Yells And Shouts Are Used To Excite The Bear, And When He Becomes
Much Agitated A Chief Shoots Him With An Arrow, Inflicting A Slight
Wound Which Maddens Him, On Which The Bars Of The Cage Are Raised,
And He Springs Forth, Very Furious.
At this stage the Ainos run
upon him with various weapons, each one striving to inflict a
wound, as it brings good luck to draw his blood.
As soon as he
falls down exhausted, his head is cut off, and the weapons with
which he has been wounded are offered to it, and he is asked to
avenge himself upon them. Afterwards the carcass, amidst a
frenzied uproar, is distributed among the people, and amidst
feasting and riot the head, placed upon a pole, is worshipped, i.e.
it receives libations of sake, and the festival closes with general
intoxication. In some villages it is customary for the foster-
mother of the bear to utter piercing wails while he is delivered to
his murderers, and after he is slain to beat each one of them with
a branch of a tree. [Afterwards at Usu, on Volcano Bay, the old
men told me that at their festival they despatch the bear after a
different manner. On letting it loose from the cage two men seize
it by the ears, and others simultaneously place a long, stout pole
across the nape of its neck, upon which a number of Ainos mount,
and after a prolonged struggle the neck is broken.
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