Tradition · East Asian
Ainu Religion
The faith of the Ainu, Japan’s Indigenous people, in which animals are gods visiting the human world.
c. 1200 CE → · Hokkaido and Sakhalin · East Asian
Ainu tradition holds that kamuy, gods, visit the human world in the form of animals, plants and fire. The Iomante ceremony sent a bear’s spirit home with gifts. Japan recognised the Ainu as an Indigenous people in 2019.
Key figures
- Kamuy, the gods and spirits
- Kamuy Fuchi, goddess of the hearth
- The bear as a visiting god
Texts
- Yukar epics
- Oral tradition
Beliefs
- Animals are gods visiting in disguise
- The hearth fire speaks with the gods
- Respect sends spirits home to return again
Rituals
- Iomante, sending back the bear spirit
- Inau carved prayer sticks
- Hearth prayers
Grew from
Connections in the atlas
- Koropokkur
- The swan maiden
- The first humans made from clay