Cultural Heritage and Identity of the Ainu People Based on Folkloric Memories and Motifs Recorded in Yukar Epics
Cultural Heritage and Identity of the Ainu People Based on Folkloric Memories and Motifs Recorded in Yukar Epics

Summary/Abstract: The term Ainu, which first appeared in Japanese literature in the 14th century, is now written in katakana, indicating that it is a loanword. In the past, the term Emishi was used to refer to people of different origins and social structure who inhabited the northern parts of Honshu. At the beginning of the Meiji period, the Japanese central government incorporated the island of Ezo into its administration and changed its name, while the inhabitants of the newly named Hokkaidō were assimilated with the settlers from the southern areas. Although the Ainu had no written form of their almost extinct language, Japanese linguists, missionaries and foreign anthropologists became interested in recording the oral Ainu tradition at the end of the 19th century, and in the 20th century yukar epics were recorded—some in Roman script, others in Japanese. The work examines folkloristic motifs in the oral tradition that reflect the specific identity of the Ainu. It discusses why heroic and divine figures and war motifs appear in Ainu epics, analyses the connection between the world of gods and human society, and examines the method of storytelling to show the importance of oral epics for the preservation of Ainu cultural heritage and identity. This paper is of great value to all scholars studying the literature and culture of the Ainu, a people who, despite their small numbers, still live in the northern regions of Japan.

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