34 'N' f- 1 7 — ^ P *° y r 7V EP :n^ >• i?) g :n: ft R 



Quite a new, but very amusing, tradition has appeared upon the scene of late 

 and is doing its duty. By it we are gravely taught that this people were called 

 Koropok-giirii because they used to thatch their pit-dwellings with the broad 

 blades of the Petasites ! It is needless to point out, one would think, that these 

 blades are altogether too succiferous for employment for such purposes. Nor have 

 I ever heard any Ainu hint that they were so used. 



There is, however, some doubt expressed in some quarters as to the type of 

 dwellings frequented by the primitive inhabitants of Hokkaiko, the fact being that 

 the huts were of various shapes. In the Kurile Islands there w^ere until quite 

 recently and in Karafto also, pit-dwellings in actual use. Mr. Snow describes 

 these in the Geographical Journal for 1885. He there says, " The dwellings of 

 these people were constructed by hollowing out a shallow pit, usually in sandy soil, 

 planting posts around it, and, if they could be got, making an inside lining of 

 boards. Poles were laid across the top, forming a flat roof, and more poles laid 

 again at an angle from the edge of the roof, so as to give the sides a sharp slope. 

 The whole was covered with reeds or grass, on which were placed earth and turf. • 

 The entrance was closed by a roughly made wooden door, which opened into a 

 small lobby and low narrow passage, with another door opening into the main 

 compartment. Around the sides of this, bunk-like recesses were constructed under 

 the lean-to side walls. Sometimes these dwellings consisted of two or three rooms, 

 each one being separated by a short, low, narrow passage with a door at each end. 

 These larger houses are found more particularly on Shumshir, where the natives 

 were much better off than those of the central Kuriles." 



In Karafto such houses were called ToicJie, while in Yezo the name given them 

 was ToicJiisei ; toi is the ordinary w'ord for " earth," and che or chisei'xs an " abode," 

 a " house " or " dwelling place." Dr. OUCHI YöAN, in his Tökai Yawa or 

 " Evening talks of Eastern Yezo," written in i860, makes some very interesting 

 statements. YöAN was a government physician and resided in Yezo for three 

 years. He specially mentions the pits at Kushiro and those surrounding the hill on 

 which the chasJii or fortified place of the Ainu chief inamed Menkaushi was 

 situated. The hill is yet to be seen as well as many remains of the pits. Although 

 Menkaushi lived in the chasJii he yet told Dr. YoAN that the pits were supposed 

 to be the dwelling places of dAvarfs. But MENKAUSHI himself had never seen these 

 dwarfs and stated that they must have been a very ancient race of people as his 

 great grandfather knew nothing'about them. The entire matter concerning them 

 seems to be inference myth. On digging about this place he found pottery and 

 also an iron pot with the handles inside. In the Kita Ezo Zusetsu, written in 1855 



