The Olneyville tribune. (Providence, R.I.) 1893-189?, 1894-02-03
A STRANGE
The Queer Race Known as the ninu
in Japan.


The word Ainu is Il generic term,
and signifies hairy mcn'-a name
applied TO these curious people by
themselves, says the st. James
Budget. The Japanese estimate the
number OF the Ainu at 10000, but
Mr.. Lander, after dcducting the half
castles, reckons that they do not eX-
coed half that number. Pleasure and
rest were the two chief objects, we
are told, which induced Mr.. Lander
TO visit these isles, but it appears to
have been his fate to meet with
neither. He landed at Hakodate,
and after one days rest set forth to
survey the island and interview the
inhabitants. He travelled some
I 200 miles, OF which, $500 were
%traverSed on horseback on n rough
pack saddle, and, like the hero Of
SCOTS ballad, ''he rode all I'M
armed and he rode all alone"
II sat down in the tea-house on
the soft mats, and my Bento-Japan-
csc lunch-was served to me OF n
tiny table. This was water soup;
there Was scaweed, there vas II bowl
of rice and raw fish. The fish-a
small funa-was in II diminutive
dish, and its back was covered by a
leaf; the head projected over the
side Of the plate. On the leaf were
placed several neatly cut pieces of
raw flesh, which had apparently been
removed from the back of the under
lying animal.
"As | had long been accustomed to
Japanese"iood of this kind, | ate { omy
hearts content, when, to my horror,
the tuna, which had been staring at
me with its round eyes, relieved Of
the weight that had passed from its
back to my digestive organs, leaped
up, leaf and all from the dish, and
fell on the mat. All the vital parts
had been carefully left in the fish,
and the wretched creature was still
alive.
Horrible! !" | cried, violently push
ing away the table and walking out
disguised, to the great surprise ofthe
people present, who expected me to
revel in the righteousness Of the dish"
These hairy people have long boards
and mustaches, which, once having
attained the age Of manhood, they
allow to grow and never touch. The
women, not being favored by nature
with such ornaments, endeavor to
make up for the deficiency by tattoo
ing n long mustache on their lips and
checks.
The Ainu process Of t~attooing is a
painful one. The tattoo marks are
usually done with the point of n
knife, not with tattooing needles, as
by the Japanese. Many incisions are
cut nearly parallel to each other.
These are then filled with cuttle-tish
black. Sometimes smoke-black mixed
with the blood from the incisions is
used instead. On the lips the opera
ton is SO painful that it has to be
done by installments. 1t is begun
with Il small semi-circle ON the upper
lip when the girl is only two or three
years of age, and n few inciSions are
added every year till she is married,
the mustache then reaching nearly
to the ears, where at its completion
il ends in n point.
Both lips are surrounded by il;
hut not all women are thus marked.
Some have no more than II semi
circular tattoo ON the upper lip;
others have an additional somi-circle
under the lower lip, and many get
tired Of the painful process when the
tattoo is hardly large enough to sur
round their lips. The father Of the
girl is generally the operator, but oc-
casionally il is the mother who doc
crates the lips and arms OF her
female offspring. Besides this tat
toed mustache, II horizontal line joins
( the eyebrows, and another line, par
allel to il, runs across the forehead.
The tattoo could not be of II coarser
kind. A rough geometrical drawing
adorns the arms and hands OF women,
the pattern of n arm being often
different from that OF the other.