Wild Flavors of Japan, Take 3: Hokkaido and the Ainu

 

A Spirit Abides in Everything

The Ainu people, descended from the first humans to set foot on Japan during the Ice Age, believe that every thing on Earth has a spirit. Animals, plants, rocks, mountains, rivers, everything.

I was able to visit their ancient homeland, the northern island of Hokkaido, a few weeks ago. Spring comes late to this beautiful place, and beyond the cherry blossoms snowcapped volcanos overlook stormy seas.  

Volcanos and water: beauty of Hokkaido. I wish I had taken this great photo: you can see it and more about this northeastern section of the island at https://travel.gaijinpot.com/shiretoko-peninsula/

First Peoples of Japan

The Ainu are Japan's only recognized Indigenous group, and some think that they are directly descended from the Jomon Culture that extends back at least 13,000 years. Animals and birds, like the Blakiston's fishing owl shown in this amazing artwork by Ainu sculptor Yuji Yamada, are venerated. 

These magnificent owls are among the largest in the world, and scoop up fish like the bald eagles we are familiar with in North America.

Ainu artwork echoes the spirit of each being, called a kamuy. The exquisite embroidery wrought by women on ceremonial robes captures the flow of wood grains, air, and water.  

This and other artworks are on display at Nibutani, an Ainu community that features art and craft to revitalize the ancient skills, ethos, and values of these people.  

Ainu clothing is designed to protect the wearer from the fierce winters and damp springs and autumns of this island. Some items are made of fur, similar to the Arctic. Other clothing is made of elm bark threads, fish skins, and feathers which are evolved for local conditions. 

This delightful Ainu muppet is wearing slippery elm bark (attus) with decorative embroidery and salmon skin shoes. 

Gratitude and a Sip of Wine

The Ainu told us that before taking any part of an animal or plant, they show respect and gratitude to its kamuy. To harvest elm bark, the tree is first offered a sip of rice wine on a special stick called an ikupasuy. After the bark is removed (sustainably, so the tree survives) the Ainu thank it. 

These intricately carved ikupasuy are cared for at the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka, where I have been working since November. Each year, members of the Ainu village visit these prayer sticks and conduct a ceremony, sponsored by the Museum. The village has given official approval for the sticks to be curated here.  

The forest, in a bowl.

The traditional foods of spring were featured at local Ainu cafes. After touring workshops and museums with my friend Atsushi Nobayashi, I enjoyed a delicious bowl of Japanese-Ainu fusion cuisine: soba noodles in a miso based broth, with wild spring vegetables!

Wild mushrooms, baby bamboo shoots, and a variety of delicate forest ferns, wild garlic, and other greens graced this aromatic soup. The flavor? Like sunshine dappling through forest leaves. The smell of clean earth. Bright and dark, savory. 

To appreciate the ingenuity, spirit, and beauty of Ainu craftsmanship and architecture from afar, a good place to visit is the English language website of the Nibutani community: https://www.nibutani-ainucraft.com/en/. They have created a nice video, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV_dycNJW-8

It's amazing how the Ainu worldview echoes that of some Native cultures of North America. I felt very honored to visit, and I hope you enjoyed this entry! 

It feels fitting, as I near the end of my time here, to learn a little bit from Japan's original culture. Soon, like the salmon celebrated in this carving, I will return home. 

But fear not--more entries about the foods and cultures of Asia are on their way! (Please come back soon!)

Wild Flavors of Japan Take 2: The Original Soul Food

Spring is a beautiful time to forage. 

Just look around the forests, fields, and streams of southern Japan with a knowledgeable eye, and you will see so many wild foods! This lovely lady, who asked us to call her Hirono-san, has gathered wild foods in Kyushu's deep forests and cooked them up into delicious traditional meals since she was a little girl in the 1940s. 

She shared the secrets of forest and garden with me and three anthropologist colleagues at her house outside a tiny village called Nishimera, on the southern island of Kyushu.

Hirono-san with delectable zingy pickles of all kinds. Some of them are wild greens from the forest floor.

Boar Stew

Wild boar roam Kyushu's mountains, and sometimes sneak into gardens and wreak havoc. Hirono-san's husband, who passed away two years ago, was a hunter par excellence. Armed with a rifle, he would walk out into the woods alone to stalk boar and usually came home staggering under the weight of his catch.

The jawbones of wild boar adorn the back porch of Hirono-san's home.

Although her husband is gone now, other hunters who are friends still bring boar to the house. Most of her food is grown, hunted, or gathered wild. Things like salt, sugar, flour, and tea come from town.

Savory, steaming miso boar stew with fresh scallions is just the thing for a cool rainy day. 

In addition to soup, we were treated to sashimi with shiso leaves, rice, a variety of home made pickles, and my favorite, yuzu kosho (柚子胡椒). The rind of the citrus fruit yuzu is fermented with chilis into a pungent, zesty paste to flavor just about anything! It's the golden paste in the middle of the tray, above. 

Fox Spirits 

In the steep, dark mountains surrounding Nishimera are many small isolated shrines. After lunch, we visited an 稲荷神社 (Inari jinja), protected by the kami (god) called Inari. Inari is a popular deity from Japan's ancient pre-Buddhist religion associated with foxes, rice, household wellbeing, and prosperity in business.

Small red torii lead you up the mountain path toward a tiny deity house. 

The trees in these southern forests are simply immense, and several are designated as sacred by the local community. 

A few times, we came across votive offerings left on the forest floor or tucked into a tree crevice. My colleagues advised me to tiptoe away... 

Have you seen Princess Mononoke, the anime film by Miyazaki? (Because you should!) Here, I almost felt I could see the tiny kodama spirits sitting glowing in the shadows. 

The little deity house was filled with wooden carvings of spirit foxes with human faces; the embodiment of the kami Inari.

Some of the carvings were probably several hundred years old.

Futuring with Wild Foods?

It's not hard to get dis-oriented by the extreme contrasts encompassed by Japan; from gigantic, modern, wired metropolises like Osaka and Tokyo, to Kyushu's ancient human-nature connections enshrined in the deep, misty green forests and guarded by fox spirits. 

My favorite picture of Hirono-san. She gave each of us a big jar of her special wild forest honey, as a travelling gift. 

I wonder if, after the apocalypse, the world will be quietly repopulated by the plants and animals in protected places like Kyushu. And the traditional food wisdom of people like this 83-year old woman will be what allows the last humans to survive and re-discover out how to live in harmony with animals and plants.

Science fiction? Maybe not...

In my next installment, we will travel north to Hokkaido's magical landscapes inhabited by the Ainu.