Funeral Rites of the Ainu
"When very sick, an Ainu man (the women may not pray at all) will call upon the fire-goddess, who is reckoned a great purifier, thus: 'Abe kamui, yekoingara wa en-kore'…
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 It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.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 Family Life and Religion," from Popular Science Monthly by J.K. Goodrich, 1888.
When very sick, an Ainu man (the women may not pray at all) will call upon the fire-goddess, who is reckoned a great purifier, thus: "Abe kamui, yekoingara wa en-kore" ("O fire-goddess, condescend to look upon me"). Upon the approach of death, the master will lie close to the fire on his own side of the hearth, partly for the sake of the warmth, but probably in a measure for any possible benefit to be gained from propinquity to the realm of the fire-goddess. Then the village chief and elders, and the sick man's friends, all come to see him; the men to pray and "drink to the gods," while the women weep and wail in rather a noisy fashion, since they are denied the comforts of religion!
There are times when the patience of the praying men becomes exhausted, if no favorable answer is given to their petitions. Mr. Batchelor tells of one death-scene which he witnessed when two men were praying to the goddess of fire and another toward the sun-rising through the eastern window; while a fourth was looking toward the northeast corner of the hut (which corresponds in a measure to the latrine of Japanese houses) and swearing most vehemently at all the gods, something after this fashion: "You fools! Why don't you pay some attention to us? Can't you see that this man is in great danger? Here we've been praying and praying for him, and yet he doesn't get well. What's the matter? Are you deaf? Can't you hear us?"
When death actually takes place, and the friends are convinced by the coldness of the body that there is absolutely no hope of recovery, preparations for burial are immediately begun. The corpse is not washed or anointed in any way, embalming being quite unknown to this people: it is dressed in its newest clothes; the outer garment, which reaches nearly to the feet, is folded over the body and neatly laced up in front like a boot, and further secured by the girdle. The feet and ankles are carefully wrapped, when possible, in white rags, and the hands and arms are similarly covered.
The man's bow and quiver and his gun are laid by his side, and his pipe and tobacco-pouch are stuck in his belt. With the possible exception of the smoking implements, these articles are not interred with the corpse, but are simply placed as insignia of its manhood during the funeral feast which immediately takes place. For this feast, cakes made of millet-flour, and boiled somewhat in the same manner as dumplings, are prepared by the widow and female relatives of the deceased. They are similar to those used at the wedding-feast. The cakes are eaten by the men who assemble for the occasion, by whom a great deal of sake is drunk.
A small libation is offered to the man's memory and to the gods. In doing this the men dip one end of carved flat sticks, which they use as mustache-lifters, into the sake and sprinkle a few drops toward the corpse, the fireplace, the east window, the northeast corner of the house, and round in front of them generally. The act of drinking the sake is in itself a religious one, as they say that in "drinking to the gods" they show their reverence; therefore the more they drink the better, and an occasion when all become intoxicated to absolute stupefaction is by some thought to give pleasure to the gods and to be blessed by them.
When the cakes are eaten and the sake all drunk (and the men sufficiently recovered from its effects to be able to move), the body is slung upon a pole, borne to the grave by the nearest male relatives, and immediately buried. No particular time is chosen, nor is any attention paid to the situation of the grave. This seems very strange when it is remembered that the east is considered the sacred direction, and one would naturally suppose that some care would be taken to place the corpse in an east and west line, perhaps with the head slightly raised and looking toward the rising sun. But such is not the case: a shallow grave is dug, the body "rolled in a good mat" is tumbled in, a few stones perhaps thrown in to prevent animals from disturbing the remains, the dirt hastily replaced, and the corpse is left to its fate.
Sometimes the pipe and tobacco-pouch, or a small package of tobacco, will be buried with the man, if he has been specially fond of smoking. This fact, and the additional one that a stout stick or club is provided to furnish the man with means of defense, point to a belief in a transition state, but the Ainu has only a hazy idea of the hereafter, and particularly as to purgatory, or the passage of the soul, which is thought to be naturally immortal, to the reward or punishment it is to receive in Pokna moshiri. "The wicked are supposed to be harassed by the evil spirits nitne kamuy in this place, but what the rewards of the righteous are the Ainu have no idea."
It is customary to put up a short stick at the head of a grave, the carved top of which indicates the sex of the person therein buried. If it is a man, the top of the stick will be cut in the shape of a spear-head; if a woman, it will be a rudely shaped ball. There is nothing to correspond to a tombstone either at the grave or in the village, where there is no temple, as in every Japanese village, with memorial tablets and altars to keep alive the memory of the deceased.
Indeed, it appears to be the desire of the Ainu to forget the dead as soon as possible; their reluctance to speak of them is an evidence of this. In the case of women this is absolutely so, a possible exception is mentioned below. In the case of a man, his son may offer a small libation of sake at his grave, and at the inao raised to his memory at his former home, on the anniversary of his death; and, in the case of a prominent chief, the men will perhaps do this for two or three years; never for a longer time. These anniversaries are really made excuses for sake-drinking rather than true testimonials of respect.
The inao spoken of above are whittled willow sticks with pendent, curl-like shavings, offerings given to the gods (with the libations of sake) at the time of worship. Miss Bird (volume ii, p. 86) gives an illustration of them and calls them "Aino gods." I think this is a mistake, just as it would be a mistake to call the images, relics, etc., in a Romish church "gods" in the sense of being possessed of absolute power in themselves. One large inao is always placed at the eastern end of the hut for the sun-god, and many of them are hung all round the inside of the hut; generally one or more are stuck into the fireplace; and there is always at least one at every spring of water. At least one will be placed at the head of a man's grave; and several will be stuck into the ground at the rude wicket on which are impaled the skulls of bears; these animals occupying a somewhat anomalous place in Ainu philosophy; at one time feared and worshiped, at another killed and eaten.
J. K. Goodrich, "Ainu Family Life and Religion," Popular Science Monthly 34 (November 1888), 81-92.
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