AINU EBOOK DOC FINISHED NO COVER PAGE

“Before The Creator finished the World,
there was nothing but water everywhere. In
this heavenly water, lived a very large
salmon. This was the largest salmon to
have ever been, his body reached from
one end of the heavens to the other. When
The Creator began to produce the Earth,
He made the salmon its’ foundation. So
now beneath the World on which we all
dwell, lies a giant salmon. Forever taking in
and releasing the waters of the sea
through his gills. When he breathes in, the
ebb of low tide occurs, and when he
breathes out, the high tide flows. As goes
the salmon, so goes the world”
The beginning, and end, of all Ainu life on
Hokkaido, is the mighty salmon. As the
Ainu migrated from the Asian Mainland
through what is now Russia and China, to
Japan, so do the salmon of Hokkaido
migrate up the Saru river every fall, to
support and nourish the Ainu community
with all their respective parts.
In the time of our menu, the salmon run
brought out the best in the Ainu people,
the traits of perseverance, teamwork,
community, and generosity. The Ainu men
used large nets and hooks to catch the
migrating fish. Four men boarded two
hollow log canoes sharing a net between
them, one man would maneuver the boat,
the other would hold his half of the net.
The men would row downstream, and form
an inverted V formation. When the salmon
swam into the net, the canoes would close
the gap between them, and the men would
raise their nets above their heads, in what
was now hammock filled with fish. This was
a form of salmon fishing known as yasi
(scooping).
Every part of this sacred fish was utilized.
Before the first salmon of the season was
butchered, a prayer was said in front of the
fire to the fish. In Ainu, the head of the
household would recite the words “Thank
you for honoring us with your presence
today” he would then face the flames, and,
to the Goddess of Fire say “Today, for the
first time this year, I have brought home a
salmon. This salmon is not merely for us
humans to eat by ourselves, but for us to
eat with the Gods, and with my children, as
tiny insects. Please watch over me, as I may
catch many salmon hereafter”. When the
prayer was over, the salmon was
butchered, and prepared.

“In very ancient times, after God had
formed the rivers, and the seas, and made
the land.
He returned to His heavenly home. Upon
arrival there, he entered His house, and
took from a corner, two bags.
One containing fish bones, the other
containing the bones of deer.
Deer had existed only in Heaven until this
point, and had not yet been sent down to
Earth.
These particular bones, were the remains
of His great feasts.
He emptied the bag containing the bones
of the deer into the woodlands and
mountains, and forth sprang herds of living
deer, beautiful, graceful, and majestic to
behold…”
Deer, or yuk in Ainu, are the second most
important protein staple for sustenance
through the long, cold Hokkaido winters.
The Ainu elders used to joke that you
could put a pan on the fire to heat up, go
deer hunting, and have a venison steak in
the pan before it got too hot. That,
unfortunately, was over a century ago.
The Ainu people have been banned by the
Japanese government from hunting deer
for over 120 years. The Meiji government
wrote the Hokkaido reclamation plan in
1869, which encouraged Hondo-Japanese
settlers to emigrate to the northernmost
island. This began, in earnest, the ethnic
cleansing of the Ainu people. By 1876, the
hunting of deer was outlawed entirely, and
salmon fishing was soon to follow. By
banning the collection of these staple
foods, imperial Japan was threatening the
fiber of Ainu life on Hokkaido.

With salmon fishing outlawed, and deer
hunting banned as well, the ever
resourceful Ainu looked to their last hope
for carrying on the traditions of their
people, foraging. There are hundreds of
edible species of wild plants, roots, and
flowers on the island of Hokkaido.
A staple of the Ainu diet and culture are
the “pukusa”. These are wild onions that
shoot in the spring, and are extremely
similar to our native ramps. The later
seasons bring gourds, wild grapes, autumn
olives, water pepper, and rowan berries,
just to name a few. as well as a host of
mushrooms and fruit. If salmon is king, and
deer queen, wild vegetables are the prince
and princess of Ainu cuisine.

In 1899, the Hokkaido Former Natives Act
was put in place by the Meiji government.
The act labeled the Ainu as former
aborigines, their names were taken from
them, and replaced with Japanese
sounding surnames. They were then forced
to become Japanese citizens. This
effectively denied the Ainu their existence
as an indigenous group. Their land was
taken by the Japanese government, and
they lost their right to fish and hunt, their
main activities for livelihood and cultural
identity. It also became forbidden to use
the Ainu language. During this time, the
Ainu were forced from place to place, spat
upon, and maligned by the Hondo
Japanese who had moved to Hokkaido in
droves after the northern expansion of the
Japanese empire.
What we now think of as Japanese
vegetables were introduced, these included
daikon radish, carrot, kabocha squash, as
well as the potato. The Ainu were expected
to farm, but were obviously not
accustomed to the ways of contemporary
farming at the time. The women of the
house had generally had small gardens,
but large-scale farming was not something
they had ever needed to do. The land had
always provided. Given the restrictions on
the Ainu way of life, food began to become
scarce, and desperate times had fallen
upon the tribe. Japanese farmers collected
the large, dense potatoes for market, and
let the smaller or uglier specimens lay in
the field throughout the winter.
Ainu people, while out foraging in the
Spring would collect these potatoes, and
cook them in their homes. These gray, frost
weathered potatoes had been cast aside
by the Hondo Japanese farmers, and
would now become a staple in the pantries
of the Ainu. They transformed this flat,
beaten, dirty potato, into a delicious
pancake, to be served with butter and
honey.
This is an irrevocable symbol of the Ainu
people’s ability to endure during even the
grimmest of times.
Given that the Ainu could no longer
legally hunt or fish, they were forced to
become more agrarian than they had ever
been. Millet, which had always been the
staple grain of the Ainu people, began
cultivation as a crop, rather than a foraged
grass.

The Song The Owl God Sang:
“Long ago, when I spoke
It was like the sound of a strong bow
Bound with cherry bark
Plucked just in the very center;
But now I have weakened and grown old.
If only there were someone with eloquence
Someone having the confidence to be my
messenger
I could give them the task…”
Throughout the 20 th century, the
prevalence of Ainu culture, language, and
traditions steadily declined. Many Ainu hid
their heritage for fear of social persecution,
while many more married Hondo Japanese
people, and neglected to disclose to their
children their Ainu roots. Do somewhat to
an interest from the West, there is a
renaissance in Ainu culture in Hokkaido.
The Japanese government recognized this
interest, and devised a way to profit from
cultural tourism.
Ainu people are now carving wooden
animal figurines, and selling them to
tourists to make ends meet. This is a
practice that would have been unheard of
in the past, due to a conflict in religious
doctrine. Japanese tourists now visit
Hokkaido to catch a glimpse of the “real
live Ainu”. However, many benefits are
being reaped due to the monetization of
Ainu traditions. There is now a resurgence
in teaching the language, there are
cookbooks being printed with age old
recipes, the song and dance are no longer
prohibited, and some Ainu have even been
granted permission to hunt and fish again.
It is in this spirit that we bring you this
menu. We take it upon ourselves to be the
“eloquent messenger” of which the Owl
God Sang. We are here to carve a space
for Ainu cuisine in fine dining, to show that
ancient cookery has truly stood the test of
time, and can be reworked and refined in
modernity. Our hope is that this food can
emerge from the ashes of obscurity, and
serve as the centerpiece for Indigenous
Peoples across the world. And his menu
can show that every person’s heritage has
a seat at the modern table.