Iyomande: The Ainu Bear Festival 1931

Overview

Documents the most important ceremony of the Ainu people of northern Japan. For both the Ainu – and the peoples of the Amur river area on the mainland – the bear is an important spirit ancestor, and the annual ceremonial year used to revolve around ceremonies of the bear cult, where a bear is ritually killed and its spirit honoured. Also documented are aspects of Ainu daily life in the 1930s: houses, boats, ornate swords, religious artifacts, and the elaborately tattooed mouths of the older wom