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. People Nuburi Toko, Ainu artist Nations Ainu Organisations City of Burnaby City of 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 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. People Nuburi Toko, Ainu artist Nations Ainu Organisations City of Burnaby City of Kushiro Sources Scott Harrison. (November 17, 2018) Enhancing Trans-Pacific People-to-People Ties: Japan-Canada Twinning (Sister) Relationships. Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada