Iomante

, sometimes written as is an Ainu ceremony of Hokkaido and Sakhalin in which a hand-raised brown bear cub is ceremonially killed, under the notion that the soul merely returns to its god-world (). The physical body of the bear god is considered to be only his "disguise" () and the pelt and meat harvested are accepted as gifts that the god has left in gratitude for the ceremonious hospitality it received.

The term in some circles is used in the narrow sense of this elaborate ceremony of "sending" fostered animals (hand-raised bear cubs), as opposed to more general "bear sendings (), and the simpler rite performed for the bear or other game animals taken in the wild may be referred to as or .

The iomante can technically apply to other animals such as owls (e.g. Blakiston's fish owl or Template:Translit), foxes, and raccoon dogs for special rites, and the Ainu home (chise) does accommodate for setting up the nurusan (god-food or offering area) for these animals.Template:Refn

Nomenclature

The term (also styled iyomante Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp) derives from ( 'that') + ('go, send to mountain') + 'make do something', a causative suffix), thus meaning "to make that go", hence "to send it".Template:Sfnp

Technically, the term can generally apply to any game or prey, such as foxes, raccoon dogs, or owls (cf. Template:Section link).Template:Refn

While John Batchelor (1901) glossed "iyomande" as "sacrifice", but he takes pains to explain this translation superficially transmits less than the meaning the Ainu has given it, noting that it is not "sacrifice to [other] gods, but an offering to the victim [, the bear] himself".Template:Sfnp The meaning of the sending (that the corporeal body is an outer "disguise" that the bear-god can shed, and the disguise which consists of meat and hide is accepted by the people as a reward from the bear god in return for the hospitality given it) is better explained below.

Often, or at least in certain areas,Template:Refn the term iomante is reserved strictly to the "sending" that is performed during the special ritual that involves the bear raised in captivity, while the term or is used for the more informal sending ritual performed on the bear (or other animals such as owlsTemplate:Sfnp) killed at the hunting ground.Template:Sfnp hopunire derives from 'buttocks' + 'buttocks' + (causative suffix), hence "to cause it to be lifted, or cause it to start off and leave".

In the modern era, iomante generally refers to the sending performed on the brown bear, the only bear native to Hokkaido where the Ainu people were all eventually driven.Template:SfnpTemplate:Efn

Also, when sending rather trivial small creatures, the term might be use.Template:Sfnp Although iwakte normally refers to the rite of sending off the soul of broken tools or vessels, the sending of a squirrel or hare may be called an iwakte.

Practice

File:Iomante3.JPG

circa 1930

A bear cub is captured and raised in its pen or cage, until the ceremony of iomante, in which it is ritually killed.Template:Sfnp However, the "bear god" (his soul, cf. below) is merely considered to have returned to his god-world (),Template:Sfnp and his carnal body being merely his outer shell (or "disguise", called in Ainu)Template:Sfnp the pelt and meat for food that is harvested is interpreted to be a gift from the bear god in exchange for the ceremonious hospitality it receives at homeTemplate:Sfnp or in the iomante ceremony.Template:Sfnp

It is brought to the center of the village, tied to a post with the rope. The men in the village then take shots at the cub with blunted ceremonial arrows, and eventually slaughtered. The bear is skinned, and the meat is distributed amongst the villagers. Its bare skull is dressed in flowery wood-shavings (inau-kikeTemplate:Sfnp), placed on a pole, which is then dressed up (or sometimes wrapped in the bear's own fur). This "doll" is an object of worship for the villagers. The bear has now been "sent off".Template:Sfnp

Capture, caging, raising

As winter ends around February, a bear cub is captured from the open field, or having been born during its mother's hibernation. The mother bear is killed, and the cub is brought back to the village to be raised in captivity.Template:Sfnp In the beginning, it is raised like a human child indoors, and even breast-fed before it teethedTemplate:Sfnp After it is weaned and grows larger, it is moved to a cage barred with logs (also called a "pen") known as (where heper meaning "very young" refers to the cub being raisedTemplate:Sfnp). It is treated with high-quality food as behooves a guest,Template:Refn practically meals fit for humans. The fostering lasts usually until it reaches 1, 2 , or up to 3 yearsTemplate:Sfnp of age.Template:RefnTemplate:Refn

When the bear-sending festival season arrives, it is taken out of its cage (sometimes poured sake (grain alcohol) as symbolic of farewell).Template:Sfnp Thus a specialized cord called the {{Refn|According to a source this cord is woven from [[nettle] (Template:Langx)Template:Sfnp}} is dangled from between the log bars, and when the loop (or three ropesTemplate:Sfnp) snags around the neck, and the bear is bound in tasuki fashion,Template:EfnTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp then the lower logs are dislodged, so that the cub can be led out.Template:Sfnp

Festival grounds

The festival grounds are typically set up right outside a home.Template:Sfnp The coaxing of the bear cub out its cage may be conducted before the audience at the festival ground. The woman clap to rhythm raucously but melancholically,Template:Sfnp singing the ' (festival song) and dancing the to entertain the bear.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp After the bear is bound, it is made to wear a (literally "apron", and described as straw cape-like, but actually woven together into a sort of netting from wood-shavings, with decorated cloth called sewn ont it){{Refn|One source describes it in short hand as being like a straw cape (mino), but explains that in Ainu the term means apron, and details the material used, etc.Template:Sfnp The sending an owl, also involves making the bird wear a ponpake, which is similarly described (as woven from wood shavings, with beautifully patterned cloth sewn onto it). Another earlier source states the bear is given a sleeveless pretty garment to wear.Template:Sfnp}

The bear cub is brought to the open square, and tethered to a stake driven into the ground.Template:SfnpTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Efn The stake is referred to as a a "club-tree" Template:RefnTemplate:Refn The tip of the snake is decorated with inau wood-shavings.Template:SfnpTemplate:Refn

Ceremonial arrow-shooting and slaying

Then comes the phase in the ceremony where blunted ceremonial arrows referred to as in Japanese and are shot at the bear.Template:SfnpTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp These arrows have wooden hooks attached to the tip so that they may penetrate skin but only lightly. The arrowhead is dyed black and carved with intaglio patterns. Also silk-cloth (saranpe) might be tied to it.Template:Sfnp If the ceremony arrows happen to stick, it is swept off using a bamboo grass switch or broom (Template:Sfnp). This portion lasts till sunset, and since both people and animal are exhausted, the bear is led back to the stake to rest.Template:Sfnp Slaughter involves crushing it to death by clasping its neck between two or more logs.Template:SfnpTemplate:Refn This killing contraption is called ("manytimes-choking-tree").Template:Refn Especiallyif the cub's size has become too unwieldy, an adept elder is chosen to shoot it through the heart with a real arrow.Template:SfnpTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp Batchelor (1901) withnessed some of the hardiest men engage in drinking the warm blood, apparently to have courange imparted on them.Template:Sfnp When the slaughter is over, someone shoots an arrow in the sky signaling the end.Template:Sfnp The girl who had been assigned to raise the bear is known to cry out in grief.Template:Sfnp

The brown bear is then butchered so the meat can eventually be served,Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp (though the actual feasting on the meat takes place the next day, on the ("great feast").Template:Sfnp

Offering-place

On the festival grounds, the nusasan ("god-food place", "god's altar") is set up where special inau wood-shaving sticks are propped up, and laid out with (ornamental mat).Template:Refn Various offerings from Template:Illm (), quiver (), (breast-ornament or necklace), armor, and (vessels, lacquerware).Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp Also food items such as (dumplings made from milletTemplate:Refn or nowadays rice flour),Template:Refn dried fish, together with ceremonial arrows are bound together inside a rolled-up ornamental mat,Template:Refn so that the god can shoulder it as a take-home gift ().Template:Sfnp Batchelor learned the name of the take-home gifts to be ("remembrance from the feast") and describes it as strung-up millet cakes.Template:Sfnp

The bear is laid flat, and arrows or quivers filled with dried salmon () is hung around the neck, and the ponpake apron is laid atop it. Alchoholic drink (traditionally millet brewTemplate:Sfnp) is offered in a (tall goblet).Template:EfnTemplate:SfnpTemplate:RefnTemplate:Refn

Walnut-tossing

In the modern-day iomante, after the bear has been slaughtered, there occurs the event of so-called "walnut-tossing",Template:Sfnp (which from the obvious similarity to Template:Illm "mochi tossing" done at shrines), can be seen as the product of contact bewteen Ainu and Japanese cultures.Template:Sfnp

In the bear-sending performed at Template:Illm, Tokachi Subprefecture, after the bear is slaughtered some men climb atop the cage and throw walnuts and chestnuts to the crowd. And during the ceremony in Suwankotan formerly of Nishibetsu, Template:Illm (now part of Shibecha, Kushiro Subprefecture), after the bear is butchered, the elders throw walnuts and think cuts of dried salmon, which the people vie with each other to collect. A 1920s book also records the distributing of walnuts and mikan oranges.Template:Sfnp

A much older record survives in (aka )'s painting that chestnuts and kibi (millet or perhap rice cake).{{Refn|Template:Langx (Cf. Template:Section link).

Overall flow after slaughter

There follows the process of trying to remove the fleshed head from the entire fur-pelt with the head part still attached. That head is then "cleaned"Template:Refn The skull () is then taken indoors to have Template:Efn (decorating the skull, explained further under Template:Section link), after which the skull is moved out through the "window of gods"Template:Refn and affixed to a pole, which propped up in the decorated nusasan (god-offering) area. Now the hopunire (sending) of the head (marat) is considered complete, and the ceremonial part of the iomante is virtually done as well,Template:RefnTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp with the carousels to follow until the third night.Template:Sfnp

Un-memke

The skull decorating or un-memke is typically performed indoors in front of the altar, but may be performed outdoors at the (the bear's nusasanTemplate:Refn)Template:Sfnp with wood-shavings or ({{nihogno|kezuri-bana|削り花|extra=Template:Lit. "shaving flower") done on it. Cavities like the eye-sockets are filled with these,Template:Sfnp and other decor is made, differing depending on the region.Template:SfnpTemplate:Refn

It is noted that some pieces of skin or flesh may remain on the skull which will eventually decay away after it is propped up on display (cf. below), but as illustrations show, the bear's ears remain attached,Template:Harvp and this is deliberately done so in some regions. Thus in the aforementioned Suwankotan hamlet, it had been customary to leave the snout portion beyond the eyes intact on the skull, until this was discontinued due to mercantile reasons of preserving the hide's fetch price. But the custom of keeping the ears intact has remained. Furthermore, a film of subcutaneous connective tissue is crafted into a torii-shaped (Π shaped) ribbon, and is then wound in shavings, to form a ("gift rope") for carrying his takehome gifts back.Template:Sfnp

The skull is placed in front of the hearth, and here too offerings are made: necklace, shito dumplings, bows (), decorated sword (emus), etc. The sapanpe Template:Efn or ritual crown used by the elder may also be offered, and the final farewell prayer is pronounced.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp A portion of the foodstuff such as the shito dumplings, the clouded sake (tonoto), and meshi (roughly speaking, "rice") Template:Refn has been set aside specifically for offerings, and separated from what people are allowed to consume.Template:Sfnp

When the decorating is done, the skull is moved out through "window of gods" or "spirit window" (Template:Refn), and affixed securely to the (Template:Lit. "bear head mounting tree".),Template:Sfnp or ("pole for sending away") Template:Refn

The skull and pole might then get "dressed up" by having the ponpake cape/apron suspended from the head, Template:Sfnp or be made to wear a (embroidered dress).Template:Refn

Interpretations

The bear god when freshly slaughtered still has his soul () abiding (usually "between the ears"), and this must be separated and released for its passage back home to the gods dominion (Template:Sfnp), and this is the purpose of the festival.Template:Sfnp The religious interpretation is that the god assumes the guise of a brown bear to visit the human world, and after receiving hospitality for a time from the humans, the humans conduct a parting farewell carousel, to send him back to the god world. The flesh and hide gained from the slaughter is considered the god's parting gift, and reward for the iomante which was the act of humans entertaining the god.Template:Sfnp As for the take-home gift for the bear god (heper-shike), this was already discussed above. The ceremonial "flower-arrows" are also part of the gift, and according to Ainu belief, when these arrows are swatted down with the takusa broom and broken into shaft and point, the soul of the arrow is separated, and becomes able to be taken to the kamui world.Template:Sfnp

There is also the interpretation that when the bear god is entertained in this way, he is encouraged to return once again (or otherwise come under its auspices ), and the Ainu people are blessed with plentiful hunting harvest.Template:Refn

So the gift to the bear-god is in part a bribe to induce its return (or blessing). In fact, during the iomante, the reciting of the yukar is deliberately interrupted at climactic spot, in order that the frustrated god will return to hear the rest of it.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp

Similar Template:Illm rites are known among the hunter people of the taiga terrain of the Eurasian polar regions, such as the Nivkh people around Sakhalin.

The prefectural government of Hokkaido issued a notification signed by the governor in 1955 that declared iomante a "savage rite", that de facto banned the practiece. The notification was revoked in April2007.。

Progress of the rite

The shogunate official pen named painted annotated with inscriptions. This is perhaps the oldest documentary attestation to "iomante".Template:Sfnp

The painting has been recopied many times over by a number of artists (including the 1807 held by the Tokyo National Museum).Template:Sfnp

It contains 5 scenes relating to the bear-sending ceremony:Template:Sfnp

• Inau-making and people surrounding the caged cub (cf. Fig (1) below, Brooklyn Museum copy)
• Cub being shot with flower-arrows
• Cub being choked by logs (cf. Fig. (4) below, Hakodate Library copy of 1847)

The inscription states that chestnuts and millets (or rice cakes) were cast at the gathered Ainu crowd.Template:SfnpTemplate:Refn and also that the bear's caretaker-woman tumbles to ground in tears.Template:Refn

• Arranging the bear on the altar and offering prayer (Fig. (5) British Museum copy of 1850-80).Template:Refn
• Banquet inviting Japanese officialsTemplate:Refn

• Scenes from the Ceremony
• (1) Preparations. An elder shaving the inu, the women preparing sake. On the left villagers surround the caged bear and lamenting their parting.
  (1) Preparations. An elder shaving the inu, the women preparing sake. On the left villagers surround the caged bear and lamenting their parting.
• (2) Coaxing the caged bear out by a leash, to the ceremony grounds. The bear's keeper woman follows.
  (2) Coaxing the caged bear out by a leash, to the ceremony grounds. The bear's keeper woman follows.
• (3) Bear tied to stake, and shot with the heper-ai (the blunted "cub-arrows"). A 1914 photo.
  (3) Bear tied to stake, and shot with the heper-ai (the blunted "cub-arrows"). A 1914 photo.
• (4) Bear choked between logs to release its soul from its body.
  (4) Bear choked between logs to release its soul from its body.
• The bear's pelt and flesh already separated from its soul is laid out on the shrine altar, with offerings of sake, inau, prayer, etc. After this, the skull will be propped up in the nusasan areaTemplate:Efn and magnificently decorated with inau.Template:Efn
  The bear's pelt and flesh already separated from its soul is laid out on the shrine altar, with offerings of sake, inau, prayer, etc. After this, the skull will be propped up in the nusasan areaTemplate:Efn and magnificently decorated with inau.Template:Efn
• The festivities after the iomante. The villagers regale themselves in carousal and dance. At the head seat (kamiza) nearest the altar sits the shihainin (manager) of the Template:Illm commerce center. An Ainu-e by Template:Illm (1875).
  The festivities after the iomante. The villagers regale themselves in carousal and dance. At the head seat (kamiza) nearest the altar sits the shihainin (manager) of the Template:Illm commerce center. An Ainu-e by Template:Illm (1875).

Non-bear sending

As for iomante conducted on animals other than the bear, sending of the (Blakiston's fish owl, 'guardian of the community') is held to be of importance in certain areas.

Owl-sending is also known as .Template:Sfnp and the sending of Blakiston's fish owl (Template:Translit) in particular has been designated .

Also there is iomante conducted for the orca ( 'god of far sea').Template:Sfnp The brown bear, the kotan-guarding owl, and the orca which are honored with the iomante ceremony are considered to be kamuy of higher order.

Early history and origins

On the origins of iomante, scholar Takao Ikeda (2000) recently wrote a survey on the various theories by scholars.

Template:Illm (1974) proposed the theory that iomante was introduced from the medieval Okhotsk culture (until 13th cent.). (Cf. Template:Section link)

Whereas Template:Illm (1989) delivered the opinion that while the simpler forms of bear-sending is archaeologically evidenced in skulls found at 15th (or 14th) century sending sites, the "iomante in the stricter sense" (cub-fostering type) probably didn't develop until the latter half of the 18th century, so the older culture cannot be directly linked.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp

Ainu history professor Kazuyuki Nakamura assessed that the iomante ceremony was already established in the time before Shakushain's revolt, (1669),Template:Refn since an altercation developed between Shakushain and another chief Template:Illm over whether the former was willing to part with one of the two bear cubs he obtained.Template:Sfnp

Early recorded instances where the Ezo people conducted an iomante type bear-sending occurred is documented in Template:Illm's and Sakakura GenjirōTemplate:Efn's , stating the Ainu fostered the bear by having woman suckle the cub, slaughtering within the year, and holding a banquet. However, these Edo Period Japanese writers regarded them as strictly a venal enterprise to fatten the cub to harvest its meat and gall bladder, so the sending aspect is not clearly elaborated.Template:Sfnp Perhaps the earliest explicit mention of iomane occurs in the in Hata Awakimaro's followed by Ezo-shima kikan (1799) already detailed above.Template:Sfnp。

An overlooked piece of evidence according to Template:Illm is the mention that iomante was being conducted by the Ainu in Kitashiretoko Peninsula, Karafuto (present day Cape Patience, Sakhalin) which occurs in the 1643 voyage logs of Maarten Gerritszoon Vries.。

Okhotsk derivation theory

Due to the lack of archaeological evidence in Satsumon culture strata (until 1200 CE) for any sending rite ceremonies among the Ainu in Japan, there has developed the view that the simpler sending (hopunire) and iomante was probably transmitted from the Okhotsk culture (of the period to 13th century), which is associated with the Nivkh people, indirectly via the Tobinitai culture. There certainly was a cultural transmission, and the change from earthenware to metalware usage marked the advent of the so-called "Ainu Culture", dated to approximately the 1450–1667 period,Template:Sfnp and while it may be possible that a field-type sending rite might have been transmitted in that time fram, iomante in the narrower sense of "cub-fostering type sending" is not evident untile the so-called "New Ainu Culture" age (from later half of 18th century), Udagawa has argued one cannot establish a direct connection,Template:Sfnp with some other explanation needed to bridge the gap.

Jōmon culture derivation theory

Another hypothesis is that the wild boar rites conducted during the Jōmon period eventually evolved into a sending rite for bears (archaeologist Template:Illm).

Another archaeologist, Template:Illm (1995) already floated the idea that pork-farming was transmitted from the Mohe people (Template:Translit) on the Asian continent, and this eventually developed in to bear-raising and bear ceremony.Template:Refn

Reconstruction of the past

It is believed that in the past, iomante could be performed to send back the kamui of any prey animal hunted and killed.Template:Sfnp In particular, even though the iomante has generally become associated with sending brown bears (which dwell in Hokkaido), when the Ainu still lived in parts of the Honshu mainland they could have only hunted the Asian black bear (tsukinowa guma), and that bear species must have been used .Template:Sfnp

Legality

Hokkaido encouraged local governments to abolish the Iomante in 1955, but the circular notice was abolished in April 2007, because the Ministry of the Environment of Japan announced that animal ceremonies were generally regarded as an exception of the animal rights law of Japan in October 2006.

Museum displays

Iomante videos and artifacts are on display at the Nibutani Ainu Culture Museum in Nibutani, Hokkaidō, as well as the Ainu Museum in Shiraoi-cho, Hokkaidō.

Audiovisual resources

• Hokkaido University Botanical Gardens has in its archives on the northern people a footage of bear-sending made by Hokkaido University during the pre-war period when it was called an Imperial University.
• A 1977 bear-sending in Nibutani conducted under the supervision of Kayano Shigeru was filmed by folklorist Template:Illm under the title .
• In January 1985, Kawakami District revived the iomante after a 29-year hiatus, whose footage was published in laser disc format unde the title (Victor Company of Japan).

See also

• Peijaiset, a bear sacrifice ritual of Finland
• Template:Illm, a looser terminology of the sacrificial/dedicatory rite
• Template:Illm, a 1950 popular song composed by Yūji Koseki
• Clan of the Cave Bear, a novel about a prehistoric society centred on a similar sacrifice
• Bear worship

References

Bibliography

• Template:Cite thesis