Скачать или смотреть 🎵 Ainu Mosir - Life in the North, 13th c. - Today (History Song)

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The Ainu are an indigenous people whose culture emerged distinctly around the 13th century in northern Japan. Their society developed independently from the centralised Yamato system, with unique language, rituals, social structures, and cosmology.

Ainu settlements, known as kotan, were typically situated along rivers and coastlines in what is now Hokkaidō. Each kotan was politically autonomous and economically self-sufficient, with a strong emphasis on reciprocity, ritualised trade, and oral transmission of knowledge. Women played a central role in preserving oral histories and spiritual practices. Traditional attire included bark-fibre robes with embroidered patterns believed to ward off evil.

One of the most important concepts in Ainu belief is kamuy, referring to the spiritual essence found in all beings and objects. Daily life was shaped by rituals of respect toward animals, tools, weather, and illness. Music, particularly through instruments like the tonkori and through group chants called upopo, held both spiritual and communicative value.

Major ceremonies such as the iomante—the sending-off ritual of a bear spirit—were misunderstood by outsiders but served as formalised expressions of gratitude and cosmological balance. The Ainu language (ainu itak), though endangered, continues to be preserved and revitalised through cultural education and documentation efforts.

Following the 19th-century annexation of Hokkaidō during the Meiji era, Ainu people faced systemic marginalisation, loss of land, and forced assimilation. However, Ainu communities have persisted, adapting while retaining elements of their traditional worldview. In 2008, the Japanese government officially recognised the Ainu as an indigenous people, and cultural revitalisation efforts continue today.

The Ainu concept of Ainu Mosir—the land of human beings—remains a vital framework for understanding their identity, culture, and relationship to the world around them.

#AinuMosir #AinuHistory #IndigenousJapan #Hokkaido #Kotan #Kamuy #Iomante #goy #ghost #yotei #Tonkori #AinuRevival #CulturalHeritage #RitualMusic #ai

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📘 Glossary
• Ainu: Indigenous people of northern Japan, particularly Hokkaidō
• Ainu Mosir: “Land of human beings” – traditional Ainu name for their territory
• Kamuy: Spiritual entities present in all things
• Kotan: Ainu village or settlement
• Tonkori: Traditional 5-string Ainu instrument
• Upopo: Ainu group chant with rhythm-based repetition
• Iomante: Ritual in which a bear spirit is sent back to the world of the gods
• Chise: Traditional Ainu house
• Ainu Itak: Ainu language
• Sake: Rice wine used in rituals
• Hokkaidō: Northernmost island of Japan, formerly known as Ezo