Traditions of the Ainos. 231 



followed after the advent of a self-imposed protector whom the 

 lady of the isle had, in a period of weariness, permitted to enter 

 and share her solitude." * 



As her family increased, rules for their guidance were estab- 

 lished even in the most trivial affairs of every-day life, while the 

 Ainos held their ancestor in such reverence that, to this day, the 

 laws first established by her and the directions then given are 

 implicitly followed. 



It is related that she generally wore long and flowing hair, 

 but that she finally trimmed it by placing her head upon a 

 block when the hair was cut to a uniform length all round, by use 

 of the sword. In obedience to her commands and example, her 

 children trimmed their hair in similar fashion, and this, in all its 

 details of method and form, is practised at the present time. 

 Thus may we account for the peculiar square-cut of the hair, 

 which is so conspicuous in and uniformly characteristic of the 

 Ainos. 



A second command was to the effect that her children should 

 follow the customs of the Japanese in all things. This is certainly 

 in keeping with attributing their primal origin to the founder of 

 the Japanese, though it certainly impresses one as more than a 

 passing indication of the influence which a dominant people may 

 exercise upon the thoughts of those directly subject to their 

 control, and shows what influences have been brought to bear to 

 keep the Ainos in subjection, and to impress them with a sense of 

 their own inferiority. 



Eather amusing is that tradition which attempts to account for 

 the custom of tattooing the lips, so prevalent among the women. 

 Evidently the ancestral mother had a strong inherent love for 

 the sterner sex, which was not weakened by her father's dis- 

 pleasure, but was rather heightened by separation from him. 



* This tradition appears to have been given variously at different 

 times, since in my own experience in gathering information from old 

 men of the various tribes, reputed to be well learned in all the customs 

 and traditions of the people, I have been unable to hear of a garden or 

 of a greater number of implements than those first mentioned. To my 

 mind, simplicity of detail seems to commend the tradition, as more 

 probably correct than that version which included so many statements 

 so nearly and singularly in accord with the facts of our own history. 



