Durango semi-weekly herald., 1904-03-28
ANU WIVES LOT HARD.
Females Of Japanese Tribe Regarded
as Little Better than Animals

as Little Better than Animals.
II the average club woman deems
her lot an unhappy one because she
cannot vote and take a hand in the
management of all public affairs, she
might find kind of negative solace
in contrasting her position with that
of the Alnu woman of Japan. The
Ainu people, the aborigines of Japan,
are strange hairy race living in
Yezo, the northernmost island of the
Japanese group. Their origin and
past history is lost in obscurity; they
are rapidly becoming extinct, the few
. thousands surviving today being but
the remnant of a once numerous ma
ton extending all over Japan in pre-
historic times.
The Ainu women are treated as In
ferior beings by the men. Their whole
life is a prolonged drudgery. They
are regarded as slaves.
In the spring the women, both old
and young, crawl out of their sleeping
places in the small hours of the morn
ing, eat hasty meal of cold vegetable
stew. with perhaps a morsel of un-
cooked dried fish by way OF relish,
shoulder their tools and proceed to
work in their gardens. They dig up
the soil and SOW the seeds, returning
to their huts at sunset only to partake
of another meal like that of the morn
ing, and again lie down to sleep.
In the winter, especially during No
vember and December, the women as
sist the men to net and spear the
large salmon which are found in the
rivers about this time. After this the
main stock of wood for winter fires
has to be cut and split, dragged or
carried home and stored away. Then
the millet must be pounded, the beans
and peas shelled and a thousand and
one other little things attended TO.
Thus. you see, the Ainu woman is lit
tie more than the abject slave of man.
One might imagine that when the
Ainu woman's lot is so hard and la
borious out of doors, she must sure
ly lead an easier life at home and
there find rest and a little comfort.
But this is not so. Even in the house
she must do what little cooking there
Is to be done-they have no servant
problem-and she must also attend
to the cleaning. smoking and drying
of fish. must keep the fire going and
the water tank full, must look after
. the children, pay attention to the hus-
bands wants and see to the making
and mending of clothes.
AS matter OF fact. the Ainu women
have no need of troubling themselves
about the problem of servants. They
consider 1t a great waste of time and
energy to wash the dishes except on
very rare occasions After all" they
say, ut is only food that goes into
our utensils; what need, then, that
they should be washed? They will be
nsed and dirtied again directly. so lei
them remain dirty" Hence there is
very little washing up in an Ainu
hut.
Polytheism being the religion OF
this strange people, they have innum
cradle gods. but the women have lit
tie or no religion solace in all theii
cares. In the opinion of the men, Q
woman is not capable of learning any
thing about god. She Is held to be
such an inferior being that the gods
take no thought or care about her
The Ainu widows are particularly un
fortunate. for their presence is bare
ly tolerated at any service or cere
monial. BY no means may they b'
present where prayer is going on. Ev
en- at bear feast the women mus
take a back seat and content them
selves with such crumbs or food ant
drops of sake" or rice wine. as tn,
men may condescend to give them
The existence of the Anu womei