The Ainos of Japan. 485 



"An Ainu himself shall answer the first question. "You 

 know," says he, " we have for a long time been subject to 

 the Japanese Tono Sama and Yakunin ; and it has been to 

 our interest that we should try to please them as much as 

 possible so as not to bring down trouble upon ourselves. As 

 we know that Yoshitsune did come among our ancestors, it 

 was thought that nothing would please the officials more 

 than for them to think that we really worship Yoshitsune, 

 who was himself a Japanese. And. so it came to pass that 

 the shrine was asked for and obtained." This statement 

 was made to the writer quite spontaneously and confiden- 

 tially, along with many other matters. Taken by itself, 

 this statement might not be worth much, but viewed with 

 other things of the sort, it speaks volumes. The spirit 

 here unwittingly shown is happily fast dying out, for the 

 Ainu begin to see that there is now but one law for both 

 peoples, and that there is justice obtainable even by them. 

 Nevertheless, the spirit above exemplified has been a real 

 factor in the life and actions of the Ainu people. 



" The whole secret of the second question turns upon the 

 meaning of the word worship. The word used by the Ainu 

 is origami, and the meaning is "to bow to," "to salute." 

 The Ainu are delightfully sharp in some things, and this is 

 one of them. An Ainu told me one day, with a most be- 

 nign grin, reaching almost from ear to ear, that he did 

 ongami (salute) Yoshitsune's shrine or idol ; but as for 

 (otta inonno-itali) praying to that person, neither he nor 

 any one that he knew, did so ; and, as regards (nomi) the 

 ceremony of offering inao or libations of wine to him, both 

 he and many others were always ready to do so providing 

 someone else would find the sake ! Here, then, is the point ; 

 the Ainu do not worship Yoshitsune in the sense of paying 

 him divine honour any more than the people of England 

 worship Lord Eeaconsfield; but some Ainu do worship him 

 in the sense of honouring him, in the same sense as Lord 

 Beaconsfield is honoured by the members of the Primrose 

 League, only not in anything like the same degree. Some 

 London cabman would be just as pleased to worship Mr. 

 Gladstone by drinking his health, and in the same sense, 



