THE AINOS OF YEZO, JAPAN. 473 



grains are thrown in heaps. This is known as the murukuta-nusha 

 (muru hulls, huta to throw), and it is under the special protection of a 

 female deity, who would be offended if the hulls were thrown broad- 

 cast over the ground. 



Storms are caused by the strife of the thunder-gods who dwell in the 

 clouds. These gods are associated with the lion, for it is related that 

 the people once caught a lion, which escaped on a black cloud. The 

 thunder is the noise of battling hosts, and the glancing, swords the 

 lightning. At least so says Dr. Scheube, but the idea is almost too 

 poetical for the Ainos. 



Some of the Japanese deities have found a place among the native 

 gods, but these are foreign to the spirit of the Aiuo religion and can 

 scarcely receive great reverence. Iu one house I saw three shrines, 

 evidently representing the Japanese Icafni dana. Before one of them 

 were some faded artificial flowers standing in bottles clearly labeled 

 " Lemon Drops, J. T. Morton." 



The Japanese hero Yoshitsune is supposed to have fled to Yezo, and 

 is generally regarded as the famous personage known to the Ainos as 

 Okikurumi. It is said that the Ainos have only a single divinity of 

 human origin, the ancestor of the race, Aioiua. Nevertheless, there 

 has long been a simple shrine to Yoshitsune on the summit of a hill 

 near Piratori, which Miss Bird has described. But this author* refers 

 to Yoshitsune as "the great god of the mountain Ainos. 77 It is even) 

 doubtful whether the Ainos did in fact worship Yoshitsune as a godj 

 certainly it is incredible that he should be elevated to the high place 

 assigned to him by Miss Bird. 1 was myself on the spot, with the 

 famous chief Benri as my guide, but a recent storm, which had delayed 

 me by making the rivers impassable, had also blown the shrine away y 

 and its fragments were lying scattered down the steep hill-side. 



The Ainos have but few religious symbols. The most important of 

 these are the inao, frequently called god-sticks, three forms of which 

 are represented in Fig. 86. In some way, not very clearly understood, 

 these represent the gods. One or more will always be found stuck m 

 the ashes of the fireplace, and others here and there at convenient 

 places on the wall of the house. They are simply ingeniously whit- 

 tled sticks, usually of willow, with the long curled shavings pendant. 

 Some have short spirals directed upward and are covered with bark at 

 the lower end. Further notes upon their variety and use will be found 

 in the course of the description of the bear feast. 



The sacred quiver is made of carved wood with various metallic 

 trimmings representing the slin and moon. It is associated with the 

 house god, but during the great bear feast it is hung on the sacred 

 hedge. The skulls of bears and foxes are placed on the sacred hedge. 

 The former are by far the more common, but every house is said to con- 

 tain at least one fox skull, which may be a treasure handed down 



* Bird, Isabella L. Unbeaten Tracks in Japan, n, 72. 



