Japanese / Japan
Hima na konabe. Ainu no mukashi banashi
(The idle pot. An Ainu folk tale)
Kayano, Shigeru
(text)
Doi, Kaya
(illus.)
Tōkyō: Asunaro Shobō, 2016. – 32 p.
ISBN 978-4-7515-2819-8
Japan | Ainu <people> | Indigenous people | Folk tale | Picture book
Reading age: 9+
White Ravens issue: 2017
The Ainu, the indigenous people of the north in Japan, live in harmony with nature. They believe animals, plants, and even kitchen tools have souls. They respect nature and cherish their possessions because all these things are gods for them. This picture book tells one of the unique folk tales that is based on their belief. After the bear god is killed by an Ainu hunter, the bear’s soul is enthralled by a great dancer it watches at the feast in the hunter’s house. Wishing to see the man’s dance again, the soul decides to come back to the earth as a bear and to be killed by the same hunter again and again. The bear god finally learns that the dancer is the god of the pot, who wants to thank the hunter family for their thoughtful use of the artefact. The author Shigeru Kayano (1926-2006) was Ainu himself and one of the leading researchers of Ainu culture. This posthumously published work is illustrated by Kaya Doi based on meticulous research. The charming illustrations beautifully convey the Ainu mind-set that all things ought be cherished.