[Japan] Ainu Language - sound clips

[slipthejab]

Here's an interesting bit I came across...

Ainu language sound clips (http://ramat.ram.ne.jp/ainu/)

The people in Japan long before the people we today think of as Japanse arrived. Here's the Wiki on the Ainu peoples:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ainu_people

Let me know your thoughts. :)



Ainu Beauty Mark

The Ainu people of Japan traditionally tattooed mustaches on their daughters by rubbing soot into small knife cuts. “It is begun with a small semicircle on the upper lip when the girl is only two or three years of age and a few incisions are added every year till she is married,” read an 1893 account of the practice, banned by the government around the turn of the century. More effective than law, though, was assimilation. The aborignial Ainu lived as far north as the Kuril Islands before most were forced to relocate to densely populated Hokkaido. That plus intermarriage with ethnic Japanese helped tattooed mustaches fall out of favor.

This photograph, taken in 1922, was never published.

[Gajah Silat]

I remember doing a case study on them way back in my anthroplogy days.
I think it was to do with commoditisation of culture to ensure cultural survival.......... :confused: If I remember correctly they started marketing themselves as 'tourist attractions' in the '80's as a way to preserve and empower their culture.


The Ainu have been seeking recognition as an Indigenous People of Japan in order to protect their distinct culture and increase sensitivity to the historical injustices done them. Until recently, the Japanese government had not officially recognized the existence of an Indigenous People. Instead, the government characterized the Ainu as an ethnic minority group and asserted that, as individuals only, the Ainu were entitled to equal protection under the Japanese constitution. Accordingly, the government denied collective Aboriginal rights to the Ainu. It was not until 1997 that a Japanese law giving official recognition to Ainu language and culture was passed.

The Ainu's treatment by mainstream Japanese society closely parallels that of the original inhabitants of the United States, and, despite their geographic separation, a similar historical treatment closely connects Native Americans and the Ainu. For example, members of both collectives were removed from their ancestral lands by acts of government, both faced overwhelming pressure to assimilate, and both continue to suffer discrimination. This Special Project of Cultural Survival will be an excellent opportunity to bring two indigenous groups together to share and discuss current challenges faced in this new millennium.

Lots of links here :)
http://www.workingdogweb.com/Ainu.htm

[nzproud]

Interesting. thanks for this article about Ainu people. I have been seeking this info in the past.

[slipthejab]

Funny how these sort of offbeat threads come back up from time to time. Sometimes even I go 'Oooh! Look! Someones posted something interesting!' and then I realizes it's me!! :p :bang: