Ainu Visit to Alert Bay
Alert Bay, British Columbia, Canada / Turtle Ilsand On September 5th 1987, eighteen Ainu arrived in Alert Bay. Described by the ’Namgis Kwakwaka’wakw as the Bak’wam of Japan, they were welcomed into the houses of U’Mista Cultural Society members and exchanged gifts over a dinner in the Big House. The following day, the Ainu were taken out on ’Namgis fishing boats to see the surrounding waters. Leaving on the morning of the 7th, the Ainu visitors would travel onwards to Victoria and Banff. This visit solidified a relationship between the Ainu and ’Namgis peoples. The Nibutani Ainu Museum and U’Mista Cultural Society declared themselves sister-organisations, and after returning home, the Ainu sent a warm letter to Alert Bay from Hokkaido signed by fourteen of the delegates. Sources U’Mista Cultural Centre Newsletter, September (1987). The Ainu. Pg. 6. Accessed through U’Mista Archive. U’Mista Cultural Centre Newsletter, January (1988). Good News. Pg. 3. Accessed through U’Mista Archive.
Shigeru Kayano Meets Gloria Cranmer
Sweden At a folklore conference in Sweden, the Ainu leader Kayano Shigeru had a chance meeting with the ’Namgis Kwakwaka’wakw activist Gloria Cranmer. Speaking with the help of interpreter Masami Iwasaki, they discussed their shared experiences of language revival. This meeting would be the start of a productive and meaningful relationship between the Ainu and ’Namgis peoples. The following year, a delegation of eighteen Ainu would visit the ’Namgis settlement of Alert Bay. Sources U’Mista Cultural Centre Newsletter, September (1987). The Ainu. Pg. 6. Accessed through U’Mista Archive.
Ainu Delegation Visit Alaska
Alaska, USA / Turtle Island After being invited by Inuit visitors to Japan in 1977 to tour North America, twenty-four members of the the Ainu Society for Self Advancement set out in late 1978. Tokuhei Narita served as spokesperson of the delegation. This journey is understood to be the first time that Ainu representatives visited North America for the purpose of engaging with other Indigenous peoples. The delegates’ first stop was in Alaska in August 1978.
Ainu Society for Self Advancement Delegation Leaves for North America
North America / Turtle Island After being invited by Inuit visitors to Japan in 1977 to tour North America, twenty-four members of the the Ainu Society for Self Advancement set out in late 1978. This is understood to be the first time that Ainu representatives visited North America for the purpose of engaging with other Indigenous peoples. Just as they had done in China, Ainu activists were keen to visit other parts of the world and find ideas and strategies that were useful for their own survival and flourishing. Some future delegations would specifically involve Ainu youth or women and had a focus on subjects of interest to them in particular. When they returned home, delegates would always host meetings to disseminate knowledge among the community.
Roots of Ainu Internationalism
Ainu Mosir / Hokkaido, Japan In the late 1970s, many different connections between the Ainu and the Indigenous peoples of North America and the rest of the world began to emerge. The Ainu had long been sea-faring people who travelled widely across North-East Asia. When Edo-period Japan closed itself to the world under the Sakoku policy, the Ainu as well as Ryukyuans in the south were the only people of the so-called Japanese archipelago who continued to engage with the world at large. Since the 1960s, Ainu delegates had been invited to visit the People’s Republic of China and learn about their government’s policies for ethnic minority cultures. They were the first overseas Indigenous peoples to be invited to China in this way. Starting in 1973, Indigenous North Americans including Stó꞉lō writer Lee Maracle would follow in their footsteps. In 1977, a delegation of Inuit who were travelling around the cities of the Arctic Circle came to Tokyo. Whilst there, they were told about Japan’s own Indigenous people in the north—the Ainu—and travelled to Hokkaido to meet them. They invited a delegation of Ainu to come and travel across Canada and the United States to meet with different Indigenous groups there, which would take place the following year. At the same time, many young Ainu were independently visiting the United States and began to notice the commonalities between their experiences and those of Indigenous peoples there. One such person was a young woman involved in the 1978 Delegation, who was inspired by the 1973 Lakota occupation of Wounded Knee, and the Black American Civil Rights Movement.
Kwakwaka’wakw Totem Pole Raised at the Japanese National Museum of Ethnology
Campbell River, Canada / Turtle Island and Osaka, Japan In preparation for the opening of Japan’s National Ainu Museum in April 2020, the National Museum of Ethnology (called ‘Minpaku’) wanted to present an exhibition of Indigenous art. They commissioned the Kwakwaka’wakw carver Bill Henderson of the Wei Wai Kum Nation in Campbell River to construct a traditional totem pole to be sent to Japan. The pole depicts an eagle, sisiutl (sea serpent), a grizzly bear, and a salmon, which evoked Henderson’s family history and Campbell River’s fishing industry. Professors and administrators from Minpaku visited Campbell River to view the totem pole before it was shipped to Osaka, and erected on June 24, 2020. The resulting exhibition, “Treasures of Indigenous Peoples”, featured Ainu artwork alongside Indigenous works from Taiwan (Tao), Guatemala (Maya), and Canada (Coast Salish). Sources Scott Harrison. (November 17, 2018) Enhancing Trans-Pacific People-to-People Ties: Japan-Canada Twinning (Sister) Relationships. Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada
Nuburi and Shusei Toko Build Kamui Mintara on Burnaby Mountain
Burnaby Mountain, Canada / Turtle Island When visiting Burnaby in 1986, Kushiro-based Ainu carver Nuburi Toko decided to create a sculpture representing the relationship between Burnaby and Kushiro, which have been sister-cities since 1966. The result is Kamui Mintara (Playground of the Gods), a landscape of carved wooden pillars on the western flank of Burnaby Mountain. Erected in 1990 for 25 years of Burnaby-Kushiro friendship, the park around it was officially renamed to Kushiro Park in 2015 in honour of 50 years of the Burnaby-Kushro relationship. Kamui Mintara does not exactly represent traditional Ainu art. Just like his contemporary Bikky Sunzawa, who had visited British Columbia in 1983, the Tokos were inspired by the visual forms of the Indigenous Northwest Coast style. Kamui Mintara’s carved columns are modelled on totem poles, which are not a feature of Ainu culture. The sculpture’s title and placement on the relatively diminutive Burnaby Mountain are supposed to evoke Hokkaido’s Mount Daisetsu, which the Ainu call Kamui Mintara, playground of the Gods. Sources Scott Harrison. (November 17, 2018) Enhancing Trans-Pacific People-to-People Ties: Japan-Canada Twinning (Sister) Relationships. Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada
Ainu Carver Toko Nupuri Visits Burnaby
Burnaby Mountain, Canada / Turtle Island To celebrate twenty years of the sister-city relationship between the twin cities of Burnaby, Canada, and Kushiro, Japan, a delegation from Kushiro arrived in Burnaby in May 1986. Kushiro is part of the historic homeland of the Ainu people, called ‘Ainu Mosir’, and so the Ainu carver Toko Nupuri was a member of this delegation. While visiting Simon Fraser University, which sits on top of Burnaby Mountain, Nupuri wandered away from the rest of the delegation towards the mountain’s western side, which offers a sweeping view of Vancouver and the Salish sea. Moved by its beauty, Nupuri wanted to build a sculpture there in honour of the relationship between Burnaby and Kushiro. Sources Scott Harrison. (November 17, 2018) Enhancing Trans-Pacific People-to-People Ties: Japan-Canada Twinning (Sister) Relationships. Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada
Ainu Dance Troupe Visit Campbell River
Campbell River, Canada / Turtle Island In April 1985, Masatoshi Sawai and ten other members of the Ainu Dance Troupe took a 12-day tour of British Columbia. They visited Campbell River and met Kwakwaka’wakw elders of the Wei Wai Kum nation. Sawai, who also worked for the Sapporo-Ainu Cultural Association, spoke to the New Canadian newspaper about the discrimination faced by Ainu in Japan. Sources New Canadian. (April 19, 1983) B.C. visit is cultural link with original people
Ainu Delegation Visit Bella Coola
Bella Coola, British Columbia, Canada / Turtle Island After being invited by Inuit visitors to Japan in 1977 to tour North America, twenty-four members of the the Ainu Society for Self Advancement set out in late 1978. This journey is understood to be the first time that Ainu representatives visited North America for the purpose of engaging with other Indigenous peoples. After visiting Vancouver and the Interior, the Ainu arrived in Bella Coola sometime in October, where they were hosted by the Nuxalk Nation. Both the Nuxalk and Ainu are seafaring peoples who rely heavily on fishing, and so Nuxalk fishers took their Ainu counterparts out on several fishing trips during their stay. The trip went so well that the Nuxalk Nation were sent a letter of thanks the Union of BC Indian Chiefs leader George Manuel (who had just hosted the Ainu himself in Chase), and plans were made for a reciprocal visit of Indigenous Canadians to Ainu territory in Japan in the following year. It is unclear whether this trip ever took place. Sources Noohalk News (October 1978). Recent Cultural Exchange with 4 arrows and Ainu people’s groups. No page numbers. Accessed through UBCIC archives. Nuxalk News (February, 1979). Cultural Center Activity Report. No page numbers. Accessed through UBCIC archives. Pederson, Bob. (February 23, 1979). Japan’s Ainu native people group visits Canadian Natives at Bella Coola, B.C. The New Canadian, n.p.