Sacred spiral shavings, "inaw-ur"
date: label: Accession Date
content: 16 Jun 2005
name: label: Donor Name
content: National Museum of Natural History
notes: label: Notes
content: Curly wood shavings. According to Chisato Dubreuil, these sacred shavings are used to protect houses, canoes, and belongings from bad spirits. The Ainu believe that the inaw turns to a bird after receiving a message, and flies to the gods to make the offering. Made for the 1999 NMNH exhibit "Ainu: Spirit of a Northern People" using traditional Ainu materials and techniques.
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: E430585-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Religious Item
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 30 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 10 cm
label: Height - Object
content: 4 cm