a a ;f. -; ^ ;l/ IP X y o g Tc ffi S 



THE KOROPOK-GURU OR PIT- 

 DWELLERS OF YEZO. 



By the Rev. John Batchelor. 

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On pages 73-79 inclusive of Part I. \'ol. I. of the Transactions of this Society, 

 there will be found a ver}' interesting and valuable brochure on the Chashi o{ thc^ 

 Ainu by Mr. T. KoNO. In this brochure ]Mr. KoXO speaks of these Chashi, which 

 he describes as " fortresses," the word itself meaning " an inclosure " or "fence," in 

 connection with the pits of the so-called Koropok-guru or ancient inhabitants of 

 Yezo. These people are said by some to have been a race of dwarfs [Ko-bito, i. e. 

 " little people "). and to have inhabited this part of the Japanese Empire both long 

 before and also together with the ancestors of the present Ainu. Mr. KoXO has 

 ven.- clearly and satisfactorily proved both by a reference to ancient traditions, by 

 Japanese history, and also by personal archeological research, that the Ainu were 

 in olden times themselves pit-dwellers, and that the stories concerning a race of 

 dwarfs as having formerly resided here are entirely lacking in proof. He has also 

 demonstrated that the Ainu once used stone implements and made pottery-. That 

 j\Ir. KÖXOS conclusions are correct is proven also in other ways. Thus, for ex- 

 ample, by Ainu traditions as told by themselves as they sit round the fires upon 

 the hearth in their huts of an evening ; by their language ; and by ostiolog>- ; for, 

 careful searching shows an entire lack of dwarf remains anywhere in Hokkaido, 

 while geographical nomenclature comes in as a secondary or correlative proof. 



In speaking of Ainu defences it is of interest to remark that the language used 

 b}- this people seems to show that they formerly made two kinds of forts. The first 

 and most important were the chashi spoken of by Mr. KoXO, and the second which 

 went by the name of kot or Iciit. According to the derivation of these words the 

 cJiashi proper would appear to have been forts inclosed by means of a fence or 



[Trans. Sap. Nat. Hist. Soc. Vol. II. 1907.] 



