THE AINOS OF YEZO, JAPAN. 451 



CLOTHING. 



The Ainos weave a very durable, coarse kind of cloth from the fibrous 

 bark of the mountain elm, Ulmus montana, known as the ohiyo. Mr. 

 Blackiston has pointed out that the species Ulmus campestris (Japanese 

 akadamo) is also used. 



The principal garment is a coat made of this material. It is patterned 

 after one form of the Japanese coat. The shape is well shown in Plate 

 xcvi, which represents the back of an embroidered coat made of the 

 ohiyo, with strips of blue Japanese cotton cloth sewed on, and a run- 

 ning design of white braid, also produced in Japan. Such elaborate dec- 

 oration is ouly applied to the best garments, those for common wear be- 

 ing quite plain. Japanese cotton goods are replacing the ohiyo. Already 

 the native cloth is far less common than it has been, and while I was iu 

 Yezo I found it by no means abundant. The native looms will soon be 

 out of use, for cotton goods, although less durable than the ohiyo, are 

 warmer and softer. A narrow belt is worn around the waist. The 

 women usually wear an under-garment of cotton, and occasionally an 

 apron. 



Leggins are worn by both sexes. These are very simply made, but 

 are also often decorated with braid. 



Sandals are worn in the summer (PI. xcvn). These are said to be 

 made of leurumi no hawa, walnut bark. The winter clothing is made of 

 the skins of animals. For traveling in the snow there are shoes made 

 of fish skin, and wide snow-shoes consisting of wooden frames with 

 thongs of bear-skin, both of which are represented iu this plate. 



DWELLINGS. 



The typical Aino house is a square or rectangular main structure, 

 usually entered through a low gable-roofed passage-way. The frame- 

 work is made of rough beams put together in the manner shown in Fig. 

 71, which is a drawing made from a photograph taken atTokoro. The 

 houses are thatched with reeds, usually the Imperata arundinacea 

 Cyrill, held down by poles. Such a house is shown in Plate xcvm, at 

 Shari. There is a small opening just below the apex of the roof in front, 

 through which the smoke escapes, and in cold weather this is the only 

 outlet for the smoke. A sliding board-shutter in the middle affords 

 ventilation through the roof, but this is closed in the wiuter. Houses 

 of this kind are common in the north, where the winters are very 

 cold. Farther south there is no opening through the roof, and the 

 smoke passes out through a large triangular opening in front beneath 

 the ridge-pole. To prevent wind and rain from beating iu, a rectangular 

 sort of chimney is built iu front of the aperture. A similar house, also 

 at Shari, is shown in Plate xcrx. A similar house at Bekkai or Bitskai, 

 near Nemuro, is shown in Plates c and ci, which are two views of the 

 same house. This house is thatched with straw. In Plate en, back of 



