AINU FAMILY-LIFE AND RELIGION. 



toward tlie rising sun. But such is not the case : a shallow grave 

 is dug, the body — rolled in a good mat — is tumbled in, a few 

 stones x^erhaps thrown in to prevent animals from disturbing the 

 remains, the dirt hastily replaced, and the corpse is left to its fate. 

 Sometimes the pipe and tobacco-pouch, or a small package of 

 tobacco, will be buried with the man, if he has been specially 

 fond of smoking. This fact, and the additional one that a stout 

 stick or club is provided to furnish the man with means of de- 

 fense, point to a belief in a transition state, but the Ainu has only 

 a hazy idea of the hereafter, and particularly as to purgatory, or 

 the iDassage of the soul, which is thought to be naturally immor- 

 tal, to the reward or punishment it is to receive in Pokna inoshiri. 

 " The wicked are supposed to be harassed by the evil spirits — nitne 

 ko.mui — in this place, but what the rewards of the righteous are 

 the Ainu have no idea." 



It is customary to put up a short stick at the head of a grave, 

 the carved top of which indicates the sex of the person therein 

 buried. If it is a man, the toj) of the stick will be cut in the 

 shape of a spear-head; if a woman, it will be a rudely shaped 

 ball. There is nothing to correspond to a tombstone either at 

 the grave or in the village, 

 where there is no temple, 

 as in every Japanese vil- 

 lage, with memorial tab- 

 lets and altars to keep 

 alive the memory of the 

 deceased. Indeed, it ap- 

 pears to be the desire of 

 the Ainu to forget the 

 dead as soon as possible ; 

 their reluctance to speak 

 of them is an evidence of 

 this. In the case of women 

 this is absolutely so , a pos- 

 sible exception is men- 

 tioned below. In the case 

 of a man, his son may 

 oifer a small libation of 

 sake at his grave, and at 

 the i7iao raised to his memory at his former home, on the anni- 

 versary of his death ; and, in the case of a prominent chief, the 

 men will perhaps do this for two or three years — never for a 

 longer time. These anniversaries are really made excuses for 

 5a^-e-drinking rather than true testimonials of respect. 



The inao spoken of above are whittled willow sticks with 

 pendent, curl-like shavings, offerings given to the gods (with the 



Fig. 2.— Inao op the Aixu. 



