Ainu Folklore: Tradition and Culture of the Vanishing Aborigines of Japan (1949)
Title page. A lot of the book is a comparison of Ainu legends to sections of the Bible.
The author brings up a topic and then discusses it.
Here it differs from the Christian explanation.
What is most interesting is that the Ainu thought the world was round. It would be interesting to know if this was a later addition to their beliefs (after they had been told by others that the world was round) or if it is an original belief of theirs.
This isn't what it appears to be at first. The dog and the goddess did not do anything physical with each other. The original clothing was made from threads obtained from bark, not the fig leaves in the Bible version.
One legend has mankind being made from wood rather than the dust of the earth.
Why women and men are not equal.
A son of diety taught the Ainu many things. This resembles the idea in many cultures that some one or some group of people who were highly advanced taught the earliest members of a race many things. This being or beings were always from an advanced culture. This is where a lot of the legend of what happened to the people of Atlantis and Lemuria come into play.
One of the more unusual beliefs. This is actually used in a Japanese drama called the Amazing Deer-Man. It's a really neat series, despite the title.
There is one incredibly interesting point here. The Law of Contact is actually something that is being accepted in modern-day physics, that two objects that have been in touch can still have an effect on each other once separated. This is on an atomic level, though, but still it's similar. It's this type of thing that hints at the possibility of an ancient race on the earth that was highly advanced scientifically, but was destroyed and the survivors carried what information they had saved out to other less-developed people.
They believe they can use magic to control the weather. Various other uses of magic are discussed. The book then goes into a discussion of the Ainu and Japanese kami, or gods/goddesses. Numerous specific examples are given of this.
Then the author talks about a divine being-in-the flesh named Kurumi. Here are two similarities between Kurumi and Christ.
The next section goes into the legend of 'daughters of man marrying sons of gods.' Specific examples of this in Ainu legend are covered. This is just one of the examples given.
The next section is about virgin births. Again, this is but one example of many in the chapter.
The next chapter is about how the gods control things in the environment. This was, of course, common to almost all, if not all, early spiritual systems.
The Ainu took slaves in battle. The chapter also discusses the legends of how various gods and goddesses helped the Ainu in battle. The chapter after that discusses how the Ainu gods healed the sick and raised the dead.
Immortality of the soul.
The Ainu concept of heaven and hell.
Divine revelations given to the Ainu. Another chapter talks about Ainu men who were incredibly strong.
Another reference to the dwarf race, but also a reference to a race of giants. This is also duplicated in Christian mythology as to a 'race of giants' in the old days.
Main Index
Japan main page
Japanese-American Internment Camps index page
Japan and World War II index page
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