484 Canadian Record of Science. 



assuming such a position in prayer would be a great 

 disrespect to the object worshipped. 



"The image of Yoshitsune is looked upon from the east, 

 hence, speaking from analogy, it would appear that it is 

 not the Ainu worshipping Yoshitsune, but either Yoshitsune 

 worshipping the Ainu, or the Ainu insulting Yoshitsune ; 

 such a conclusion may appear to be somewhat far fetched, 

 but is, when compared with other things, at any rate a 

 logical one. The writer does not intend to say that the 

 Ainu, in the present case (for with them religion is a serious 

 thing), place such a construction upon the form of the 

 shrine, though they dearly like to play upon a person some- 

 times. All he wishes to remark is, that the position of the 

 shrine of Yoshitsune does not come up to the acknowledged 

 requirements of the Ainu ideas of Deity worship. 



" Again, it is said by the people that they would not wor- 

 ship an idol, because it would be directly against the 

 expressed command of Aioina Kamui, their reputed ances- 

 tor. The Ainu are, in many things, a very conservative 

 people, and in the matter of religion, particularly so. Note 

 the following incident. In the days of the Tokugawa 

 regime — so runs the tale —the Ainu were ordered by the 

 Government, or rather by the authorities of Matsumai, to 

 cut their hair Japanese fashion. The result was a great 

 meeting of the Yezo chiefs, which ended in sending off a 

 deputation to beg that the order be countermanded, or at 

 least suffered to lapse. For, say the Ainu, we could not go 

 contrary to the customs of our ancestors without it bringing 

 down upon us the wrath of the gods. And, though a few 

 Ainu, particularly those at Mori, did cut their hair as 

 ordered, the people as a whole were let off. If then a mere 

 change in the fashion of cutting the hair should be such a 

 weighty matter, what would the institution of idol-worship 

 involve ? 



" But notwithstanding all this, there is still not only the 

 fact of the shrine being at Piratori to be accounted for, but 

 also the fact that some Ainu do tell us tnat Yoshitsune is 

 worshipped by a few of their number, though very seldom. 

 What is the explanation ? 



