Alone With The Hairy Ainu Part 19

He has ornamented the sheath with conventionalised symbols, which were apparently suggested to him by leaves and branches of trees; and the suggestion of a flower can be noticed in the upper part of the handle.

A suggestion of fish-scales has been used by him to fill up small open s.p.a.ces; others he filled up with parallel lines. The sheath is made of two parts, to allow the carver to cut the s.p.a.ce for the blade inside; but these two parts are well fitted together, and kept fast by six rings of neatly-cut bark fastened on while fresh, so that by shrinking the two sides of the sheath are brought close together, and are as if made of one single piece.

The side view of the same knife shows the clever contrivance for fastening it on to the girdle without removing the latter from around the body. This knife may be ranked among the _chefs d'uvre_ of Ainu art.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SIDE VIEW.]

The princ.i.p.al characteristics of the more usual ornamentations are interesting to study.

[Ill.u.s.tration: KIKE-USH-BASHUI, OR MOUSTACHE-LIFTERS.]

Art of course is only the personification, so to speak, the expression of the mind, character, and knowledge of the artist; thus, in Ainu ornamentations we have patterns which could be nothing but Ainu, taken collectively, yet which show distinctly the temperament of each individual. For instance, taking the moustache-lifters (Figs. 1, 2, 4 in the ill.u.s.tration). Fig. 1, with its roundish, undecided, lines, was carved by a man weak in physique and _morale_; Fig. 2, which is much simpler and with more decided lines, was the work of a quiet but strong and proud man; and Fig. 4, with its coa.r.s.e incisions, was the outcome of a brutal mind.

Ainu designs, though slightly varied by each individual, are princ.i.p.ally formed of simple geometrical patterns; then of coils and scrolls; and, rarest of all, because the highest attainment of all, of conventionalised representations of animal or vegetable forms. Of the representations from animal forms the fish-scale is the only one adopted by the Ainu, but suggestions of leaves may not infrequently be found in these designs. Some of these are long and narrow; others are short and stumpy.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SUGGESTIONS OF LEAVES.]

The above are, to my mind, the models which the Ainu have chiefly taken for their leaf patterns, following nature at a long distance indeed!

[Ill.u.s.tration: ROPE-PATTERN AND SIMPLE BANDS.]

Beside these, and much more common, are the rope-pattern and the simple bands. Often the rope-pattern has bands above and below, especially in drinking vessels.

Triangles filled with lines parallel to one of the sides are frequently met with in moustache-lifters, and occasionally the annexed patterns are found: but as a rule the Ainu are not fond of merely straight single lines except for "filling" purposes. These patterns are mostly used on their graves. In articles of every-day use they prefer curves as a foundation of their ornamentations. The lozenge pattern, especially one lozenge inside the other, is a favourite among their geometrical designs; also contiguous and detached circles, chevrons, double chevrons, and triple chevrons. The chevrons are mainly used by them on their graves, and they are invariably enclosed between two or four lines.

[Ill.u.s.tration: TRIANGLES.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: CHEVRONS.]

The two following patterns are elaborations of the foregoing, but are much more uncommon.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ELABORATIONS OF CHEVRONS.]

The parallel incised lines and parallel lines crossing each other at right angles are met with again and again in Ainu patterns. More common still is the occurrence of a number of parallel lines meeting perpendicularly another lot of parallel lines without crossing them.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A COMMON PATTERN.]

Parallel lines have a fascination for the Ainu, as we find them in most of their designs.

Concentric circles are not often met with, neither is the plain or loop coil often found, owing to the difficulty of execution; but the wave pattern and double wave are typical Ainu patterns; also the reversed wave.

[Ill.u.s.tration: WAVE PATTERNS.]

From these may have been derived the other two, the last of which is a mere double reversed coil.

[Ill.u.s.tration: REVERSED COIL.]

Triangular marks are occasionally "put in" by the Ainu in some of their more complicated designs, and finally we find that, though rarely, they sometimes attempt a kind of fret.

Other strange forms of lines which are thoroughly characteristic of the Ainu are the following.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FRETS.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: OTHER CHARACTERISTIC DESIGNS.]

I never came across any Ainu wood-carvings that were coloured, but in bone-carvings--which, I must add, are very rare--black is used to a.s.sist shade, and bring out the higher lights by contrast. The Ainu have no idea of tones, semi-tones, or gradations; the contrast is merely between the strong black and strong white. Enamelling is not known by them.

The objects which bear these incised ornamentations, beside the sheaths and handles of their knives and swords and their moustache-lifters, as has been shown, are the _Tchutti_, or war-clubs; the _Hera_, or netting-mesh used in weaving; drinking-vessels, quivers, pipes and tobacco-boxes, the thread-reeds, cloth-hangers, and graves.

[Ill.u.s.tration: TCHUTTI, OR WAR-CLUBS.]

The modern Ainu are not a warlike people, therefore many of the weapons which were used in former days for defence and offence are rarely found now. For instance, the old war-clubs are not used by the present generation. These clubs were long and heavy, and were carried on the wrist by a piece of rope pa.s.sed through a hole at the upper end. Some were plain and straight, others were curved towards the end to make them heavier. Now and again some carved all over are found. Pieces of leather or rope were often knotted round the heavier part to make the blow more severe. In some of the very old clubs a stone was inlaid to add to the weight and consequent efficiency of the weapon. These clubs are from two to two and a half feet in length, and are made of hard wood.

[Ill.u.s.tration: TROUGH IN WHICH RESIN IS KEPT FOR FIXING ARROW-POINTS.]

Ainu bows are simple, and not very powerful. They are about fifty inches in length, and made of only one piece of yew. The arrows, which are poisoned, are of bamboo or bone. The poison is extracted from aconite roots mixed with other ingredients. It is somewhat greasy owing to certain fatty matters which it contains, and is smeared into the cavity in the arrow-point, which has previously been treated with pine-tree gum to fix the poison. The arrow-point is barbed, and so fas.h.i.+oned that when the shaft is drawn from the wound this poisoned point remains.

[Ill.u.s.tration: POISONED ARROWS.]

The ill.u.s.tration gives two different kinds of poisoned arrows. In Figs.

2 and 3, the black part in the point shows the cavity filled with poison. Fig. 2 shows how the arrow-head is separated from the reed, and how when the arrow is drawn from the flesh the poisoned point remains inside the wound.

The arrows, when in war or hunting, are kept in a quiver, and a small _Inao_ is hung to it to bring good luck to the owner.

Spears and harpoons of one barb are common, and some of the poisoned spears have heads similar to the arrows but of a larger size. Spears are out of date now, but harpoons are still employed in fis.h.i.+ng.

Knives are the weapons on which a modern Ainu most relies. Some of these knives are of such length that they might pa.s.s for swords. The blade is single-edged, and is protected by a wooden sheath. Nearly every man possesses one, which he carries in his girdle when dressed; when naked, he carries it in his hand. The ill.u.s.tration shows knives of different sizes, and with different patterns worked on them. From an artistic point of view the sheaths of knives are the most carefully wrought over, and ornamented to a greater extent than any other article of Ainu manufacture.

[Ill.u.s.tration: AINU KNIVES.]

Then come the graves. The Ainu are very jealous of these places of eternal rest, and good care is taken to hide them either in the midst of a forest, on a distant and almost inaccessible hill, or in some remote spot, difficult to find or reach.

[Ill.u.s.tration: WOODEN MONUMENTS OVER MEN'S GRAVES.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: MONUMENTS FOR WOMEN.]

Each village has its own semi-secret graveyard, in which all its dead are buried. Occasionally, when the site of a graveyard has become known to others than these local Ainu, the place is deserted, and a fresh place of sepulture is chosen. The manner of burial is as follows. The body, wrapped up in a _Kinna_ (mat), is fastened to a long pole and carried to the grave by two men. All the villagers follow, each carrying some article which was owned by the deceased. A grave is dug, wide and long enough to hold the body laid flat. In it are placed the bow and arrows with their quiver, the knife--from which, for the sake of economy, the blade has been previously removed--and the drinking-vessel which belonged to the deceased, if he were a man. Women are usually buried with some beads, earrings, and furs. All these articles, carried by the mourners, are broken before they are laid in the grave with the corpse; a few boards are then placed over the body, and earth is thrown over these till the ground is level again.

The grave is generally so shallow that the body is only a few inches underground--sometimes not more than four inches. The body lies flat on its back. Close to its head is erected a monument. For men it is the trunk of a tree, about six feet in length, from which the bark has been peeled off, and whereon certain ornamentations are cut. A short branch is left on one side. The top of the tree-trunk and the end of the branch are cut either in the shape of a lozenge, a hexagon, or a semicircle; and a hole is made through it. At the branch end, the cloth-earrings or the head-gear of the deceased are hung and left to decay.

[Ill.u.s.tration: WOODEN BLADE.]

Women have simpler graves; they are flat instead of round, and are cut into the shape of a canoe-paddle. The chief of a village has a more elaborate tomb than others if he has been liked by the villagers. At Raishats, on the Is.h.i.+kari River, I saw a really imposing monument put over the grave of the chief who had recently died. It was of very large size, and well carved--in the same patterns as those shown in the ill.u.s.tration. Its chief peculiarity was that the body, instead of being covered by earth, was covered by what appeared to be a canoe or "dug-out" turned upside down, the bottom of which had been laboriously carved. On each of the two sides, at the head and foot of the grave, was stuck into the ground a wooden blade twenty-one inches in length, resembling in shape the blade of a sword. Each of these four blades was carved alike, and had a strange design resembling the number 88. Whether a meaning is attached by the Ainu to this design I cannot say, and the curious circ.u.mstance, as my readers will remember, through which I came into possession of one of these blades, did not permit me to ask many questions on the subject. I often wondered whether it meant that life begins, goes its way round, and ends where it began? It is more likely, though, that no meaning whatever is attached to those lines, for such deep thoughts would hardly harmonise with the Ainu philosophy--such as it is. The Ainu do not stop to mourn or pray or trouble themselves about a grave when the body is once buried. Those who have touched the body wash their hands in a tub of water which has been brought for the purpose; afterwards the water is thrown over the grave and the tub is smashed. The Ainu seldom visit their graveyards except when some one has to be buried. They hate their dead to be disturbed, and nothing makes them more angry than to know that a stranger has been near their burial-ground. When a man is dead they try to forget all about him and his doings, in which they generally succeed to perfection. This naturally is not conducive to anything like continuity in the history of the country, and may partly account for their having none. Moreover, none of the tombs bear the name or the mark of the person to whom it was erected. Tombs of children are of similar shape to those of adults, only smaller in size. When carrying the dead--or, as we should say, going to a funeral--the Ainu put on their best clothes, and when the burial is over they all get helplessly drunk to make up for the loss of the departed friend.

To leave this somewhat grim subject and to return to every-day art, it may be well to mention that the designs for embroideries differ in no way from the wood-carvings. They are often more accurately finished, owing to the greater facility of materials, but the lines and all the characteristics of the patterns are the same. In the tattoos the lozenge pattern and bands are the two more commonly used. The Egyptian cross is sometimes met with([Ill.u.s.tration: egyptian cross]), and also a kind of reversed _fylfot_, or _svastika_. Moreover, the St. Andrew's cross with an additional line is not uncommon(X ). In the present volume this is all I have to say on Ainu art. I may, however, add that their ornamentations could not be more primitive, but their frequency on weapons, clothing, implements, and graves shows us that art, though not understood by the Ainu, has a certain fascination, which, in their ignorance, they cannot explain. They know art without knowing what art means. Certain lines and simple designs which are familiar to them appeal to their taste, else they would not ornament all their articles with them. But this does not show any great intellectual activity, for beyond that point the Ainu brain cannot go. As art in its natural state is merely the pictorial outcome of what the brain has grasped, we have in these crude beginnings another strong proof that the brain-power of the Ainu is indeed very limited, and their inability to represent animal form seems extraordinary in view of what other savages have done; but of course superst.i.tion may have something to say to the omission. The Ainu rank very low in the scale of civilisation; they are probably below the Australian blacks and the tree-dwellers of India, who are supposed to be among the lowest races in creation. The Terra del Fuegians and certain African tribes run them hard; but, taken all in all, the Ainu are the furthest behind in the great race of human development.

[Ill.u.s.tration: AN AINU PIPE.]