"Ten Thousand Stars Were In The Sky,
Ten Thousand In The Sea,
And Every Wave With Dimpled Face,
That Leapt Upon The Air,
Had Caught A Star In Its Embrace,
And Held It Trembling There."
The loneliness of Usu Bay is something wonderful - a house full of
empty rooms falling to decay, with only two men in it - one Japanese
house among 500 savages, yet it was the only one in which I have
slept in which they bolted neither the amado nor the gate.
During
the night the amado fell out of the worn-out grooves with a crash,
knocking down the shoji, which fell on me, and rousing Ito, who
rushed into my room half-asleep, with a vague vision of blood-
thirsty Ainos in his mind. I then learned what I have been very
stupid not to have learned before, that in these sliding wooden
shutters there is a small door through which one person can creep
at a time called the jishindo, or "earthquake door," because it
provides an exit during the alarm of an earthquake, in case of the
amado sticking in their grooves, or their bolts going wrong. I
believe that such a door exists in all Japanese houses.
The next morning was as beautiful as the previous evening, rose and
gold instead of gold and pink. Before the sun was well up I
visited a number of the Aino lodges, saw the bear, and the chief,
who, like all the rest, is a monogamist, and, after breakfast, at
my request, some of the old men came to give me such information as
they had. These venerable elders sat cross-legged in the verandah,
the house-master's son, who kindly acted as interpreter, squatting,
Japanese fashion, at the side, and about thirty Ainos, mostly
women, with infants, sitting behind. I spent about two hours in
going over the same ground as at Biratori, and also went over the
words, and got some more, including some synonyms. The click of
the ts before the ch at the beginning of a word is strongly marked
among these Ainos. Some of their customs differ slightly from
those of their brethren of the interior, specially as to the period
of seclusion after a death, the non-allowance of polygamy to the
chief, and the manner of killing the bear at the annual festival.
Their ideas of metempsychosis are more definite, but this, I think,
is to be accounted for by the influence and proximity of Buddhism.
They spoke of the bear as their chief god, and next the sun and
fire. They said that they no longer worship the wolf, and that
though they call the volcano and many other things kamoi, or god,
they do not worship them. I ascertained beyond doubt that worship
with them means simply making libations of sake and "drinking to
the god," and that it is unaccompanied by petitions, or any vocal
or mental act.
These Ainos are as dark as the people of southern Spain, and very
hairy. Their expression is earnest and pathetic, and when they
smiled, as they did when I could not pronounce their words, their
faces had a touching sweetness which was quite beautiful, and
European, not Asiatic. Their own impression is that they are now
increasing in numbers after diminishing for many years. I left Usu
sleeping in the loveliness of an autumn noon with great regret. No
place that I have seen has fascinated me so much.
LETTER XL - (Continued)
The Sea-shore - A "Hairy Aino" - A Horse Fight - The Horses of Yezo -
"Bad Mountains" - A Slight Accident - Magnificent Scenery - A Bleached
Halting-Place - A Musty Room - Aino "Good-breeding."
A charge of 3 sen per ri more for the horses for the next stage,
because there were such "bad mountains to cross," prepared me for
what followed - many miles of the worst road for horses I ever saw.
I should not have complained if they had charged double the price.
As an almost certain consequence, it was one of the most
picturesque routes I have ever travelled. For some distance,
however, it runs placidly along by the sea-shore, on which big,
blue, foam-crested rollers were disporting themselves noisily, and
passes through several Aino hamlets, and the Aino village of Abuta,
with sixty houses, rather a prosperous-looking place, where the
cultivation was considerably more careful, and the people possessed
a number of horses. Several of the houses were surrounded by
bears' skulls grinning from between the forked tops of high poles,
and there was a well-grown bear ready for his doom and apotheosis.
In nearly all the houses a woman was weaving bark-cloth, with the
hook which holds the web fixed into the ground several feet outside
the house. At a deep river called the Nopkobets, which emerges
from the mountains close to the sea, we were ferried by an Aino
completely covered with hair, which on his shoulders was wavy like
that of a retriever, and rendered clothing quite needless either
for covering or warmth. A wavy, black beard rippled nearly to his
waist over his furry chest, and, with his black locks hanging in
masses over his shoulders, he would have looked a thorough savage
had it not been for the exceeding sweetness of his smile and eyes.
The Volcano Bay Ainos are far more hairy than the mountain Ainos,
but even among them it is quite common to see men not more so than
vigorous Europeans, and I think that the hairiness of the race as a
distinctive feature has been much exaggerated, partly by the
smooth-skinned Japanese.
The ferry scow was nearly upset by our four horses beginning to
fight. At first one bit the shoulders of another; then the one
attacked uttered short, sharp squeals, and returned the attack by
striking with his fore feet, and then there was a general melee of
striking and biting, till some ugly wounds were inflicted. I have
watched fights of this kind on a large scale every day in the
corral.
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