Kamui

Kamui or Kamuy is the Ainu word for a spiritual or divine being in Ainu mythology.

Concept

In concept, kamui are similar to the Japanese "kami" — the term is sometimes translated as "god" or "divine spirit", but these translations may miss some of the nuances of the term.Ashkenazy, Michael. "Handbook of Japanese Mythology". Santa Barbara, California: ABC-Clio, 2003. 187-188] Kamui are numerous; some are delineated and named, such as Kamui Fuchi the hearth goddess, while others are not. Kamui often have very specific associations — for instance, there is a kamui of the undertow.

Personified deities of Ainu mythology often have the term "Kamui" applied as part of their names.

Oral history

The Ainu had no writing system of their own, and much of Ainu mythology was passed down as oral history in the form of "kamui yukar" ("deity epics"), long verses traditionally recounted by singers at a gathering. Each "kamui yukar" recounts a deity's or hero's adventures, usually in the first person, and some of them are of great length, containing as many as 7,000 verses.Etter, Carl. "Ainu Folklore: Traditions and Culture of the Vanishing Aborigines of Japan". Chicago: Wilcox and Follett, 1949. 53] Some "yukar" contradict each other, assigning the same events to different deities or heroes; this is primarily a result of the Ainu culture's organization into small, relatively isolated groups.Ashkenazy, Michael. "Handbook of Japanese Mythology". Santa Barbara, California: ABC-Clio, 2003. 68] Records of these poems began to be kept only in the late 19th century, by Western missionaries and Japanese ethnographers; however, the Ainu tradition of memorizing the "yukar" preserved many.

ome notable kamui

*Ae-oina Kamui, a culture hero who taught humans the domestic arts
*Apasam Kamui, kamui of the threshold
*Chikap Kamui, also called Kotonkor Kamui, god of owls and the land
*Chup Kamui, goddess of the sun
*Hash-Inau-uk Kamui or Hash-uk Kamui, goddess of the hunt
*Kamui Fuchi, goddess of the hearth
*Kandakoro Kamui, the prime originator, god of the sky
*Kenash Unarabe, a blood-drinking monster who preys upon hunters
*Kim-un Kamui, god of bears
*Kinashut Kamui, god of snakes
*Moshirikara Kamui, creator of the earth
*Nusakoro Kamui, messenger to the gods and representative of the dead
*Pauchi Kamui, an evil spirit responsible for insanity
*Repun Kamui, the killer whale, god of the sea
*Shiramba Kamui, god of wood, grains, and vegetation
*Waka-ush Kamui, goddess of fresh water
*Yushkep Kamui, the spider goddess
*Kotan koru Kamui, the God that Protects the Village. Literally the giant owl of Hokkaido and the Russian Far East known as Blakiston's Fishowl "Ketupa blakistoni". This owl nests in mature deciduous trees in riparian woodlands, in the same areas that many Ainu settlements were situated. its voice would have been one of the common night sounds for Hokkaido Ainu.
*Sarurun Kamui, the God of the Marshes. Literally the spectacular Red-crowned Crane "Grus japonensis", which lives in the wetland habitats of east Hokkaido and southern Sakhalin. Other species of resident and migratory birds are also given the name Kamui.

ee also

*Kami

Notes

References

*Ashkenazy, Michael. "Handbook of Japanese Mythology". Santa Barbara, California: ABC-Clio, 2003.
*Etter, Carl. "Ainu Folklore: Traditions and Culture of the Vanishing Aborigines of Japan". Chicago: Wilcox and Follett, 1949.
*Munro, Neil Gordon. "Ainu Creed and Cult". New York: Columbia University Press, 1995.