Ae-oyna-kamuy

Ae-oyna-kamuy (short: Oyna-kamuy (オイナカムイ)) is an Ainu kamuy (god) and culture hero. In Ainu mythology, he is credited with teaching humans domestic skills, and for this reason he is called Aynurakkur (アイヌラックㇽ, father of the Ainu or father of humanity), and otherwise known as Okikurmi.

Names

Oyna[lower-alpha 1] or Ae-oyna-kamuy/Ayoyna-kamuy, who in Ainu tradition is a culture hero or culture-giving deity (人文神, jinbunshin), is otherwise known by the names Aynurakkur or Okikurmi/Okikirmiy[lower-alpha 2] according to some sources.[3][4]

Aynurakkur and Okikurmi may have originally been distinguished, but seem to have become conflated after a body of similarly plotted narratives became attached to them.[5]

Depiction

Ae-oyna-kamuy is described as a large man wreathed in smoke. When the smoke parts, he is seen to be surrounded by flames from his waist to his feet, and wearing a coat of elm bark and a sword. He also wields a magical spear of mugwort. The flames he is wreathed in indicate his virtuous character.

Mythology

There are a number of myths of Ae-oyna-kamuy's origin, arising from different Ainu tribes.[6] He is said to be begotten by Pakor-kamuy (パコロカムイ, the god of the year or the god of smallpox) on an elm tree (Chikisani) on Mount Oputateshike according to a version collected at Shiunkot village,[7] while other traditions name the father as the sun or thunder.[6]

Ae-oyna-kamuy is taught by Kamuy-huci, the hearth deity, and descends from the heavens to impart his knowledge to humanity. He is responsible for teaching weaving to the Ainu women and carving to the men. He is credited with teaching techniques of fishing, hunting, gathering, architecture, medicine, and religious ritual, and is associated with law and singing.[6] He also fights several battles on behalf of humanity; in one instance, he destroys a personification of famine with his spear of mugwort,[6] then creates herds of deer and schools of fish from the snow on his snowshoes.[6]

Eventually, Ae-oyna-kamuy, disappointed at the decline of the Ainu, departs for another country; some myths say he returns to the heavens.

In one myth, when he returns to the heavens, the gods send him back because he reeks of humans. Then he leaves his clothes on earth in order to return. It is said that his old sandals turned into the first squirrels.

Explanatory notes
  1. The term oyna also refers to a type of mythological song, like the yukar.[1] Hence the qualifying the appellation as "Oyna-kamuy" or Oyna-deity serves to distinguish.
  2. Okikorumi.[2]

References
Citations
  1. Nakagawa (1996), pp. 154–155, 162.
  2. Munro (1996), p. 15.
  3. Nakagawa (1996), p. 158.
  4. Gulik, Willem R. van (1982). Irezumi:The Pattern of Dermatography in Japan. Mededelingen van het Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden, 22. Leiden: Brill Archive. p. 205–206. ASIN B0006ED624.
  5. Kindaichi, Kyōsuke (1933), Ainu bungaku アイヌ文学 [Ainu literature] (in Japanese), Kawade shobo, p. 72
  6. Ashkenazy (2003), pp. 109–110.
  7. Irimoto, Takashi (1997), Yamada, Takako; Irimoto, Takashi (eds.), "Ainu Shamanism: Oral Tradition, Healing, and Dramas", Circumpolar Animism and Shamanism, Hokkaido University Press, p. 26, ISBN 9784832902527
Bibliography
  • Etter, Carl. Ainu Folklore: Traditions and Culture of the Vanishing Aborigines of Japan. Chicago: Wilcox and Follett, 1949.
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