Ceremonial mat "kamuy-so" and Hokkaido brown bear
date: label: Accession Date
content: 16 Jun 2005
name: label: Donor Name
content: National Museum of Natural History
notes: label: Notes
content: Taxidermied brown bear, lying on (and attached to) a mat. Mat is made of twined reeds, with black and red strips of cotton woven in to make chevron/diamond design. Mat is attached to a black wooden board and surrounded by artificial pine boughs. Mat woven by Tetsuko Nomoto, using the traditional Ainu loom, "itese-ni". According to Chisato Dubreuil, this kind of mat would be placed under a bear who was the honored guest during the bear-sending ceremony ("iyomante"). The bear was raised at the Albert Rix Bear Park, Middletown, NY and died of natural causes. True Life Taxidermy, Middletown, NY tanned the skin. (Certificate and purchase order in accession file). Made for the 1999 NMNH exhibit "Ainu: Spirit of a Northern People".
label: Record Last Modified
content: 1 Dec 2014
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Japan, Asia
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Ainu
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 2026093
label: USNM Number
content: E430773-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Mat / Bear
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: ca 205 cm
label: Width - Object
content: ca 110 cm
label: Height - Object
content: ca 45 cm