التعويذة المسروقة: حكايات الآينو الشعبية

by Basil Hall Chamberlain, سهيل نجم (Translator)

تأخذنا هذه المجموعة في رحلة ممتعة، نطوف فيها على "حكايات تصف أهل الظواهر" و"حكايات أخلاقية" و"حكايات بانومي وبينومبي" ثم نختم بــ"مقتطفات من التراث الشعبي" لسكان الشرق اليابانيأو (الناس كثيرو الشعر) والمقصود بهم شعب "الآينو" أي "الإنسان" كما تشير إليه لغتهم.

المدهش حقاً أن هذه الحكايات الأسطورية القديمة تتناسب والتفكير الحالي لشعب "الآينو" بخصوص الأشياء، إلى درجة أنه إذا روى أحدهم قصة منها يكون لديه انطباع بأنه يروي حدثاً حقيقياً!

Genres: Japan, Folklore, Mythology, Short Stories, Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, History

144 pages, Paperback

First published July 3, 1888

About the author

B. A. Chamberlain was a professor of Japanese at the Tokyo Imperial University and was one of the greatest European Japanologists, along with Ernest Mason Satow, Lafcadio Hearn, and William G. Ashton.

He arrived in Japan on the eve of June 1873, left for Geneva in 1911 where he lived until his death in 1935.

Reviews

[Djan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish Chamberlain wasn't as prejudiced as he was. Other than that, it was interesting to learn that Yoshitsune is mentioned in one of the tales and the reason why "Ainos have not been able to read"

[Ala'a · Rating 4 out of 5]

أول كتاب أقرأه بهذه السلسلة، خفيف، ممتع وظريف. مقدمة شعب الآينو اختصرت ما يقابل جلسة انترنتيه كاملة قضيتها بين المواقع بالماضي. فهم سكان الأرخبيل الياباني الأصليين (Ainu/Jomon)، نزحوا عن أراضيهم واستقروا في هوكايدو بعد قدوم اليابانيين من الأصول الصينية (Yayoi) وعانوا اضطهاد يماثل ماذاقه سكان أميركا الأصليين من الأوروبيين.
شعب بدائي، أميّ، مسالم، كان يعيش على الصيد والزراعة. يختلفوا في اللغة، التراثوعرقهم المميز؛ بإمتلاكهم ملامح أكثر بروزاً، بشرة حنطيه وشعر كث. منهم الممثل هيروشي آبي والمغني كين هيراي
وحتى وإن لم توجد المقدمة، يمكن بسهولة التعرف على سبل عيش، أطباع ومميزات هذا الشعب من سياق القصص.

الكتاب مقسم لثلاث أجزاء:
قصص الوجود؛ حكايا تصف أصل الظواهر والأشياء.
كان المفضل لدي ❤️

حكايات أخلاقية
هنا نجد التشابه مع بقية الحكايا العالمية

حكايات بانومبي وبينومبي

الشخص الذي في أسفل النهر والشخص الذي في أعلى النهر، الأول طيب والأهم ذكي، الثاني مقلد بليد يرتكب الحماقات
تعكس هذه القصص كراهية الآينويين الساحليين، رواة القصص، وحقدهم على الآينويين الذي يعيشون أعالي الأنهار.

حكايات متنوعة.
مقتطفات من التراث الشعبي.

[Jessica Roberts · Rating 3 out of 5]

What to say ...

When a folklorist apparently despises the people whose stories he collected? Given that the reason he collected stories to serve as a linguistic exercise, the whole project is definitely odd. Still, there are some interesting stories in here, even if the writing is poor.

[Χρυσόστομος Τσαπραΐλης · Rating 3 out of 5]

A small collection of Aino folktales, which are (unedited, apart from translation) transcripts of oral tales and lore fragments. The complete lack of editing tends to make some of them rather blunt reads. The content itself is a nice gateway to the lore of these indigenous people of Japan. Several of the tales are similar to Western ones (as is the case of the baby abandoned in a box, that of the child whose heart is requested as healing food by its stepmother, and the existence of Hades (though I suspect this particular word is the author's interference in translation)), a thing pointing to the subtle influence of the Western civiliazation. There is also a hint of the Northeastern Siberian folklore in several tales, suggesting a common origin.

[Thaer · Rating 4 out of 5]

الاينو هم السكان الأصليين لجزيرة هوكايدو الواقعة في شمال اليابان والتي لم تكن تابعة لليابان قديما
بعد ان اخذها اليابانيون من الاينو وضموها لدولتهم منذ حوالي اقل من ٢٠٠ سنة
لقد عشت في تلك الجزيرة سبعة سنوات ونصف خلال دراستي العليا
زرت خلال تلك المدة القرية الخاصة بالأينو
لم يبق منهم الا القليل جدا وهم لا يصرحون عن اصلهم لانهم عملو بعنصرية من قبل اليابانيين في فترة من الفترات
لم يستطيعو ان يؤسسوا دولة أو حضارة مثلهم مثل شعوب الاسكيمو
لذلك كنت مهتما بقراءة قصصهم الشعبية في هذا الكتاب
مالاحظته انهم في قصصهم الشعبية كانو يفكرون في اصل الظواهر الطبيعية وأنهم فعلا كانو يصدقون تلك القصص الغير منطقية عن اصل الظواهر
الكتاب يستحق القراءة خاصة للمقيمين في هوكايدو

[Linn Browning · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the preface and introduction are notably dated, this collection of folktales from the indigenous people of Japan appears to have been undertaken with a mind toward keeping the character of the tales as accurate as possible without moralization or interpretation. The compiler indicates which of the Aino he interviewed for each story and whether it was a transliteration from those conversations or if he wrote them down later from memory. An interesting read for comparative mythology studies.

[RedCobweb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Myślę że mity to za dużo powiedziane. Powinno to się nazywać "historie Ajnów", nie "mity Ajnów", jak przetłumaczyli na polską wersję. Niektóre te historie nawet mi się podobały, inne były wręcz obrzydliwe. Ogromny plus za to, że pod każdą taką historią była oznaczona data oraz kiedy "mit" został spisany

[Harry Rutherford · Rating 2 out of 5]

I downloaded a copy of this from Project Gutenberg after seeing it mentioned on the Public Domain Review.

The tales themselves are quite interesting, if rather plain — maybe because the translations are uninspired, maybe because the particular Ainu he found to interview weren't very good storytellers, it's hard to tell.

Actually more striking, anthropologically, was the insight that the introduction offered into the mindset of Basil Hall Chamberlain. This is the opening para:

I VISITED the island of Yezo for the third time in the summer of 1886, in order to study the Aino language, with a view to elucidate by its means the obscure problem of the geographical nomenclature of Japan. But, as is apt to happen on such occasions, the chief object of my visit soon ceased to be the only object. He who would learn a language must try to lisp in it, and more especially must he try to induce the natives to chatter in it in his presence. Now in Yezo, subjects of discourse are few. The Ainos stand too low in the scale of humanity to have any notion of the civilised art of "making conversation." When, therefore, the fishing and the weather are exhausted, the European sojourner in one of their dreary, filthy seaside hamlets will find himself,—at least I found myself,—sadly at a loss for any further means of setting his native companions' tongues in motion. It is then that fairy-tales come to the rescue. The Ainos would not suggest the idea themselves. To suggest ideas is not their habit. But they are delighted to follow it when suggested. Simply to repeat something which they have known by heart ever since the days of their childhood is not such an effort to their easily-tired brains as is the keeping up of a conversation with one who speaks their language imperfectly. Their tongues are at once loosened.

Obviously it's not actually a surprise to me that he comes across as a bit, ahem, old-fashioned — I'm not that naive — but it's still slightly jaw-dropping to read this stuff when you haven't encountered it for a while. And this, after all, was someone was at least interested enough in Ainu culture to see the value in recording their stories.

[Alz · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's interesting to read these tales and compare them to folktales of China, Japan and Scandinavia, but by themselves they read in a very flat monotone. Supposedly they are either literally translated word for word from the mouth of a native man or were written down from memory a few hours later, which might account for the flatness since translation can be rigid or fluid, and word-for-word translations between two dissimilar languages usually suffer quite a bit in terms of readability.

It is, hmm, shall we say, interesting to read Mr. Chamberlain's introduction and footnotes generally condemning the Ainu (or Aino, as he calls them) as filthy, primitive, pitiable, prurient nigh-sub-human drunkard savages, as well as the fact that he admits that oral story-telling and Ainu folklore are generally the realm of the woman but the (primitive filthy pitiable) women were too shy to even meet with him, much less speak to him. And therefore he had to make do with taking dictation from a few Ainu men.

[مُّنِيْر · Rating 4 out of 5]

البداية لي مع سلسلة حكايات شعبية اتاج مشروع كلمة بدولة الامارات

والذي يقوم على ترجمة الحكايات الشعبية في دول مختلفة
ووعند شعوب مختلفة
شعب الاينو هذه اول مرة اسمع به
وللحق وجدت حكايته ممتعة للغاية
بحكايات مستمدة من البيئة ومن الحيوانات ومن محيطها
نظروا لنشئة الكون والاخلاق والقيم والعادات والتقاليد وسلوك ووضع شعبهم وقبائلهم
التجربة ممتعة للغاية
وتكشف لك الكثير عن حياة هذه الشعوب النائية او التى لانعرف عن ثقافتها شيئاً

[Daniel]

I won't star rate this as the emphasis of the text was on the culture and tales of the people. Chamberlain's judgements of the Ainu people were a little unsettling at points. I would warn readers to treat his analysis of a whole group of people cautiously. Still, in a sense, we should be grateful to him for collecting these tales before they were allowed to die out.

[frances · Rating 1 out of 5]

Whoever translated these stories sucked all the life out of them.

[Michael Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

The opening preface with it's outdated anthropological perspectives was quite cringe-worthy, but the tales themselves were quite consistently interesting, some being truly great fables.

[Lily Tice Weaver · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF.... Chamberlain's collection is a shoddy, blatantly under-researched, prejudiced book built on a foundation of immaturity and misunderstanding about another culture. I realize this is an old book and reflective of the Western worldview towards other cultures during the age of imperialism, but come on... only interviewing one person and calling that a comprehensive collection of a rich, ancient culture's folklore. No thank you. I downloaded the book to gain familiarity with worldwide folklore, especially less-publicized ethnic groups such as the Ainus, and I was sorely disappointed.

[Aurora · Rating 5 out of 5]

Collected Japanese folk tales with an eye toward the scholarly folklorist. The material here relates not only the tale itself but who related it and whether it is a direct translation or a retelling of the original story. Interesting, not just from the point of view of the tales themselves and their glimpse into Japanese mores and culture but as an example of the folklorist's craft. Most were collected around the end of the 19th century so there's nothing of the post-war, modern Japan to be found here.
Well worth a look if you have any interest in Japanese mythology.

[ll · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magnífica colección de mitos aínos, para nada conocidos en el mundo occidental. Una obra algo antigua, limitada solo a narrar los mitos, sin interpretarlos, ni explicarlos ni indagar en sus orígenes. Es una posición importante dando más visibilidad a esta cultura marginada y en peligro de extinción y que se merece más reconocimiento y protección.

[عامر المصري · Rating 3 out of 5]

يا شعب الآينو العجيب !

[τλιϓλ · Rating 4 out of 5]

إنه لمؤسف ومحزن أن هناك القليل مما يُحكى عن شعب الآينو لكنني سعيدة بتسجيل حكاياته لإثراء المكتبة الأدبية بقصص وأساطير ممتعة كهذه
شكراً لجهود المترجم الذي زاد متعتنا متعة..

[Mohammed Elalfy · Rating 3 out of 5]

كتاب سلس ممتع خفيف فى قراءته يصلح للأطفال مادون الثانية عشره

[Suyog Garg]

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/...

[Patusza]

DNF @ ~60%, I was so bored, help 😭😭😭

[Ethan Mckenzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting in their way, but not extensive enough to make for a very clear picture of Ainu folklore.
For anyone interested, these are not meant for entertainment value- they are merely a first foray into recording Ainu tales as an intellectual endeavor. Chamberlain fully admits to a distaste for the people, but generally, in this and other work, has held to a fairly high, if stodgy, standard of work, so I doubt it's too heavily tainted.

[Mark Schlechty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Totally foreign culture

Some really strange folktales. Wonder how they came up with some of the stuff. I know many folktales are based on truth , but some of this stuff defies the imagination.
and has no basis in reality.

[Cris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Algunas son más difíciles de entender que otras, pero está muy bien hecha la recolección. Para todos los folcloristas y mitólogos, vale la pena leerlo.

[Hάnά · Rating 3 out of 5]

يسعدني كتابة أول مراجعة لهذا الكتاب الشيق الذي أتاح لي فرصة التعرف على جزء يسير من تراث قبيلة آينو الآسيوية ، استمتعت جدا بقرائته و أعجبني أسلوبه المنسّق

[Vinicius Yudi · Rating 5 out of 5]

An important preservation work of the Ainu folktales.

[ياسمين^ عادل · Rating 1 out of 5]

لا حول ولا قوة إلا بالله!
لاشيء يذكر