Kim-un

### Siblings

Cikap, Kandakoro, Chironnup, Hasinaw-uk, Hoyau, Huci, Kunnecup, Tokapcup, Yushkep, Repun, Pauchi

**Kim-un** is an incredibly prolific Kamui of Ainu tradition.

## Overview

As the god of Bears and mountains, Kim-un serves as an important guardian Kamui.

## Appearance

Kim-un is universally depicted as a bear in his standard form. However as a Kamui he's able to change shape into a human, that human form is typically seen wearing bear skin.

## Personality

Kim-un is well known for his strength, often times being called upon for battles. despite his warrior nature Kim-un is also known for his reverence of humanity. But Kim-un is also known to be quick to anger, as seen with his rivalry with Etaspe.

Kim-un has a reputation of a great warrior, usually descending down to earth to eliminate Kunne-Kamui before they meddle with human affairs.

## History

Before time began Kotan-kar created Kim-un with the rest of the Kamui to oversee the forces of the universe. After the world was created, Kotan-kar had the Kamui Descend down to the earth in order to seed it with life. Kim-un created the Bear and mountains, both standing as monuments of his strength. However another Kamui named Etaspe created the Sea Lion, another creature with incredible strength, in an attempt to one up Kim-un. Kim-un took this as an insult and forever declared that the two were bitter enemies.

One day when Kim-un was in Kamui-kotan he was told by a crow that his wife had gone down to the earth to a human village. Fearing the worst Kim-un grabbed his daughter and descended down to the earth. On his way down from Kamui-kotan Kim-un is caught in the branches of a tree and knocked out. when he wakes he finds that he was taken in by the village who his wife was staying in. The villagers show their gratitude to the family of Kamui by preparing a feast, the smell of the feast brought two other Kamui to the village; Hasinaw-uk and Huci. The entire village parties for several days until Kim-un and his family return to Kamui-kotan. Because of this Kim-un's Daughter became very interested in the human world and would regularly descend to it to mingle with humans, and each time she would come back to Kamui-kotan with a feasts worth of food.

One day while Kim-un's daughter was visiting the human world she was kidnapped by an evil Sak-somo-ayep, the Sak-somo-ayep told her that she would be his bride. Dejected Kim-un resigned to her fate, until one day a human man wandered into the Sak-somo-ayep's hut. She stayed quiet as the Sak-somo-ayep feigned hospitality, despite intending to steal the man's treasure. The Sak-somo-ayep eventually agreed to go up to Kamui-Kotan to find a treasure to trade with the human man, when he left Kim-un's daughter quickly explained the real situation to the man, it turns out that the Sak-somo-ayep was going to Kamui-Kotan to find his weapon in order to kill the man and take his treasure. She further explained that she was kidnapped by him and forced to he his bride. The Man was greatly enraged by the mistreatment of Kim-un's daughter, so when the Sak-somo-ayep returned to the hut the Man instantly got into a fight with the dragon, Eventually the Man killed the evil Sak-somo-ayep. After the death of the Sak-somo-ayep the Man and Kim-un's daughter lived together and slowly fell in love. Eventually when Kim-un found his daughter, the daughter explained that she wished to marry the man much to his shock. Originally refusing, his daughter explained to him what happened. Quickly changing his mind he giddily accepted the Man as his daughters husband.

## Myths and Legends

The Ainu's relationship with bears is extremely important to their culture. The Ainu have several ceremonies revolving around the creature, however the most prolific is the "sending back" ritual, where they nurture a bear cub for a year before shooting it to death with arrows. The Ainu are extremely affectionate to the bear and give it offerings as when they kill it they believe they are just guiding them back to the spirit world back to Kim-un.