Irankarapte
Words, voices and images: Connecting to cultures around the world
“Ainu see their crafts as animated, living traditions handed down through countless generations and as Ainu spirituality has it, being with and as part of nature”.
Duration
1.29
Director
Peter and Andrea Hylands
Cinematography
Andrea Hylands
Irankarapte is Ainu and it means hello, well much more than hello – allow me to touch your heart gently.
Today we are with Ainu craftsman Mamoru Kaizawa in Nibutani in Hokkaido. As a young child Mamoru watched his father, the wood carver Moriyuki, working at his craft and this meant that as a young boy Mamoru was surrounded by the traditional carvings and patterns that represent Ainu life. Moriyuki died when Mamoru was only twelve years old. After graduating Mamoru lived in Sapporo but then returned to his home region to concentrate on making and carving.
Mamoru is recognised for his delicate carvings of Ramuramunoka or fish scale patterns. As well as making new works the task is to ensure that the skills and traditions of Ainu crafts are handed on to new generations. We join Mamoru as he works on the repairs of a traditional Ainu house or cise.
The wooden objects made by the Ainu include wooden trays and plates, a tradition from long ago, called Nibutani-ita. These cultural objects have a carved surface. The carvings represent the traditional patterns of the Ainu people including the spiral Moreunoka designs and Ramuramunoka or fish scale patterns.
In 2010 Mamoru was given the distinction of being named as Masters of the forest, National Land Afforestation Association, Traditions of the forest.
As the Indigenous people of Northern Japan (and the region North of Hokkaido) Ainu people were traders and they fished, hunted and gathered food plants. The connection with nature has always been a deep one. Like many Indigenous people with direct contact with the earth, nature means life and nature means survival. This means deep respect for place and being.
In 1869, Ezo as it was then called, was renamed Hokkaido and the island became part of Japan. A familiar pattern of discrimination against Indigenous peoples continues to unfold. The Ainu were referred to as former aborigines and the Kaitakushi (development commission) was established to govern the newly appropriated island.
A policy of forced Japanisation was introduced and the Ainu language and lifestyle were banned. This included the distinctive lip tatoos. Land and its resources were also taken and sold off to people from other parts of Japan. In 1875 the treaty of exchange of Sakhalin for the Kuril Islands between Russian and Japan led to the forced relocation of Ainu people living on Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands to Hokkaido and Shikotan Islands.
Not surprisingly these changes meant starvation for the original inhabitants of Enzo who had lost access to their resources and guiding philosophy and culture. For the relocated Ainu the outcome was similar and all too often meant starvation, disease and death.
History then continues in a similar vein, the newly established Hokkaido Government (1886) continued to promote the transfer and development of land, further restricting the places where Ainu people could exist. The Aborigine Protection Law (1899) aimed to assimilate the Ainu people, enforcing teaching of the Japanese language and Wajin customs. The new law also discriminated against Ainu culture in education and Ainu children were segregated from the Wajin children.
Following the events of World War II and Japan’s defeat, the Ainu established the Hokkaido Ainu Association with the aim of returning some pride to the Ainu community. In1984 the now called Ainu Association of Hokkaido drafted and proposed legislation which created the foundations for the Ainu in relation to their human rights, that is to end discrimination and to introduce special legislative seats to ensure direct Ainu representation in the Japanese political system and to allow the Ainu to regain the economic independence that was lost when their lands and resources were stolen.
The story I have just told you will sound familiar to so many of you. What is happening in Japan today, and change is hard to achieve, is that there is a growing recognition that the policies of the past did nothing to assist the Ainu and nothing to assist the cultural development of Japanese society as a whole.
We recognise that cultural diversity is important and that cultural traditions are precious in that realm of diversity. The aim is now to encourage a new way of thinking about minority cultures, to respect them, rather than, once the land is stolen, to denigrate them as a way of appeasing guilt and shame for these actions.
Improved global communications and scrutiny over the outcomes for Indigenous people will have helped the Ainu to achieve the change that is now occurring. In 1997 the Aborigine Protection Law was replaced by the Law for Promotion of the Ainu Culture and the Dissemination and Advocacy for the Traditions of the Ainu and Ainu Culture.
It is now also the responsibility of the Japanese nation and its local authorities to promote Ainu culture through education and knowledge. In 2008 the Diet unanimously passed a resolution that recognises Ainu as Indigenous peoples of Japan. These directions in Japan still need to be encouraged and the responsibility on the shoulders of Ainu cultural leaders and crafts people to make Ainu culture strong and pass on Ainu knowledge and culture to future generations does not make for an easy path. It is however a path very much worth treading.
As we have discussed previously the Ainu language, the remaining Hokkaido variant, has been under extreme pressure but there are also positive signs here. It is in fact a testament to the Ainu people that it survived at all. There are books and lessons in Ainu and there are now also Ainu language classes. What schools do in the future will become increasingly important to the future prospects of the Ainu language.
We suggest that when you visit Hokkaido you take the time to visit the Nibutani Ainu Culture Museum. This is a smallish museum but its quality is high.
Our warm thanks to Mari Yamada.
Today we are with Ainu craftsman Mamoru Kaizawa in Nibutani in Hokkaido. As a young child Mamoru watched his father, the wood carver Moriyuki, working at his craft and this meant that as a young boy Mamoru was surrounded by the traditional carvings and patterns that represent Ainu life. Moriyuki died when Mamoru was only twelve years old. After graduating Mamoru lived in Sapporo but then returned to his home region to concentrate on making and carving.
Mamoru is recognised for his delicate carvings of Ramuramunoka or fish scale patterns. As well as making new works the task is to ensure that the skills and traditions of Ainu crafts are handed on to new generations. We join Mamoru as he works on the repairs of a traditional Ainu house or cise.
The wooden objects made by the Ainu include wooden trays and plates, a tradition from long ago, called Nibutani-ita. These cultural objects have a carved surface. The carvings represent the traditional patterns of the Ainu people including the spiral Moreunoka designs and Ramuramunoka or fish scale patterns.
In 2010 Mamoru was given the distinction of being named as Masters of the forest, National Land Afforestation Association, Traditions of the forest.
As the Indigenous people of Northern Japan (and the region North of Hokkaido) Ainu people were traders and they fished, hunted and gathered food plants. The connection with nature has always been a deep one. Like many Indigenous people with direct contact with the earth, nature means life and nature means survival. This means deep respect for place and being.
In 1869, Ezo as it was then called, was renamed Hokkaido and the island became part of Japan. A familiar pattern of discrimination against Indigenous peoples continues to unfold. The Ainu were referred to as former aborigines and the Kaitakushi (development commission) was established to govern the newly appropriated island.
A policy of forced Japanisation was introduced and the Ainu language and lifestyle were banned. This included the distinctive lip tatoos. Land and its resources were also taken and sold off to people from other parts of Japan. In 1875 the treaty of exchange of Sakhalin for the Kuril Islands between Russian and Japan led to the forced relocation of Ainu people living on Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands to Hokkaido and Shikotan Islands.
Not surprisingly these changes meant starvation for the original inhabitants of Enzo who had lost access to their resources and guiding philosophy and culture. For the relocated Ainu the outcome was similar and all too often meant starvation, disease and death.
History then continues in a similar vein, the newly established Hokkaido Government (1886) continued to promote the transfer and development of land, further restricting the places where Ainu people could exist. The Aborigine Protection Law (1899) aimed to assimilate the Ainu people, enforcing teaching of the Japanese language and Wajin customs. The new law also discriminated against Ainu culture in education and Ainu children were segregated from the Wajin children.
Following the events of World War II and Japan’s defeat, the Ainu established the Hokkaido Ainu Association with the aim of returning some pride to the Ainu community. In1984 the now called Ainu Association of Hokkaido drafted and proposed legislation which created the foundations for the Ainu in relation to their human rights, that is to end discrimination and to introduce special legislative seats to ensure direct Ainu representation in the Japanese political system and to allow the Ainu to regain the economic independence that was lost when their lands and resources were stolen.
The story I have just told you will sound familiar to so many of you. What is happening in Japan today, and change is hard to achieve, is that there is a growing recognition that the policies of the past did nothing to assist the Ainu and nothing to assist the cultural development of Japanese society as a whole.
We recognise that cultural diversity is important and that cultural traditions are precious in that realm of diversity. The aim is now to encourage a new way of thinking about minority cultures, to respect them, rather than, once the land is stolen, to denigrate them as a way of appeasing guilt and shame for these actions.
Improved global communications and scrutiny over the outcomes for Indigenous people will have helped the Ainu to achieve the change that is now occurring. In 1997 the Aborigine Protection Law was replaced by the Law for Promotion of the Ainu Culture and the Dissemination and Advocacy for the Traditions of the Ainu and Ainu Culture.
It is now also the responsibility of the Japanese nation and its local authorities to promote Ainu culture through education and knowledge. In 2008 the Diet unanimously passed a resolution that recognises Ainu as Indigenous peoples of Japan. These directions in Japan still need to be encouraged and the responsibility on the shoulders of Ainu cultural leaders and crafts people to make Ainu culture strong and pass on Ainu knowledge and culture to future generations does not make for an easy path. It is however a path very much worth treading.
As we have discussed previously the Ainu language, the remaining Hokkaido variant, has been under extreme pressure but there are also positive signs here. It is in fact a testament to the Ainu people that it survived at all. There are books and lessons in Ainu and there are now also Ainu language classes. What schools do in the future will become increasingly important to the future prospects of the Ainu language.
We suggest that when you visit Hokkaido you take the time to visit the Nibutani Ainu Culture Museum. This is a smallish museum but its quality is high.
Our warm thanks to Mari Yamada.
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