| NOTA |
(★)(Western and Japanese scholars alike have been fascinated for many years by the aboriginal inhabitants of Hokkaido, and their research efforts have resulted in a number of fine monographical studies on various aspects of Ainu life and lore. What was lacking, however, was a broader analysis of the Ainu and their traditional life style in the context of their environment. Using data collected over nearly a decade through field observations and in-depth interviews with three key Ainu informants, the author has filled this gap in Ainu studies by constructing a convincing and comprehensive description of Ainu life as it existed in the late nineteenth century, before the traditional ways were transformed by the Japanese government´s agricultural resettlement policy. Instead of focusing on individual implements and customs, Watanabe examines these ´means and mechanisms´ within the context of the system of activities that incorporated them, analysing the ways in which they contributed to the maintenance of the individual, the group and the species. ´The Ainu ecosystem´ is viewed not only from the outside but also through the eyes of the Ainu themselves, as the author attempts to understand their concept of the relationship between man and nature. This provocative study is sure to be the take-off point for all future studies of the Ainu and should be of equal interest to anthropologists studying other primitive groups. Hitoshi Watanabe is a professor of anthropology in the Faculty of Literature, University of Tokyo.) |
BASE de DATOS, Biblioteca del Centro Cultural de la Embajada de Japon
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