The Many Ways of Being Human

5.7

The Ainu

A bear, two winters old, raised in the village and now kept in a cage of thick logs, is about to be sent home with dried fish, millet wine, and a speech. This is iyomante, the Ainu ceremony for a guest from the world of the gods. The chapter follows the people of Hokkaido from salmon rivers and trade to a fishing ban, a protection law lasting until 1997, and their own writers.