Ainu Spirits Singing: The Living World of Chiri Yukie’s Ainu Shin'yoshu

by Sarah M. Strong

Indigenous peoples throughout the globe are custodians of a unique, priceless, and increasingly imperiled legacy of oral lore. Among them the Ainu, a people native to northeastern Asia, stand out for the exceptional scope and richness of their oral performance traditions. Yet despite this cultural wealth, nothing has appeared in English on the subject in over thirty years. Sarah Strong’s Ainu Spirits Singing breaks this decades-long silence with a nuanced study and English translation of Chiri Yukie’s Ainu Shin’yoshu, the first written transcription of Ainu oral narratives by an ethnic Ainu.

The thirteen narratives in Chiri’s collection belong to the genre known as kamui yukar, said to be the most ancient performance form in the vast Ainu repertoire. In it, animals (and sometimes plants or other natural phenomena)―all regarded as spiritual beings (kamui) within the animate Ainu world―assume the role of narrator and tell stories about themselves. The first-person speakers include imposing animals such as the revered orca, the Hokkaido wolf, and Blakiston’s fish owl, as well as the more “humble” Hokkaido brown frog, snowshoe hare, and pearl mussel. Each has its own story and own signature refrain.

Strong provides readers with an intimate and perceptive view of this extraordinary text. Along with critical contextual information about traditional Ainu society and its cultural assumptions, she brings forward pertinent information on the geography and natural history of the coastal southwestern Hokkaido region where the stories were originally performed. The result is a rich fusion of knowledge that allows the reader to feel at home within the animistic frame of reference of the narratives.

Strong’s study also offers the first extended biography of Chiri Yukie (1903-1922) in English. The story of her life, and her untimely death at age nineteen, makes clear the harsh consequences for Chiri and her fellow Ainu of the Japanese colonization of Hokkaido and the Meiji and Taisho governments’ policies of assimilation. Chiri’s receipt of the narratives in the Horobetsu dialect from her grandmother and aunt (both traditional performers) and the fact that no native speakers of that dialect survive today make her work all the more significant. The book concludes with a full, integral translation of the text.

Genres: Japan, Nonfiction, Indigenous

336 pages, Hardcover

First published October 31, 2011

Reviews

[Savannah Rivka Powell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a well written historical account of the work of Chiri Yukie. It provides excellent insight into her life and the Ainu traditions she worked so hard to document and preserve.

[Eskil · Rating 4 out of 5]

You could not ask for more comprehensive background info before reading the Ainu Shin'yōshū. When I finally got to the stories themselves I was happy to find that they were fun to read on their own merits, and I'm sure most small children would experience the same sense of wonderment as they would at any other fairy tale book, especially with some cute illustrations!

[Abi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read chapter 6 for my Japanese poetry class. I really enjoyed this one! All poetry, but more reminiscent of folktales and legends. Very interesting poetic structure with the refrains. I'm quite curious about the Ainu mythology and overall people now. Definitely recommended! 4.5 stars.

[York · Rating 3 out of 5]

The songs themselves do not make up the bulk of the book- the bulk is instead dedicated to pages and pages of Ainu cultural background, which considering the dearth of English language information is extremely important for anyone studying indigenous peoples of the area. While not my area of focus, having this information to compare and find possible cultural links between the Ainu and indigenous Siberian people was very useful.