Architecture of the Ainu
An article detailing the traditional homes and structures of Ainu people.
Location: Hokkaido, Japan
Ainu Chise Houses
Ainu people traditionally lived in small villages, or kotan, along the rivers of Hokkaido, Sakhalin, and the Kurile Islands. Each kotan consisted of a few dozen families.[1] They lived in one- or two-room houses known as chise. A standard chise was about 12 wide by 18 feet long.[2] A pole framework supported woven reed mats up to a foot thick.[3] Families built small houses for newlyweds shortly after their wedding. It was then up to the couple to expand, typically by building an antechamber along the western wall.[4]
The Sakhalin Ainu lived in a notably colder climate. Many moved between summer and winter camps and lived in pit-houses called toi-chise instead. Hokkaido villages stayed in place for winter, perhaps hanging up extra hides and mats. In the cold of winter, homes relied on their central fireplace alone for heating. The smoke filtered through a small salmon smoke before exiting through the roof.[5]
Furniture in the chise was minimal. Guests and residents sat on woven mats and family members slept in raise boxes lined with furs, mats, and blankets. Outside, many homes also possessed a raised storehouse and bear cage.[4]
Sacred Spaces and the Ainu Home
Historic Ainu people followed an animist faith that saw a life force in every object. In this sense, every home was a living being filled with its own living items. A chise's spiritual function was therefore just as important for the Ainu as its practical ones.
At the center of the home rested a central hearth, home to the fire goddess Kamuy Fuchi. Kamuy Fuchi protected a house and its family, as well as providing the souls of newborn children. Her fire, a gate to the spirit world, also accepted the souls of the dead. The eastern window of the home faced its nusa, a sacred fence of inau and ancestral offerings. Spirits and gods traveled through the eastern window as they moved between the nusa and the spirit world. Because of its sacred nature, the fire was kept lit and free of debris at all times.[6][7]
Bibliography
John Batchelor, The Ainu and Their Folk-lore (London: Religious Tract Society, 1901), 124.
Ann B. Irish, Hokkaido: A History of Ethnic Transition and Development on Japan's Northern Island (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2009), 27-28.
J. K. Goodrich, "Ainu Family Life and Religion," Popular Science Monthly 34 (November 1888).
J. K. Goodrich, "Ainu Houses and Their Furnishing," Popular Science Monthly 33 (August 1888).
David E. Young, Michiko Young, and Hong Yew. Tan, Introduction to Japanese Architecture (Singapore: Periplus, 2004), 24-25.
Neil Gordon Munro, Ainu Creed and Cult (New York: Columbia University Press, 1963), 41-43.
Katarina Sjöberg, The Return of the Ainu: Cultural Mobilization and the Practice of Ethnicity in Japan (Chur, Switzerland: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1993), 56.
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