Ainu Belief System: The Main Animal Gods and the Rituals Related to Them
Ainu Belief System: The Main Animal Gods and the Rituals Related to Them

Summary/Abstract: As an ethnic group indigenous to Hokkaido, the Hokkaido Ainu saw the decline of their once thriving culture in the Meiji era when their activities and traditions were limited or even prohibited by the new Ainu assimilation policies. In the 20th century, the ethnic group became widely known as a ‘dying race’ (滅び行く民族; ‘horobiyuku minzoku’) and even educators and scholars believed that the ‘primitive savages’ would soon disappear from the face of the Earth. However, the Ainu are still present today and are far from seeing their culture disappear; on the contrary, we can see its rise and modern development through various cultural revitalisation movements. With indication on the cultural flexibility and the belief system of the Ainu, the aim of this paper is to introduce the Ainu as an ethnic group, with special attention to their main animal gods (known as ‘kamuy’ or ‘kamui’ in the Ainu language) and their respective rituals, introducing the rites both in their original form and how they are conducted in today’s Ainu culture, in order to show that they are still present in today’s Japanese society despite the assimilation of the ethnic group.

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