Sympathetic Magic of the Ainu - The Native People of Japan (Folklore History Series) , livre ebook

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14 pages

English

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An insightful look into the culture, religion, and magic of the native people of Japan: the Ainu.

John Batchelor gives a first-hand account of the Ainu people who are indigenous to the Northern Japanese island Hokkaido. Having been sent as a Christian missionary to the community, Batchelor details the Ainu religion and culture. He describes their animistic rituals and their belief that all things, including nature, animals, and objects, possess a godly spirit. First published in 1901.

This volume features the following chapters:

- The Nature of Witchcraft

- The Use of the Fox and Bird’s Skulls

- External Methods of Bewitching

Sujets

Occultism

Spirituality

Religion

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Publié par	Read Books Ltd.
Date de parution	14 juin 2011
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781446549544
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	2 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0000€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Sympathetic Magic Of The Ainu - The Native People Of Japan
By John Batchelor
Contents
Sympathetic Magic
Objection to being Photographed
Ainu Objection to being Photographed
Exercising Magic
Sympathetic Magic
Producing Rain
Sympathetic Magic
The Water-Ousel
The Legend of the Water-Ousel
The Flying Squirrel
Legend of the Flying Squirrel
Witchcraft
Ishirishina (to bewitch)
The Ainu s Account
A Case of Bewitching
Translation
1.-The Nature of Witchcraft
Nature of Witchcraft
2.-The Use of the Fox and Bird s Skulls
Divination
3.-External Methods of Bewitching
Sympathetic Magic.
General remarks-Objection to being photographed- Ichashkara , enclosing a person within a fence -Trees used in magic-Rain-making-Producing bad weather-Producing fine weather.
S YMPATHETIC magic is one of the most extraordinary cults there is, and can be far more easily illustrated by example than explained by exact definition. It is so closely connected with disease, fetichism, and totemism, in many respects, that it appears to me that any person who makes a study of the subject must find it really very difficult to tell with anything like precision where one ends and the other begins. Lubbock, in his Origin of Civilisation , says, The king of the Koussa Kaffirs having broken off a piece of a stranded anchor died soon after, upon which all the Kaffirs looked upon the anchor as alive, and saluted it respectfully whenever they passed near it. The Tusu guru , that is, Ainu wizards, men and women, of three widely-separated villages, told the people that the late great floods in Yezo (1898) were owing to the presence of myself as a teacher of Christianity, and were sent as a punishment to the Ainu for some of them having adopted the Christian religion. Epidemic diseases
Objection to being Photographed.
too have been set down to a like cause. All these are forms of sympathetic magic, and the illustrations are given in order to show the kind of thing this and the next chapter are intended to explain.
One of the most exaggerated expressions of thought connected with this cult is, perhaps, to be found in the matter of the photograph or sketch, though, in so far as the Ainu are concerned, this is not so much the case now as formerly. On this matter I wrote in the Journal of the American Folk-Lore Society as follows:-
A INU O BJECTION TO BEING P HOTOGRAPHED .
It was an old belief among the Ainu-a belief which has now almost entirely died out in Yezo-that by being sketched or photographed, especially when in naked condition, their natural life is thereby shortened in some mysterious way or other. The term the people use with reference to this is, Ainu katu ehange , the man draws nigh to his form; and that is like saying, death is at hand, or the man is becoming a ghost. Even so late as the year 1890 a gentleman travelling in Yezo had his sketch-block taken away by the Ainu, because he was sketching them when they were nearly naked. The people appeared to see something uncanny in having their mere form produced without the substance. To speak of the form of a person is often equivalent to speaking of his soul, spirit, or ghost. Hence to produce a person s form on paper was considered to be like drawing the soul out of him and placing it in an unnatural position, and the man himself was henceforth supposed to be gradually shadowing off into mere psychical form without material substance. In short, the Ainu appeared to think that by having his photograph taken a person was thereby transformed into a ghost before his time.
The person I have just referred to is not the only one who has inadvertently got into trouble in this way. Mr. B. Douglas Howard, who travelled in Saghalien for a short time, has given us his experiences among the Ainu who dwell there. In his book, which is entitled Trans-Siberian Savages , I find two passages which illustrate the point under discussion, though he does not appear to be aware of the reasons for the Ainu aversion to the camera. I now quote from that book the two passages referred to. On page 95 we find that Mr. Howard brought out his hand mirror for the inspection of the people. He says: This, to my astonishment, quickly produced exactly the effect my rifle failed to accomplish.