Living The Ainu Tradition: Levitation Project

As the second largest island in Japan, Hokkaido is a beautiful and perfect place to visit. This island has many interesting stories. One of them is the story of Ainu People. The Ainu are indigenous people of Hokkaido. They used to live in Hokkaido long time ago. They were traditionally hunters-gatherers and fishermen. They hunted bear, sea otter, deer and other animals.

Last week, my friend and I went to Noboribetsu, about 1,5 hours drive from New Chitose Airport Hokkaido, and visited a traditional mock of Ainu Village.

The village shows many basic Ainu culture and lifestyle, including food, clothing and housing, and also many cultural artifacts. To get a real feel of Ainu tradition, we wore traditional Ainu clothes that called Atsushi. It is a kimono like clothes and the most noted garment worn for ceremonial occasions. Atsushi is made from thread made from tree bark of Ohyou Elm. The texture of it is very soft and flexible.

Wearing traditional Ainu clothes, we were strolling around the village, took photographs, and do some levitation.

This levitation project, we called, “Living The Ainu Tradition”.

Please enjoy our project.

A traditional mock of Ainu Village in Noboribetsu, Hokkaido / photo junanto
Levitate wearing "atsushi", a kimono-like clothes of Ainu People
Ritual levitation dance before hunting
Go hunting
Hunting for dinner
Fighting Levitation

That was our experience in Ainu Village. Thank you for stopping by.

 

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