Kinship Systems of the Saru Ainu

Abstract

1) The basic unit of the social life of the Saru Valley Ainu is the simple family with patrilocal residence. When a son gets married, he builds near his parent's house a new house of his own, where he takes his bride. When either of a married couple dies, the family is apt to break up. In case of a divorce, the sons follow the father and the daughters the mother. Formerly, therefore, not more than about five persons used to live in a single house. 2) The territorial group kotan, which is the center of their daily life, consists of a number of simple families. The male members of the kotan constitute one or more patrilineal kin groups, called ekashi ikir. While a male belongs to this localized patrilineal group of his father, a female belongs to the non-localized matrilineal group of her mother, called huchi ikir. The most interesting problem in the social systems of the Ainu is the structure and function of these two kin groups. 3) The relationship terms for "elder brother, " "younger brother, " "elder sister" and "younger sister" comprise not only (1) ego's own siblings, but also (2) ego's first parallel cousins, (3) ego's second parallel cousins, (4) spouses of ego's own siblings, (5) siblings of ego's spouse, and (6) spouses of the siblings of ego's spouses. The sibling relationships mean much to the kinship system of the Ainu. While siblings are called shine irwak (same siblings), there is a clear distinction between the kinships through the male shine irwak (brothers) and those through the female shine irwak (sisters). Brothers are called shine onaha epeka ir-utar (siblings to the same father), which relationship comprises not only ego's own brothers, but is extended to ego's male first and second parallel cousins on the paternal side. Male patrilineal descendants of a male ancestor, from the fourth generation downwards, are shine ekashi esap utar (kin descended from the same ancestor) to each other. On the other hand, sisters are called shine unuhu epeka ir-utar (siblings to the same mother). This relationship term comprises not only ego's own sisters, but also ego's female first and second parallel cousins on the maternal side. Female matrilineal descendants of a female ancestor, from the fourth generation downwards, are shine huchi esap utar (kin descended from the same female ancestor). 4) The socioogical blolod ties of the Saru Ainu are divided into (1) the patrilineal kin (ekashi ikir) of males descended from a common male ancestor and (2) the matrilineal kin (huchi ikir) of females descended from a common female ancestor. The former is symbolized by the same itokpa (ancestral crest) and the right to the same pase-onkami (principal worship of deities), both of which are transmitted from father to son. The latter is symbolized by the same form of the upshor (sash worn around the waist under the clothes, s. figs. on p.69), which is transmitted from mother to daughter. As the ekashi ikir consists of males only who have inherited the same itokpa and paseonkami, and excludes females, it is identical neither with a patrilineal clan nor patri-lineage. Similarly, the huchi ikir is not a matrilineal clan, as it consists of females only who have inherited the same form of upshor, excluding all male relatives. 5) With the Saru Ainu, patrilineal descent (ekashi santek) and matrilineal descent (huchi santek) are not combined in the same way as in the case of double descent. In other words, they are not assigned to the same individual simultaneously, but are applied to males and females respectively. The ekashi ikir does not consist of pure blood relatives only, as it may adopt a male of another lineage into one of its families. On the contrary, the hnchi ikir consists of probable blood relatives, as it very rarely adopts a female of another lineage. It consists only of the shine

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