Recommended listening: Ihunke by Umeko Ando
Story
Snow crunched beneath their feet as the people climbed the mountain. As they hiked towards its summit, Rebun Island fell away behind them. They were headed to the top of Mount Rebun, the highest point on the island, where the mountain god awaited their arrival. It was the winter solstice, and they had to move quickly to make the most of the little light that the auspicious day offered. When they finally reached the top after three hours, they could see clear across the sea to Rishiri Island, its snowy peak glinting in the winter sunlight. Bare forests spread to the shore below them in a prickly carpet. The cold winter air was bracing but fresh, rejuvenating their lungs after the long climb. With everyone in the community assembled at the top, one figure strode forward. Wearing an imposing mask, she took her place between two drummers and began to dance.
She was the tusukur, the shaman of her local community. Archaeologists call her people the Okhotsk culture after their home in the Sea of Okhotsk. Spread between the islands of what is today the far east of Russia and the far north of Japan, they are one of the ancestors of the modern-day Ainu. In Ainu epic poetry they are called Repunkur, "the sea people over there." True to their name, they were a seafaring people, expertly adapted to maritime subsistence strategies that took advantage of the abundant fish and marine mammals of their cold northern home. They had trade connections with both the peoples of Japan to the south, such as the Epi-Jomon people of southern Hokkaido and northern Honshu, and the peoples of Siberia to the west. The latter trade route brought them into contact with religious ideas from Siberia. One of these ideas was shamanism. A shaman was someone who could engage in direct contact with spirits and gods, who were known as kamuy in the Ainu language. While something akin to shamanism was common throughout much of Northeast Asia and beyond, the Okhotsk people's religious practices were profoundly influenced by those of Siberia.
We know this because the Okhotsk people left behind a handful of figurines of female shamans. Only a dozen of these ivory carvings have been recovered by archaeologists. While many of the figurines are broken, those which include the heads show that the women were wearing masks. These "bent-nosed" masks bear a remarkable resemblance to the shamanic masks worn by Siberian peoples like the Evenki. Scholars believe that as trade intensified between the Okhotsk and peoples of the Amur River basin around the 7th and 8th centuries, the Okhotsk began to incorporate Siberian shamanistic practices into their own religion, which was based largely around bears and whales. One of the figurines from Rebun Island shows the masked woman accompanied by a bear cub. The presence of the animal most sacred to the Okhotsk reinforces the impression that these figurines depict women taking on a shamanic role. In the Ainu language, shamans are called tusukur, though in the Sakhalin Islands they even use the Siberian loanword saman.
Women seem to have dominated shamanistic practice among the Okhotsk, as would be the case with their Ainu descendants in later times. Drinking saké brewed from wild fruits, or perhaps from rice and millet imported from their farming neighbours to the south, the tusukur entered a trance state. Musicians helped her along by singing and playing instruments such as drums, flutes, and the stringed tokori. When entering a trance, a tusukur was allowing her body to be taken over by a kamuy. Kamuy were believed to have human forms while dwelling in the spirit world, but when they visited the human world, they took on the forms of animals, landscape features, and natural phenomena. Shamans had the ability to establish direct contact with kamuy because of their torenpehe or spirit guide. All people had at least a few of these spirit guides that took the form of animals. Shamans' spirit guides were most commonly snake kamuy, and they enabled them to enter trance states where they could invite a kamuy into their body.
By entering into a shamanic trance, a tusukur gained divine insights into the future and into problems plaguing the community. The kamuy spoke through her in the form of kamuy yukar, sacred verses that the tusukur would sing during the trance. These were often in the first person perspective as they channeled the voice of a kamuy, whether it was an animal or nature spirit or even the spirit of a long-dead hero. Particular deities were recognisable by their unique refrains of vocables, or nonsense syllables. The kamuy yakur are the oldest histories of the Ainu, passed down orally by communities after shamans composed them during trances. Shamans also sang songs that diagnosed and treated illnesses, suggested where to find lost items, determined which kamuy had caused an environmental calamity, and prophesied about the future. They danced to imitate and entertain the spirits.
One of the most important ceremonies of the year requiring a shaman's services was the iomante, the "sending back" ceremony. This was an animal sacrifice that sent the kamuy of an animal back to the world of the spirits. The Okhotsk likely performed the ceremony by sacrificing a bear, as was done by many of the Ainu in more recent times. Brown bears were not native to Rebun Island, so once a year the islanders imported a juvenile bear from Hokkaido. The bear was raised by local women until the time of the iomante. The bear was regarded as a god during its lifetime and fed the best foods the community had to offer. When the bear was sacrificed at the iomante, it was believed that the god was being returned home to the heavens. The summits of sacred mountains were believed to house sacred lakes where gods lived, and so the kamuy was released from its mortal bear form and returned to its proper place among the spirits. By performing this ceremony, the people hoped to secure the favour of the mountain god for the coming winter.
The Okhotsk had many ways of protecting themselves from the wrath of angry kamuy. Women tattooed their mouths and hands to protect them from the influence of spirits. The intricate wave patterns they wove into the clothing they made served the same purpose. Aside from formal shamanic performances, the tusukur also served their communities in more mundane but equally important tasks. For example, shamans were often called into action as midwives, since their medical knowledge surpassed anyone else's. Outside of their shamanic duties, Okhotsk shamans were regular women. Archaeological evidence shows no elevated status for any women in Okhotsk burials, suggesting that they were not seen as elite professionals, but simply as community members who had the skills necessary to help with certain tasks. In fact, the archaeological record shows that women actually experienced a decline in overall health during the Okhotsk period relative to men. This may be because the warming climate led to an increased reliance on whaling, which enhanced the status of male hunters and reduced the importance of more traditionally female spheres of subsistence like raising pigs. Women also started weaning their children earlier, perhaps in order to have larger families as the Okhotsk population expanded into new territories, which increased their child-rearing workload.
In spite of the challenges that women faced during the Okhotsk period, the ivory figurines of female shamans show us that women took on important roles of spiritual leadership in their communities. In this illustration, a tusukur begins to enter a trance at the top of Mount Rebun. It is the winter solstice, and she must channel the kamuy in order to conduct the iomante. Two kacotamat - women drummers - set the beat for her sacred dance. A voice warbles out from behind the impassive face of her mask, singing sacred verse. The eyes of all kamuy turn towards her as she reaches across the border between the mortal world and heaven. Her salmon-skin leather boots stamp out patterns in the snow, and she clasps her hands together, dipping and weaving in a hypnotic, repetitive motion. The kamuy will soon take over, and the ordinary Okhotsk woman beneath the mask will be transformed into a sacred messenger, here to speak with the voice of the gods in order to secure a mild winter for her people.
She was the tusukur, the shaman of her local community. Archaeologists call her people the Okhotsk culture after their home in the Sea of Okhotsk. Spread between the islands of what is today the far east of Russia and the far north of Japan, they are one of the ancestors of the modern-day Ainu. In Ainu epic poetry they are called Repunkur, "the sea people over there." True to their name, they were a seafaring people, expertly adapted to maritime subsistence strategies that took advantage of the abundant fish and marine mammals of their cold northern home. They had trade connections with both the peoples of Japan to the south, such as the Epi-Jomon people of southern Hokkaido and northern Honshu, and the peoples of Siberia to the west. The latter trade route brought them into contact with religious ideas from Siberia. One of these ideas was shamanism. A shaman was someone who could engage in direct contact with spirits and gods, who were known as kamuy in the Ainu language. While something akin to shamanism was common throughout much of Northeast Asia and beyond, the Okhotsk people's religious practices were profoundly influenced by those of Siberia.
We know this because the Okhotsk people left behind a handful of figurines of female shamans. Only a dozen of these ivory carvings have been recovered by archaeologists. While many of the figurines are broken, those which include the heads show that the women were wearing masks. These "bent-nosed" masks bear a remarkable resemblance to the shamanic masks worn by Siberian peoples like the Evenki. Scholars believe that as trade intensified between the Okhotsk and peoples of the Amur River basin around the 7th and 8th centuries, the Okhotsk began to incorporate Siberian shamanistic practices into their own religion, which was based largely around bears and whales. One of the figurines from Rebun Island shows the masked woman accompanied by a bear cub. The presence of the animal most sacred to the Okhotsk reinforces the impression that these figurines depict women taking on a shamanic role. In the Ainu language, shamans are called tusukur, though in the Sakhalin Islands they even use the Siberian loanword saman.
Women seem to have dominated shamanistic practice among the Okhotsk, as would be the case with their Ainu descendants in later times. Drinking saké brewed from wild fruits, or perhaps from rice and millet imported from their farming neighbours to the south, the tusukur entered a trance state. Musicians helped her along by singing and playing instruments such as drums, flutes, and the stringed tokori. When entering a trance, a tusukur was allowing her body to be taken over by a kamuy. Kamuy were believed to have human forms while dwelling in the spirit world, but when they visited the human world, they took on the forms of animals, landscape features, and natural phenomena. Shamans had the ability to establish direct contact with kamuy because of their torenpehe or spirit guide. All people had at least a few of these spirit guides that took the form of animals. Shamans' spirit guides were most commonly snake kamuy, and they enabled them to enter trance states where they could invite a kamuy into their body.
By entering into a shamanic trance, a tusukur gained divine insights into the future and into problems plaguing the community. The kamuy spoke through her in the form of kamuy yukar, sacred verses that the tusukur would sing during the trance. These were often in the first person perspective as they channeled the voice of a kamuy, whether it was an animal or nature spirit or even the spirit of a long-dead hero. Particular deities were recognisable by their unique refrains of vocables, or nonsense syllables. The kamuy yakur are the oldest histories of the Ainu, passed down orally by communities after shamans composed them during trances. Shamans also sang songs that diagnosed and treated illnesses, suggested where to find lost items, determined which kamuy had caused an environmental calamity, and prophesied about the future. They danced to imitate and entertain the spirits.
One of the most important ceremonies of the year requiring a shaman's services was the iomante, the "sending back" ceremony. This was an animal sacrifice that sent the kamuy of an animal back to the world of the spirits. The Okhotsk likely performed the ceremony by sacrificing a bear, as was done by many of the Ainu in more recent times. Brown bears were not native to Rebun Island, so once a year the islanders imported a juvenile bear from Hokkaido. The bear was raised by local women until the time of the iomante. The bear was regarded as a god during its lifetime and fed the best foods the community had to offer. When the bear was sacrificed at the iomante, it was believed that the god was being returned home to the heavens. The summits of sacred mountains were believed to house sacred lakes where gods lived, and so the kamuy was released from its mortal bear form and returned to its proper place among the spirits. By performing this ceremony, the people hoped to secure the favour of the mountain god for the coming winter.
The Okhotsk had many ways of protecting themselves from the wrath of angry kamuy. Women tattooed their mouths and hands to protect them from the influence of spirits. The intricate wave patterns they wove into the clothing they made served the same purpose. Aside from formal shamanic performances, the tusukur also served their communities in more mundane but equally important tasks. For example, shamans were often called into action as midwives, since their medical knowledge surpassed anyone else's. Outside of their shamanic duties, Okhotsk shamans were regular women. Archaeological evidence shows no elevated status for any women in Okhotsk burials, suggesting that they were not seen as elite professionals, but simply as community members who had the skills necessary to help with certain tasks. In fact, the archaeological record shows that women actually experienced a decline in overall health during the Okhotsk period relative to men. This may be because the warming climate led to an increased reliance on whaling, which enhanced the status of male hunters and reduced the importance of more traditionally female spheres of subsistence like raising pigs. Women also started weaning their children earlier, perhaps in order to have larger families as the Okhotsk population expanded into new territories, which increased their child-rearing workload.
In spite of the challenges that women faced during the Okhotsk period, the ivory figurines of female shamans show us that women took on important roles of spiritual leadership in their communities. In this illustration, a tusukur begins to enter a trance at the top of Mount Rebun. It is the winter solstice, and she must channel the kamuy in order to conduct the iomante. Two kacotamat - women drummers - set the beat for her sacred dance. A voice warbles out from behind the impassive face of her mask, singing sacred verse. The eyes of all kamuy turn towards her as she reaches across the border between the mortal world and heaven. Her salmon-skin leather boots stamp out patterns in the snow, and she clasps her hands together, dipping and weaving in a hypnotic, repetitive motion. The kamuy will soon take over, and the ordinary Okhotsk woman beneath the mask will be transformed into a sacred messenger, here to speak with the voice of the gods in order to secure a mild winter for her people.
Artist's Comments
I have wanted to draw Ainu women for the series ever since learning about their unusual smiling mouth tattoos. What really took my imagination by storm though was seeing the masked figurines from the Okhotsk culture. It's really cool to include a masked woman in the series for the first time. I love how spooky the mask looks!
While I've drawn Japan a few times for the series, it's important to look beyond the south and explore other peoples who lived in the Japanese archipelago a thousand years ago. The Ainu have suffered a lot due to Japanese colonialism over the past few hundred years, and their history should not be overlooked. At the time this picture is set, the Okhotsk were on the far periphery of the Heian court's awareness. In the mid-10th century, the court had appointed a local clan in northeastern Honshu as their deputies, conducting trade with the Okhotsk and other northern peoples on behalf of the government. The Okhotsk were important intermediaries in trading materials from the Amur River basin in Siberia to the south of Japan. Relations were sometimes rocky though, as the northern peoples organised themselves to resist overreaching actions from the southern court throughout the late Heian period.
I'm really happy with how this drawing came out! Thank you to Ellie and Mom for advice on different parts of the picture. I like having another snowy one in the series too. I hope you've enjoyed learning about Okhotsk women today! ~ November 26, 2023
While I've drawn Japan a few times for the series, it's important to look beyond the south and explore other peoples who lived in the Japanese archipelago a thousand years ago. The Ainu have suffered a lot due to Japanese colonialism over the past few hundred years, and their history should not be overlooked. At the time this picture is set, the Okhotsk were on the far periphery of the Heian court's awareness. In the mid-10th century, the court had appointed a local clan in northeastern Honshu as their deputies, conducting trade with the Okhotsk and other northern peoples on behalf of the government. The Okhotsk were important intermediaries in trading materials from the Amur River basin in Siberia to the south of Japan. Relations were sometimes rocky though, as the northern peoples organised themselves to resist overreaching actions from the southern court throughout the late Heian period.
I'm really happy with how this drawing came out! Thank you to Ellie and Mom for advice on different parts of the picture. I like having another snowy one in the series too. I hope you've enjoyed learning about Okhotsk women today! ~ November 26, 2023
Resources
Want to learn more about Okhotsk women and Ainu shamans? Here are some recommended resources.
World of Archaeology 7: Okhotsk Culture by Maeda Ushio
This Japanese booklet written for younger readers was the most accessible source I could find about the Okhotsk female sculptures. I used Google Translate to read the Kindle edition, which actually worked pretty well since it was written in a simpler style than an academic paper. This introduction to the Okhotsk culture, framed as a class lesson for cats and dogs, has a chapter on the female figurines. There is even a drawing of all the figurines that have been discovered so far. These drawings were extremely helpful for me in reconstructing what the tusukur might have looked like. Maeda's discussion of the Siberian and Turkic influence on the Okhotsk culture that these figurines demonstrate was very helpful too. Maeda has other work published in Japanese on these figurines which I wasn't able to access but is for sale here.
"The Ainu of Tsugaru: The indigenous history and shamanism of northern Japan" by Sakurako (Sherry) Tanaka
This PhD thesis from the University of British Columbia, published in 2000, was the first ever academic study on the Ainu written by an Indigenous woman. Tanaka explores the history of women's role in shamanism among the Ainu, including in the southernmost extent of their territories in northern Honshu. Her work made for an engrossing read, exploring the changes over time in women's role in Ainu religion as well as regional variation. Most of what I learned about the tusukur came from this paper. Tanaka also has a shorter online article about Ainu shamanism which you can read here.
"The perverse realities of change: world system incorporation and the Okhotsk culture of Hokkaido" by Mark J. Hudson
I first learned about the female shaman figurines in this article. It's about how the Okhotsk must be viewed as part of the wider economic and political world of medieval Northeast Asia instead of as isolated hunters. Hudson also speculated on changes to women's status over time among the Okhotsk. He noted changes subsistence strategies that came with the Medieval Warm Period, which may have increased women's workload in food processing, perhaps explaining why their health declined relative to men's during this time. Hudson also links the female masked figurine from Rebun Island, which is shown with a bear cub, to an archaeological study that shows juvenile bears were imported from Hokkaido during the Okhotsk period.
"Weaning Age in an Expanding Population: Stable Carbon and Nitrogen Isotope Analysis of Infant Feeding Practices in the Okhotsk Culture (5th-13th Centuries AD) in Northern Japan" by Takumi Tsutaya, Hajime Ishida, and Minoru Yoneda
This was the first article I read about the Okhotsk culture. For awhile I thought I would draw an illustration of an Ainu woman breastfeeding based on this article's findings about age of weaning in the Okhotsk period. However, once I learned about the female shaman figurines, there was no turning back! Still, this makes for a really interesting read, looking at how archaeologists can determine things about women's lives and childrearing decisions.
"Encounter between Cultures from the North and the South - Okhotsk Culture and Satsumon Culture" on Hokkaido Digital Museum
This online exhibit from the Hokkaido Digital Museum has a lot of nice visuals for understanding the Okhotsk and Satsumon cultures. You can even see one of the female figurines there. The Hokkaido Museum also has a digital tour of their exhibit on Hokkaido's history, which includes a section on the Okhotsk culture.
"The Ainu Bear Ceremony" on YouTube
This documentary was made by Neil Munro for the Royal Anthropological Society in 1931. It depicts the full preparations, ceremony, and aftermath of an iomante. Viewer discretion is advised because the film depicts the sacrifice of the bear. I personally skipped that part and instead focused on the dance that the women perform afterwards. At 17:46 the women start dancing to entertain the kamuy. Although this is not dance performed by someone acting in an official capacity as a tusukur, I used it as a model for this illustration. At 18:31 a dance begins which involves the women putting their hands together in a scooping motion. This looks just like the hands on one of the Okhotsk female figurines. That's why I decided to use this part of the video as the model for my illustration. Today, Ainu people performing the iomante do not sacrifice an animal, but instead perform the ceremony to honour animals who die in accidents or bears who die in captivity. Bearskins and bear meat are no longer needed to survive, and brown bear populations are endangered in Japan. That's why even though their legal right to bear sacrifice was restored in 2007, the Ainu no longer do it.
World of Archaeology 7: Okhotsk Culture by Maeda Ushio
This Japanese booklet written for younger readers was the most accessible source I could find about the Okhotsk female sculptures. I used Google Translate to read the Kindle edition, which actually worked pretty well since it was written in a simpler style than an academic paper. This introduction to the Okhotsk culture, framed as a class lesson for cats and dogs, has a chapter on the female figurines. There is even a drawing of all the figurines that have been discovered so far. These drawings were extremely helpful for me in reconstructing what the tusukur might have looked like. Maeda's discussion of the Siberian and Turkic influence on the Okhotsk culture that these figurines demonstrate was very helpful too. Maeda has other work published in Japanese on these figurines which I wasn't able to access but is for sale here.
"The Ainu of Tsugaru: The indigenous history and shamanism of northern Japan" by Sakurako (Sherry) Tanaka
This PhD thesis from the University of British Columbia, published in 2000, was the first ever academic study on the Ainu written by an Indigenous woman. Tanaka explores the history of women's role in shamanism among the Ainu, including in the southernmost extent of their territories in northern Honshu. Her work made for an engrossing read, exploring the changes over time in women's role in Ainu religion as well as regional variation. Most of what I learned about the tusukur came from this paper. Tanaka also has a shorter online article about Ainu shamanism which you can read here.
"The perverse realities of change: world system incorporation and the Okhotsk culture of Hokkaido" by Mark J. Hudson
I first learned about the female shaman figurines in this article. It's about how the Okhotsk must be viewed as part of the wider economic and political world of medieval Northeast Asia instead of as isolated hunters. Hudson also speculated on changes to women's status over time among the Okhotsk. He noted changes subsistence strategies that came with the Medieval Warm Period, which may have increased women's workload in food processing, perhaps explaining why their health declined relative to men's during this time. Hudson also links the female masked figurine from Rebun Island, which is shown with a bear cub, to an archaeological study that shows juvenile bears were imported from Hokkaido during the Okhotsk period.
"Weaning Age in an Expanding Population: Stable Carbon and Nitrogen Isotope Analysis of Infant Feeding Practices in the Okhotsk Culture (5th-13th Centuries AD) in Northern Japan" by Takumi Tsutaya, Hajime Ishida, and Minoru Yoneda
This was the first article I read about the Okhotsk culture. For awhile I thought I would draw an illustration of an Ainu woman breastfeeding based on this article's findings about age of weaning in the Okhotsk period. However, once I learned about the female shaman figurines, there was no turning back! Still, this makes for a really interesting read, looking at how archaeologists can determine things about women's lives and childrearing decisions.
"Encounter between Cultures from the North and the South - Okhotsk Culture and Satsumon Culture" on Hokkaido Digital Museum
This online exhibit from the Hokkaido Digital Museum has a lot of nice visuals for understanding the Okhotsk and Satsumon cultures. You can even see one of the female figurines there. The Hokkaido Museum also has a digital tour of their exhibit on Hokkaido's history, which includes a section on the Okhotsk culture.
"The Ainu Bear Ceremony" on YouTube
This documentary was made by Neil Munro for the Royal Anthropological Society in 1931. It depicts the full preparations, ceremony, and aftermath of an iomante. Viewer discretion is advised because the film depicts the sacrifice of the bear. I personally skipped that part and instead focused on the dance that the women perform afterwards. At 17:46 the women start dancing to entertain the kamuy. Although this is not dance performed by someone acting in an official capacity as a tusukur, I used it as a model for this illustration. At 18:31 a dance begins which involves the women putting their hands together in a scooping motion. This looks just like the hands on one of the Okhotsk female figurines. That's why I decided to use this part of the video as the model for my illustration. Today, Ainu people performing the iomante do not sacrifice an animal, but instead perform the ceremony to honour animals who die in accidents or bears who die in captivity. Bearskins and bear meat are no longer needed to survive, and brown bear populations are endangered in Japan. That's why even though their legal right to bear sacrifice was restored in 2007, the Ainu no longer do it.