These Venerable Elders Sat Cross-Legged In The Verandah,
The House-Master's Son, Who Kindly Acted As Interpreter, Squatting,
Japanese Fashion, At The Side, And About Thirty Ainos, Mostly
Women, With Infants, Sitting Behind.
I spent about two hours in
going over the same ground as at Biratori, and also went over the
words, and got some more, including some synonyms.
The click of
the ts before the ch at the beginning of a word is strongly marked
among these Ainos. Some of their customs differ slightly from
those of their brethren of the interior, specially as to the period
of seclusion after a death, the non-allowance of polygamy to the
chief, and the manner of killing the bear at the annual festival.
Their ideas of metempsychosis are more definite, but this, I think,
is to be accounted for by the influence and proximity of Buddhism.
They spoke of the bear as their chief god, and next the sun and
fire. They said that they no longer worship the wolf, and that
though they call the volcano and many other things kamoi, or god,
they do not worship them. I ascertained beyond doubt that worship
with them means simply making libations of sake and "drinking to
the god," and that it is unaccompanied by petitions, or any vocal
or mental act.
These Ainos are as dark as the people of southern Spain, and very
hairy. Their expression is earnest and pathetic, and when they
smiled, as they did when I could not pronounce their words, their
faces had a touching sweetness which was quite beautiful, and
European, not Asiatic.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 385 of 417
Words from 105910 to 106179
of 115002
