Ainu Creation Beliefs
"Legends tell us that some deer were made out of the bones of dogs cast out of Paradise, and others out of hair. Hares are said to have been evolved…
Location: Hokkaido, Japan
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
Ainu Creation Beliefs
It must not for a moment be imagined that these people think of creation as a calling forth of the various objects in Nature out of something which once had no existence. Such an idea is quite foreign to the Ainu mind. Foreign, they would say, not because God could not have thus produced them, had He determined to do so, but rather because He did not choose so to do; for the words 'could not' are pre-eminently human, and do not apply to the actions of the deities in the work of creation. The substance and matter were there to work upon before all time, but the transformation took place in time according to God's own will.
Thus, then, it will be seen that the Ainu takes it for granted that both spirit and matter are eternal. Given the primal elements, he strives to account for the different kinds and manifestations of organic life, and also for the existence of inorganic substances, in his own rude way. Being the son of Nature that he is, he is very fond of theorising about what meets his eye, and sometimes he allows his imagination to run away with his judgment and reason to an absurdly ridiculous extent.
According to him, there is very little difference between vegetable, animal, and spirit life; between the life of a plant and that of a reptile, man, demon, angel, or god. Many things have, he is fully convinced, been evolved and developed - some by various deities, some by the divine Aioina, and others by the demons. Thus, for example, the supreme God is said to have created the world, a demon made rats, while Aioina produced snakes, among other things.
Legends tell us that some deer were made out of the bones of dogs cast out of Paradise, and others out of hair. Hares are said to have been evolved out of the hair plucked from the skins of heavenly deer; squirrels are neither more nor less than the cast-off sandals of Aioina the divine; while some fishes are said to have been produced out of scales, and others out of bones, and so on. A certain flower (the Adonis ainurensis) is said to have been a goddess, who was changed from her real state and form by a curse of God and the mole for disobedience. Frogs have their origin in a woman who was cursed, and thus changed because of unfaithfulness, while the grebe is said to have been developed out of the unedible parts of a trout.
In speaking of the creation and origin of things, however, it is evident that we ought to touch upon the creation of the world before turning to the things contained therein. And in doing so we must, if we would enter into the matter from an Ainu standpoint, commence by granting this people's very firm and most reasonable belief in the existence of an all-powerful God, who takes a real interest in the things of earth and concerns of men, and who has innumerable hosts of angels and helps of various kinds and degrees of order and importance to assist Him in all that He does. God, they say and believe, is not alone, but is the 'Lord of Hosts.'
We gather from native tradition that when God created the world He called the water-wagtail to assist Him in the work, and the following stories form the folk-lore concerning this matter:
'In the beginning the world was a great slushy quagmire. The waters were at that time hopelessly mixed up with the earth, and nothing was to be seen but a mighty ocean of bare, sloppy swamp. All the land was mixed up with, and aimlessly floating about in, the endless seas. All around was death and stillness. Nothing existed in this chaotic mass and nothing stirred, for it was altogether incapable of sustaining life; nor were there any living fowls flying in the airy expanse above. All was cold, solitary, and desolate. However, the clouds had their thunder demons, the skies above their living creatures, and the Creator abode in the highest heavens with mighty hosts of subordinate deities.
'By and by the great God -the true God- determined to render the world inhabitable. He, therefore, made a water-wagtail, and sent him down from heaven to produce the earth When he descended and saw what a dreadfully shocking condition the elements were in, and how they were mixed up in confusion, he was almost at his wits' end to know how to perform his allotted task. But he thought of a way, for he fluttered over the waters with his wings, trampled upon the muddy matter with his feet, and beat it down with his tail, till, after a very long time of fluttering, trampling, and tail wagging, dry places appeared, and the waters became the ocean.
In this way the worlds were gradually raised, and made to stand out of the waters, and caused to float about upon them. Therefore, the Ainu call the world moshir i.e., "floating earth," and hold the water-wagtail in great esteem, for was he not the angel of God?'
From this legend it would almost appear as though the Ainu had heard something of the first chapter of Genesis before they made it up; for there we read: 'In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon (hovered over) the face of the waters.' But one feels constrained to remark that the legend is so thoroughly in accord with the Ainu way of thinking and agrees so well with the general run of their folk-lore, that if they ever had any knowledge of the Scripture quoted, and used it as a basis for the tradition, it must, in our judgment, have been in very remote ages.
A Further Myth of the Water-Wagtail's Work in Creation.
There is another legend dealing with the water-wagtail in creation which runs thus:
'In very ancient times indeed, when God determined to create the world. He caused a water-wagtail to come down out of heaven to assist Him. The way he helped was in this manner. God caused him to fly down and settle upon the rough places He Himself had cast up with His mattocks and axes, and in order to make the ground level ordered him to jump and hop about on it, scratch with his claws, flap with his wings, and wave his tail up and down. Thus it happens that at the present day even whenever this bird is seen he is sure to be found beating the earth with his tail.'
To understand the drift of this legend it must be remembered that many of the Ainu believe the Creator to have made the world with stone tools, such as mighty hammers, axes, and mattocks; for God is never conceived of as working without means. He, it is said, did the rough digging, chopping, and hammering, while the water-wagtail hopped about and made the level places.
But in so far as the island of Yezo is concerned (and it is about the inhabitants of this island that I am now speaking), the Ainu appear to believe that the Creator did not produce it immediately by Himself, but through certain other subordinate deities, who acted as His deputies. Thus, as I was one day walking from the interior towards the sea-shore with an Ainu companion, and talking about the west coast of Yezo, which is very wild and rocky, and saying that it would have been much more useful had the shore been flat, he rebuked me, and said that I ought not to murmur at these things, for I thereby reflected upon the good works of God.
In the course of the conversation which followed, he volunteered the piece of folk-lore now to be given as bearing on the matter under discussion:
Legend why Yezo is so Rugged
'It is said that the island of Yezo was made by two deities, a male and a female, who were the deputies of the Creator. The female had the west coast allotted to her as her portion of work, and to the male deity was assigned the south and eastern parts. They vied with each other in their tasks, to see which should get through first. But as the goddess was proceeding with her work, she happened to meet with the sister of Aioina, and instead of attending to her duties, stopped to have a chat with her, as is the general custom among women when they meet. Whilst they were thus talking the time sped till the male deity, continuing to work away, nearly finished his portion.
Upon looking up and seeing this, the female became very much surprised and frightened, and in order to hasten matters did her work hurriedly and in a slovenly manner. Hence it is that the west coast of Yezo is so rugged and dangerous. If, therefore, anyone is disposed to grumble at the very rough and dangerous condition of the west coast of this island, he should remember that it is not the Creator Himself who is at fault in this matter, but His deputy. The chattering propensity of the goddess was the original cause.'
It goes almost without saying that this legend is sometimes quoted to women who are given to talking overmuch, and the moral drawn from it is this: 'Set a watch over your lips and attend to your duties, for see how rough the west coast of Yezo is, and that all owing to the chattering goddess.'
Another legend about the creation of the world runs thus: 'When God commanded Aioina and his sister, Tureshmat, to make the world, He gave her the western portion for her task. The work proved so difficult to her that when she heard what was assigned her she burst into weeping. Yea, much water gushed from her eyes. This is the origin of nupe i.e., "tears."
The word nupe is a play upon words, nu meaning 'to hear' and pe, water'; the inference is 'to hear and shed water from the eyes,' nupe also being one word for 'tears.' Wild garlic is also called nupe; this is possibly because garlic makes one shed tears when peeling it or otherwise preparing it for the pot.
Bibliography
John Batchelor, The Ainu and Their Folk-Lore (London: Religious Tract Society, 1901), 32-40.
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