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Implicit
and prompt obedience is required from infancy; and from a
very
early age the children are utilised by being made to fetch and
carry
and go on messages. I have seen children apparently not more
than
two years old sent for wood; and even at this age they are so
thoroughly
trained in the observances of etiquette that babies just
able
to walk never toddle into or out of this house without formal
salutations
to each person within it, the mother alone excepted.
They
don't wear any clothing till they are seven or eight years
old,
and are then dressed like their elders. Their manners to
their
parents are very affectionate. Even to-day, in the chief's
awe-inspiring
presence, one dear little nude creature, who had been
sitting
quietly for two hours staring into the fire with her big
brown
eyes, rushed to meet her mother when she entered, and threw
her
arms round her, to which the woman responded by a look of true
maternal
tenderness and a kiss. These little creatures, in the
absolute
unconsciousness of innocence, with their beautiful faces,
olive-tinted
bodies,--all the darker, sad to say, from dirt,--their
perfect
docility, and absence of prying curiosity, are very
bewitching.
They all wear silver or pewter ornaments tied round
their
necks by a wisp of blue cotton.
Apparently
the ordinary infantile maladies, such as whooping-cough
and
measles, do not afflict the Ainos fatally; but the children
suffer
from a cutaneous affection, which wears off as they reach
the
age of ten or eleven years, as well as from severe toothache
with
their first teeth.
LETTER
XXXVII--(Continued)
Aino
Clothing--Holiday Dress--Domestic Architecture--Household
Gods--Japanese
Curios--The Necessaries of Life--Clay Soup--Arrow
Poison--Arrow-Traps--Female
Occupations--Bark Cloth--The Art of
Weaving.
Aino
clothing, for savages, is exceptionally good. In the winter
it
consists of one, two, or more coats of skins, with hoods of the
same,
to which the men add rude moccasins when they go out hunting.
In
summer they wear kimonos, or loose coats, made of cloth woven
from
the split bark of a forest tree. This is a durable and
beautiful
fabric in various shades of natural buff, and somewhat
resembles
what is known to fancy workers as "Panama canvas." Under
this
a skin or bark-cloth vest may or may not be worn. The men
wear
these coats reaching a little below the knees, folded over
from
right to left, and confined at the waist by a narrow girdle of
the
same cloth, to which is attached a rude, dagger-shaped knife,
with
a carved and engraved wooden handle and sheath. Smoking is by
no
means a general practice; consequently the pipe and tobacco-box
are
not, as with the Japanese, a part of ordinary male attire.
Tightly-fitting
leggings, either of bark-cloth or skin, are worn by
both
sexes, but neither shoes nor sandals. The coat worn by the
women
reaches half-way between the knees and ankles, and is quite
loose
and without a girdle. It is fastened the whole way up to the
collar-bone;
and not only is the Aino woman completely covered, but
she
will not change one garment for another except alone or in the
dark.
Lately a Japanese woman at Sarufuto took an Aino woman into
her
house, and insisted on her taking a bath, which she absolutely
refused
to do till the bath-house had been made quite private by
means
of screens. On the Japanese woman going back a little later
to
see what had become of her, she found her sitting in the water
in
her clothes; and on being remonstrated with, she said that the
gods
would be angry if they saw her without clothes!
Many
of the garments for holiday occasions are exceedingly
handsome,
being decorated with "geometrical" patterns, in which the
"Greek
fret" takes part, in coarse blue cotton, braided most
dexterously
with scarlet and white thread. Some of the handsomest
take
half a year to make. The masculine dress is completed by an
apron
of oblong shape decorated in the same elaborate manner.
These
handsome savages, with their powerful physique, look
remarkably
well in their best clothes. I have not seen a boy or
girl
above nine who is not thoroughly clothed. The "jewels" of the
women
are large, hoop earrings of silver or pewter, with
attachments
of a classical pattern, and silver neck ornaments, and
a
few have brass bracelets soldered upon their arms. The women
have
a perfect passion for every hue of red, and I have made
friends
with them by dividing among them a large turkey-red silk
handkerchief,
strips of which are already being utilised for the
ornamenting
of coats.
The
houses in the five villages up here are very good. So they are
at
Horobets, but at Shiraoi, where the aborigines suffer from the
close
proximity of several grog shops, they are inferior. They
differ
in many ways from any that I have before seen, approaching
most
nearly to the grass houses of the natives of Hawaii. Custom
does
not appear to permit either of variety or innovations; in all
the
style is the same, and the difference consists in the size and
plenishings.
The dwellings seem ill-fitted for a rigorous climate,
but
the same thing may be said of those of the Japanese. In their
houses,
as in their faces, the Ainos are more European than their
conquerors,
as they possess doorways, windows, central fireplaces,
like
those of the Highlanders of Scotland, and raised sleeping-
places.
The
usual appearance is that of a small house built on at the end
of
a larger one. The small house is the vestibule or ante-room,
and
is entered by a low doorway screened by a heavy mat of reeds.
It
contains the large wooden mortar and pestle with two ends, used
for
pounding millet, a wooden receptacle for millet, nets or
hunting
gear, and some bundles of reeds for repairing roof or
walls.
This room never contains a window. From it the large room
is
entered by a doorway, over which a heavy reed-mat, bound with
hide,
invariably hangs. This room in Benri's case is 35 feet long
by
25 feet broad, another is 45 feet square, the smallest measures
20
feet by 15. On entering, one is much impressed by the great
height
and steepness of the roof, altogether out of proportion to
the
height of the walls.
The
frame of the house is of posts, 4 feet 10 inches high, placed 4
feet
apart, and sloping slightly inwards. The height of the walls
is
apparently regulated by that of the reeds, of which only one
length
is used, and which never exceed 4 feet 10 inches. The posts
are
scooped at the top, and heavy poles, resting on the scoops, are
laid
along them to form the top of the wall. The posts are again
connected
twice by slighter poles tied on horizontally. The wall
is
double; the outer part being formed of reeds tied very neatly to
the
framework in small, regular bundles, the inner layer or wall
being
made of reeds attached singly. From the top of the pole,
which
is secured to the top of the posts, the framework of the roof
rises
to a height of twenty-two feet, made, like the rest, of poles
tied
to a heavy and roughly-hewn ridge-beam. At one end under the
ridge-beam
there is a large triangular aperture for the exit of
smoke.
Two very stout, roughly-hewn beams cross the width of the
house,
resting on the posts of the wall, and on props let into the
floor,
and a number of poles are laid at the same height, by means
of
which a secondary roof formed of mats can be at once
extemporised,
but this is only used for guests. These poles answer
the
same purpose as shelves. Very great care is bestowed upon the
outside
of the roof, which is a marvel of neatness and prettiness,
and
has the appearance of a series of frills being thatched in
ridges.
The ridge-pole is very thickly covered, and the thatch
both
there and at the corners is elaborately laced with a pattern
in
strong peeled twigs. The poles, which, for much of the room,
run
from wall to wall, compel one to stoop, to avoid fracturing
one's
skull, and bringing down spears, bows and arrows, arrow-
traps,
and other primitive property. The roof and rafters are
black
and shiny from wood smoke. Immediately under them, at one
end
and one side, are small, square windows, which are closed at
night
by wooden shutters, which during the day-time hang by ropes.
Nothing
is a greater insult to an Aino than to look in at his
window.
On
the left of the doorway is invariably a fixed wooden platform,
eighteen
inches high, and covered with a single mat, which is the
sleeping-place.
The pillows are small stiff bolsters, covered with
ornamental
matting. If the family be large there are several of
these
sleeping platforms. A pole runs horizontally at a fitting
distance
above the outside edge of each, over which mats are thrown
to
conceal the sleepers from the rest of the room. The inside half
of
these mats is plain, but the outside, which is seen from the
room,
has a diamond pattern woven into it in dull reds and browns.
The
whole floor is covered with a very coarse reed-mat, with
interstices
half an inch wide. The fireplace, which is six feet
long,
is oblong. Above it, on a very black and elaborate
framework,
hangs a very black and shiny mat, whose superfluous soot
forms
the basis of the stain used in tattooing, and whose apparent
purpose
is to prevent the smoke ascending, and to diffuse it
equally
throughout the room. From this framework depends the great
cooking-pot,
which plays a most important part in Aino economy.
Household
gods form an essential part of the furnishing of every
house.
In this one, at the left of the entrance, there are ten
white
wands, with shavings depending from the upper end, stuck in
the
wall; another projects from the window which faces the sunrise,
and
the great god--a white post, two feet high, with spirals of
shavings
depending from the top--is always planted in the floor,
near
the wall, on the left side, opposite the fire, between the
platform
bed of the householder and the low, broad shelf placed
invariably
on the same side, and which is a singular feature of all
Aino
houses, coast and mountain, down to the poorest, containing,
as
it does, Japanese curios, many of them very valuable objects of
antique
art, though much destroyed by damp and dust. They are true
curiosities
in the dwellings of these northern aborigines, and look
almost
solemn ranged against the wall. In this house there are
twenty-four
lacquered urns, or tea-chests, or seats, each standing
two
feet high on four small legs, shod with engraved or filigree
brass.
Behind these are eight lacquered tubs, and a number of
bowls
and lacquer trays, and above are spears with inlaid handles,
and
fine Kaga and Awata bowls. The lacquer is good, and several of
the
urns have daimiyo's crests in gold upon them. One urn and a
large
covered bowl are beautifully inlaid with Venus' ear. The
great
urns are to be seen in every house, and in addition there are
suits
of inlaid armour, and swords with inlaid hilts, engraved
blades,
and repousse scabbards, for which a collector would give
almost
anything. No offers, however liberal, can tempt them to
sell
any of these antique possessions. "They were presents," they
say
in their low, musical voices; "they were presents from those
who
were kind to our fathers; no, we cannot sell them; they were
presents."
And so gold lacquer, and pearl inlaying, and gold
niello-work,
and daimiyo's crests in gold, continue to gleam in the
smoky
darkness of their huts. Some of these things were doubtless
gifts
to their fathers when they went to pay tribute to the
representative
of the Shogun and the Prince of Matsumae, soon after
the
conquest of Yezo. Others were probably gifts from samurai, who
took
refuge here during the rebellion, and some must have been
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