. The Ainu scattered here and there on the coast seemed to be hairier and uglier than any of their inland brethren. Two or three women had already put on their winter fur garments, as the cold weather had begun; and they looked extremely picturesque in them. Most of the huts were uninhabited, and had been abandoned by their owners. The sky was whitish and cold, and here and there along the beach some huge bones of whales had been washed on shore by the tide. Some distance off an
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CHAPTER XV. On the North-East Coast—From Poronai to Cape Soya.
CHAPTER XV. On the North-East Coast—From Poronai to Cape Soya.
It was late in the evening when I arrived at Poronai. [35] Saruru, the last village I had passed, had only six Ainu and three Japanese huts, and the nine or ten miles between there and this place were most uninteresting. I was taken across one of the quicksand rivers in the ferry by a lovely Ainu girl of about twelve years of age. I have never seen a more picturesque being than she was. She was partly dressed in skins, but half her chest was bare; her wildly-curled black hair fell over her shoul
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CHAPTER XVI. From Cape Soya to the Ishikari River.
CHAPTER XVI. From Cape Soya to the Ishikari River.
From Soya the coast forms a large bay, which opens due north, and which ends in Cape Soya on the eastern side and in Cape Nossyap on the western. Almost in the middle is the small village of Coittoe, and from this place, towering beyond the flat Nossyap peninsula, one can see Rishiri Island. Near the western part of the bay are some small hills, covered mainly with fir-trees. Wakkanai, a Japanese village, is on the west coast of the bay, and north of it is Cape Nossyap. From this cape is a lovel
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CHAPTER XVII. The Ishikari River.
CHAPTER XVII. The Ishikari River.
On the north side of the mouth of the Ishikari River is an Ainu village called Raishats. Its inhabitants are not natives of this island, but were imported by the Japanese Government from Sakhalin when it was exchanged with Russia for the Kuriles. At the entrance of the river, and close to this village, another wreck—of the "Kamida Maru"—a schooner, ended the mournful list of disasters on this inhospitable coast. The Ainu of Raishats are different in some ways from the Yezo Ainu proper. They call
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CHAPTER XVIII. Nearing Civilisation.
CHAPTER XVIII. Nearing Civilisation.
Sappro, the present capital of Hokkaido, is a town of fairly large size, with wide streets intersecting each other at right angles. The Hokkaido-cho, a high red-brick building, the law courts, the Kofikan , the palace built for the Emperor, and used now as a kind of hotel, and the houses of officials, are the main buildings of the place. There are, besides, a sugar refinery, a hemp and silk factory, and a brewery, mainly supported by the Government. Neither of the first two were "flourishing ind
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CHAPTER XIX. Completing the Circuit of Yezo—The End of my Journey.
CHAPTER XIX. Completing the Circuit of Yezo—The End of my Journey.
Oshamambe is a group of seventy houses, just midway between Mororran and Mori. The Ainu of this bay are poor specimens of their race, as most of them have intermarried with Japanese. They are, however, those most talked about by Europeans, for they are of easy access to globe-trotters. They are mostly half-castes, and even second and third crosses; wherefore it is no wonder that the incautious travellers who have written on the Ainu, studying only these easily-visited specimens, have discovered
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CHAPTER XX. Ainu Habitations, Storehouses, Trophies, Furniture—Conservatism.
CHAPTER XX. Ainu Habitations, Storehouses, Trophies, Furniture—Conservatism.
Ainu architecture is by no means elaborate, let alone beautiful; but though it is so simple, it is to a certain extent varied, differing according to the exigencies of climate and locality. Huts of one district vary from those of another not only in small details, but also in the whole shape; or if the shape is the same, the materials are different. The principal characteristics of the Volcano Bay and Saru River huts is, that they have angular roofs and are thatched with tall reeds and arundinar
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CHAPTER XXI. Ainu Art, Ainu Marks, Ornamentations, Weapons—Graves and Tattoos.
CHAPTER XXI. 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 a
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CHAPTER XXII. Ainu Heads, and their Physiognomy.
CHAPTER XXII. Ainu Heads, and their Physiognomy.
The faces of the Ainu are far from ugly, and their heads are singularly picturesque, though of course there are the finer types as there are the meaner; by which we come to gradation and comparison. The general idea that all Ainu are hideous has arisen from the accounts of the few who have travelled in the more civilised parts of Yezo, and have seen and studied only a limited number of half-breeds and actual Japanese, mistaking them for Ainu. In one of the last publications on the Ainu, photogra
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CHAPTER XXIII. Movements and Attitudes.
CHAPTER XXIII. Movements and Attitudes.
The Ainu people may be called physically strong, but yet they are not to be compared to the Caucasian races. They are fairly good walkers, capable mountaineers, and deft marksmen, but they do not excel in any of these exercises, either by speed and endurance in the former two, or by special accuracy and long-range in the latter. In the Ainu country most of the hard work is done by the women, who thus surpass the men in both endurance and muscular strength. Ainu men are indolent, save under excit
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CHAPTER XXIV. Ainu Clothes, Ornaments, and Tattooing.
CHAPTER XXIV. Ainu Clothes, Ornaments, and Tattooing.
The Ainu men generally go naked in summer time, but in some parts of Yezo civilisation has forced them to adopt cheap Japanese clothes. It must not be supposed from this that the real Ainu never wear any clothes at all, for indeed on grand occasions they dress gaudily enough, but always in a rude, elementary kind of way. For winter use they sew together the skins of either bear or deer, fox or wolf, making a kind of sleeveless jacket, which protects the chest, the shoulders, and the back. Anothe
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CHAPTER XXV. Ainu Music, Poetry, and Dancing.
CHAPTER XXV. Ainu Music, Poetry, and Dancing.
The music of each nation has certain characteristics of its own; and though according to European ideas the music of what are called barbarous peoples may sound in some sense excruciating, it always has a certain occult charm, more especially to one who is able to forget his former training, and teach himself to see, hear, and think in the same way as the natives he is studying. Undoubtedly we Westerns have brought music to a pitch of refinement that no savage nation has even attempted to reach;
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CHAPTER XXVI. Heredity—Crosses—Psychological Observations.
CHAPTER XXVI. Heredity—Crosses—Psychological Observations.
The mental qualities of the Ainu are not many, and what they have are by no means great; nor are they improved by education, for what they know comes more from inheritance than personal acquirement, though naturally every rule has its exceptions. I repeatedly noticed that talent, such as it was, ran in certain families, the members of which were all more or less intelligent. Certain families were more musical than others; other families were more artistic—if, indeed, such a word could be applied
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CHAPTER XXVII. Physiological Observations—Pulse-beat and Respiration—Exposure—Odour of the Ainu—The Five Senses.
CHAPTER XXVII. Physiological Observations—Pulse-beat and Respiration—Exposure—Odour of the Ainu—The Five Senses.
The following physiological remarks are mostly from observations made on Ainu of the Upper Tokachi district, the natives of which have had no communication with Europeans and little with Japanese previous to my own visit to them. Observations made on the semi-civilised Ainu of Volcano Bay and Piratori, on those of the north-east and west coasts, and the Ishikari River, as well as on half-castes of different districts, have been taken into consideration. Owing to the lack of a clinical thermomete
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CHAPTER XXVIII. The Ainu Superstitions—Morals—Laws and Punishments.
CHAPTER XXVIII. The Ainu Superstitions—Morals—Laws and Punishments.
I cannot begin this chapter better than by saying that Ainu religious ideas are essentially chaotic. They recognise no supreme God, and no intelligent Creator; and they cannot be called polytheists, for indeed they are not worshippers of any power—taking the word in its full meaning. The Ainu worship nothing. If they have any belief at all it is an imperfect kind of Totemism, and the central point of that belief is their own descent from the "bear." This does not include the smallest reverence f
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CHAPTER XXIX. Marital Relations, and Causes that Limit Population.
CHAPTER XXIX. Marital Relations, and Causes that Limit Population.
The laws of marriage in the Ainu country are not very stringent; in fact, there are no laws. If a young man takes a fancy to a pretty hairy maid, and the maid reciprocates his affections, all they have to do is to go and live together, and there is no Mrs. Grundy to be scandalised at the want of closer forms and ceremonies. There is no function to celebrate the occasion; there are no wedding presents, no bridesmaids, no officiating clergyman, and no old slipper flung after the happy pair as soon
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I.—MEASUREMENTS OF THE AINU BODY, AND DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTERS.
I.—MEASUREMENTS OF THE AINU BODY, AND DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTERS.
The following measurements were taken on five men and five women of the pure Ainu of Frishikobets (Upper Tokachi River). They were carefully chosen among the best types. The names of the men were:— 1. Unacharo: Una , ashes; charo , sprinkled = "Sprinkled-ashes." 2. Aba pukuro: Aba , a relation; pu , storehouse; kuro , a man = "Related to the man of the storehouse." 3. Pe chantwe; Pe , undrinkable water; chan , to run away; we , to tell = "Who ran to tell of the undrinkable water." 4. Kosankeyan:
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