, sometimes written as , is an Ainu ceremony in which a

brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model used ...

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nor ...

sacrifice Sacrifice is the offering of material possessions or the lives of animals or humans to a deity as an act of propitiation or worship. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Greeks, and possibly exi ...

d. The word literally means "to send something/someone off". In some Ainu villages, it is a

Blakiston's fish owl Blakiston's fish owl (''Bubo blakistoni''), the largest living species of owl, is a fish owl, a sub-group of eagle-owls which specialize in hunting in riparian areas. It is native to China, Japan, and the Russian Far East. This species is a par ...

, rather than a bear, that is the subject of the ceremony. In

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

, the ceremony is known as or, sometimes, . In the modern day, the ceremony no longer involves the killing of an animal, but is performed for wild animals that die in accidents or captive animals that die of old age.

Practice

Trappers set out to the bear caves at the end of winter, while the bears are still in a state of

torpor Torpor is a state of decreased physiological activity in an animal, usually marked by a reduced body temperature and metabolic rate. Torpor enables animals to survive periods of reduced food availability. The term "torpor" can refer to the time ...

. If they find a newborn cub, they kill the mother and take the cub back to the village, where they raise it indoors, as if it were one of their own children. It is said that they even provide the cub with their own breast milk. When the cub grows larger, they take it outdoors, and put it into a small pen made of logs. Throughout their lives, the bears are provided with high-quality food. The cubs are treated as, and traditionally believed to be, gods. After the cub reaches one or two years of age, they release it from the cell and place it in the center of the village, where it is tied to a post with a rope. The males in the village then take shots at the cub with bows and arrows. Even at the age of two years, the brown bears are quite large, and it usually takes numerous shots before they fall. After the bear has been weakened from numerous arrow strikes and is too weak to defend itself, one villager will approach the bear and shoot it in the neck

point-blank Point-blank range is any distance over which a certain firearm can hit a target without the need to compensate for bullet drop, and can be adjusted over a wide range of distances by sighting in the firearm. If the bullet leaves the barrel paral ...

, to ensure that it is dead. The villagers then slit the bear's throat and drink the blood. The bear is skinned, and the meat is distributed amongst the villagers. Its bare skull is placed on a spear, which is then rewrapped with the bear's own fur. This "doll" is an object of worship for the villagers. The bear has now been "sent off" to the world of the gods.

Legality

Hokkaido is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

encouraged local governments to abolish the Iomante in 1955, but the circular notice was abolished in April 2007, because the Ministry of the Environment of Japan announced that animal ceremonies were generally regarded as an exception of the

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the sa ...

law of Japan in October 2006.{{cite web, url=http://www.47news.jp/CN/200704/CN2007042801000456.html, script-title=ja:イヨマンテ禁止通達を撤廃アイヌ儀式、５２年ぶり, language=Japanese, work=47 News, publisher=Press Net Japan Co., Ltd., date=April 28, 2007, accessdate=March 4, 2011, url-status=dead, archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722071300/http://www.47news.jp/CN/200704/CN2007042801000456.html, archivedate=July 22, 2011

Museum displays

Iomante videos and artifacts are on display at the Nibutani Ainu Culture Museum in

Nibutani Nibutani ( ja, 二風谷), or Niptani ( ain, ニㇷ゚タニ), is a district in the town of Biratori in Hokkaidō, Japan. It was once known as ''Pipaushi,'' which means "a place rich in shells." The population as of 2010 was 395 people. A parti ...

Hokkaidō is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

, as well as the

Ainu Museum The , also known as Porotokotan, is a former museum in Shiraoi, Hokkaidō, Japan. The facility began its existence in 1976 as the Shiraoi Foundation for the Preservation of Ainu Culture. In 1984 this was extended to include the Ainu Folk Museum. ...

in Shiraoi-cho, Hokkaid ō.

References

Some of the content of this article was taken from the equivalent Japanese-language Wikipedia article (accessed April 10, 2006). Ainu culture Animal sacrifice Bears in religion

Practice

Legality

Museum displays

See also

References