At the time of the bear festival, which dates back to the pre-Christian age, a bear is symbolically (and sometimes even really) killed. Then, after being beheaded, it is reborn symbolically and its resurrection is celebrated. In Siberia and in Japan, among the Ainus and other people who practice shamanism like the Inuits, the bear is also sacrificed. Prehistoric religions must have celebrated this anthropomorphic animal, and the bear has become, so to speak, an “idol”. Medieval European literature retain many traces of ancient rituals and myths, and many literary texts evoke the mythical figure of the bear (in particular, the famous King Arthur whose name means ‘the bear’in all Celtic languages). The com bat of the knight against the giant constitutes a recurrent motif, and this combat always ends with the ritual beheadding of the giant and with the solemn exhibition of his head. We know that the Celts had a ritual built around the decapitated head, and this Celtic ritual of exposing human skulls can be compared to similar rituals of exposing bears’ skulls. Originally, it must have represented the same cultural practice, which could date back to the prehistoric period. In fact, the Ainus conserve the skull of the immolated bear as a talisman, while the Eskimos use it for their shamanic dances. The bear’s skull becomes a ”mask“ in the latter case. The motif of the decapitated head survived in the Middle Ages in a number of stories belonging to hagiographic legends. In this kind of story, having been beheaded, the saint picks up his decapitated head, and goes home as if nothing happened. In the list of this type of saint prepared by Pierre Saintyves, some names meaning ‘the bear’ can be observed. So, we can see that, in the Occidental Christian hagiography, there is a mythical theme of the beheadding of a bear. Probably, we should view the persistant cult of “relics” in Christianity, in connection with this ancient ritual of the head conserved from a sacred animal or creature. Most likely, the bear is considered a symbolic object and rich in anthropological meaning due to the way its head compares to the human skull. Moreover, the skull of the bear permits us to distinguish three stages in the constitution of an anthropological metaphor of the sacred: “relic”, “idol” and “mask”. That’s why, analogically, and through the bear, human beings associated this relation with the sacred and with myth.

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Throughout the years from 1907 to 1945 when the Japanese were allowed to catch fish (mainly salmons) on the Russian/Soviet coast in the Northern Pacific, the Japan-made/Japanese-type fishing boats were used not only in Japanese fishing places but also in Russian/ Soviet fishing places. As the first factor for using Japanese fishing boats, Japanese fishing boats were suited for pulling the boats up to the sandy beaches of Kamchatka because of their flat-bottom. Secondly, until 1932 many Japanese were employed in the Russian/ Soviet fishing places in Kamchatka, and of course Japanese fishermen were accustomed to the Japan-made/Japanese-type fishing boats. Japanese names for Japanese fishing boats have been handed down among the society of indigenous people of Kamchatka, such as “san-pan”, “kawasaki”, “isabunka”. Besides, it was said that “kungas” is the name for one of Japanese fishing boats, however, “kungas” is a Russian word originally meaning a small sailboat of the Far East. Why did people apply the Russian word “kungas” for one of the fishing boats made in Japan or Japanese-type fishing boat in Kamchatka? “Hyotan-pan” is one of the popular dry confectionaries, gourd-shaped (hyotan means gourd in Japanese), similar to baked cookies. Various dry confections including hyotan-pan , biscuits and cookies that were carried on board to fishing places of Kamchatka and were served as celebratory food at celebrations such as their first catch or autumn close of their fishing place. Also these confections were presented to children of indigenous people who visited Japanese fishing places. It may be said that memories of sweets may have helped to give a desirable image of Japanese among indigenous society. In this paper I would like to examine the nature of relationship between the Japanese and indigenous people of Kamchatka by focusing on typical and heterogeneous Japanese materials :“Kungas” and “Hyotan-pan”.

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Reindeer pastoralism is one of the typical forms of pastoralism in the world. However, information about reindeer pastoralism, especially the taiga type has been poorly reported in the past. In this article, the author presents data for reindeer husbandry, herding methods, techniques and usage observed at Tsaatan’s autumn camp in the Northwestern part of Mongolia. Reindeer are milked twice a day in stakes and their forefeet are bound. Reindeer milk is drunk with tea and processed into dairy products such as cheese, butter and yogurt. Reindeer are put out to graze on a daily basis. The three phases of grazing are talie the reindeer to the pasture, leave them, herd and retrieve them. At about 9:00 in the morning, reindeer are put into pair bonds and taken to the pasture by 2 or 3 herders. Reindeer are left at a certain area in the pasture and set free to graze for about 10 hours. At about 19:00, the pairs of reindeer dispersed around the pasture field are herded and brought back to the camp site. The “retrieve” phase of grazing takes about 1.5 times as long as the “take” phase of grazing. Reindeer are lead to the pasture or the camp site through different stimuli such as approaching the reindeer silently, using different kinds of voices, whistling and hitting them with sticks.　All of the stimuli induce the reindeer to escape. Reindeer can also be lured in by salt when trying to stake them. The Tsaatan ride reindeer for traveling short distances; stock herding, berry picking, firewood collecting, fishing and visits to the neighbors. Reindeer are also used as beasts of burden to transport firewood for daily use and belongings when people move their residence. As a whole, Tsaatan’s reindeer are highly tamed. However, they need to be in stakes at night and graze in pair bonds. This may be due to their high activity and low cohesiveness.

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This paper is a note on how the Japanese settlers used fur clothing in Hokkaido from the Meiji to Showa era. This custom was said to be a continuation from the Tohoku and Hokuriku districts of Japan. Such working wear as caps, mittens, vests, seats for sitting on snow/ ground were often made from dog skin. The dog skins were supplied from not only Hokkaido, but were also abundantly imported from Manchuria and Korea. Although the production method and the marketing system are uninvestigated themes, it is considered that there are some relationships with indigenous people and their culture.

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In 2001 Meiji University deposited its Alaskan ethnological and archaeological materials in Hokkaido Museum of Northern Peoples. The ethnological materials consist of 113 pieces, and the archaeological ones 523 pieces. These were collected by the staff of Meiji University in the course of the Alaskan investigation in 1960. In this paper the author describes 22 harpoon heads, 4 foreshafts and one shaft receiver. Most of the materials do not have accurate information of their origins. Judging from the typological studies, many harpoon heads came from North Alaska, and only two pieces came from Southwestern Alaska. Many harpoon heads of North Alaska belong to Thule Culture and are classified as Alilu type, Sicco type, Utkiavik type, Nnagiak type, Kilimatavik type, and Kuk type of Thule Culture. Only two harpoon heads belong to Punuk Culture.

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[in Japanese]

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