Ainu Life in Shiraoi Village
odd: label: Local Number
content: HSFA 1993.6.1
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Okada, Kazuo
setName: label: See more items in
content: Kazuo Okada videos
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1 Videocassette (35 minutes`, black-and-white color silent, 1/2 inch)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1992
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Human Studies Film Archives
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Videocassettes
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Edited film created from contemporary and historical footage by EC Japan Archives, the Shimonaka Memorial Foundation, and Tokyo Cinema, Inc. Film contains footage from a 1925 film, AINU LIFE IN SHIRAOI-KOTAIR, shot by Saburo Hatta. Film depicts aspects of daily and ceremonial life in the Ainu village of Shiraoi, Hokkaido, northern Japan. Scenes of men and womens' work include fishing in canoes on the Chitose River, using tumplines to haul loads, drawing water, and making thread and cloth from elm bast. Other depictions include a marriage ceremony, the treatment of sickness, a funeral, and a Bear Festival. Ainu mortuary practices observed include the binding of the corpse, processing the corpse to the grave, and setting up of the grave pole. Documentation of the Bear Festival shows the making of shaved wooden fetishes, ceremonial libations of sake, sacrifice of the bear, and the feasting and dancing that follows. Film contains Japanese and English intertitles.

Ethnographer: Mari Kodama

Legacy Keywords: Marriage Ainu Hokkaido, Japan ; Drinking ceremonial Ainu Japan ; Curing Ainu Japan ; Mortuary practices Ainu Japan ; Corpses binding of Ainu Japan ; Sacrifice bear festival Ainu Japan ; Libations sake Ainu Japan ; Feasts Bear Festival Ainu Japan ; Fishing leisters Ainu Japan ; Dancing Bear Festival Ainu Japan ; Processions funerals Ainu Japan