- Kamui Fuchi
Kamui Fuchi is the Ainu "
kamui " ("goddess") of the hearth. Her full name is Apemerukoyan-mat Unamerukoyan-mat ("Rising Fire Sparks Woman/ Rising Cinder Sparks Woman"), and she is sometimes styled Iresu Kamui ("People Teacher"). She is among the most important "kamui" of Ainu mythology, serving as keeper of the gateway between the world of humans and the world of "kamui".Depiction
Kamui Fuchi is a woman who lives in the hearth. Her position is so important that she never leaves her home. Accordingly, the fire in a hearth must never be completely extinguished.Ashkenazy, Michael. "Handbook of Japanese Mythology". Santa Barbara, California: ABC-Clio, 2003. 191-192]
Mythology
There are several myths of Kamui Fuchi's origins. In the most common, she descends from the heavens, accompanied by
Kanna Kamui , the "kamui" of thunder and lightning. In another version, she was born from the fire-producing drill and is the sister ofHash-Inau-uk Kamui , the goddess of the hunt. A third holds that she is the daughter of an elm tree by the prime originatorKandakoro Kamui .Kamui Fuchi instructed Ainu women in the making of "
kut " ("sacred girdles"). For this gift she earned the name "Iresu Kamui" ("People Teacher").She is one of the most powerful "kamui" in Ainu mythology. In one myth, her husband is seduced by
Waka-ush Kamui , the deity of fresh water. Kamui Fuchi, insulted, challenges her rival to a duel of sorcery, from which she emerges victorious with relative ease. Her chastened husband returns home.Kamui Fuchi is a guardian of the home, and also the judge of domestic affairs. Those who pollute a hearth or fail to maintain proper domestic relationships are said to incur her punishment. To aid her in these duties, since she does not leave the hearth, she employs a number of other "kamui", including Mintakoro Kamui, the guardian of a home's premises, and Rukoro Kamui, the "kamui" of the privy.
In addition to being the center of the Ainu household, the hearth was considered a gateway by means of which humans and "kamui" could communicate. It is also the abode of the dead; the Ainu word for "ancestor" translates as "those who dwell in the hearth".
Transmigration is a tenet of Ainu mythology, so it was doubly important for the hearth to be kept pure, because the souls of the departed who lived there would be assigned to new bodies in time.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.
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