Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1995. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [311]-342).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1995. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [311]-342).

published_or_final_version / Comparative Asian Studies / Master / Master of Arts

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1968. / Typescript. Vita. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 130-136). Also available in print.

This is the first doctoral level Ainu study outside Japan from an indigenous perspective, and the first academic Ainu study ever from a female perspective. This study examines the indigenous history and shamanism of northern Japan, Hokkaido andTsugaru, in the context of the Ainu culture complex. Tsugaru was the last autonomous stronghold of the Ainu people in Honshu, remaining largely independent until it came under the control of the Japanese state, the Edo government, in the seventeenth century. Tsugaru has developed a distinct hybrid culture as a result of gradual mtermixing with non-indigenous populations, though an Ainu consciousness has never completely died out in the region. A comparison between Hokkaido Ainu shamanism and Tsugaru shamanism reveals the relative recentness of their contemporary characteristics, their shared roots prior to the Edo period, as well as changes in gender roles and aspects of gender inequity. In both traditions, shamanism has been transmitted primarily by the female population, and in the past, indigenous women played an essential role in maintaining social and spiritual integrity. The centrality of women came to manifest itself differently in the two regions, due mainly to differing socio-historical circumstances which transformed two originally similar cultures into divergent forms. This study questions the stereotypical ethnic opposition between the Ainu and the "Japanese," and sheds light on the intricate relationship among the Ainu and other indigenous groups in northern Japan. It also questions the powerful Ainu male myth and narratives which shaped much of the Ainu's cultural revival movement in the past century. Firthermore, by revealing a significant level of shared spiritual beliefs and practices between the past and present inhabitants of the Japanese archepelago of Japan and the traditional peoples of Northeast Asia and byond the Bering Strait, the study will point to a need for both Ainu study and Japanese study to be placed within the larger cultural domain, namely, the northern circumpacific region.

This study will examine the integral role of owls in Ainu spiritual belief systems through the means of Ainu oral literature and Ainu material arts. In the past, the indigenous people known as Ainu lived only in northern Japan, including Kurile Islands (“Kurile Ainu”), Sakhalin (“Sakhalin Ainu”), and Hokkaido (“Hokkaido Ainu”). Today, Ainu people live across Japan; however, Hokkaido is considered their spiritual homeland and the majority of the population lives in this northern prefecture. This paper will focus on the group of people called “Hokkaido Ainu”. Before a large number of Japanese migrated to Hokkaido during the Meiji era (1868-1912), Ainu people had lived close to nature through various activities such as fishing, hunting, and gathering. As a result of these daily activities involving nature, the Ainu developed their spiritual belief systems. For example, they believe that various spirits exist in natural phenomena such as plants, insects, and animals. Among these animals, the bear, killer whale and owl are considered in many Ainu societies as the highest-ranked animal kamuy, meaning gods or deities. The Owl God in particular, is believed to be the guardian of the village. In this project, the symbolic representation of the Owl God in four different Ainu traditional folklores and various forms of arts will be carefully examined. The goal of this study is to demonstrate that although the language and physical communities are under threat by Japanese migration and a modern industrial economy, the spiritual belief in the Owl God as the guardian of the village continues to exist in contemporary Ainu works of art. In addition, I will argue that the representation of the Owl God, Kotan-kor-kamuy, is an important symbolic expression of Ainu cultural identity. / Graduate

Typescript. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1978. / Bibliography: leaves 248-258. / Microfiche. / xiii, 258 leaves map 28 cm

This is the first doctoral level Ainu study outside Japan from an indigenous perspective, and the first academic Ainu study ever from a female perspective. This study examines the indigenous history and shamanism of northern Japan, Hokkaido andTsugaru, in the context of the Ainu culture complex. Tsugaru was the last autonomous stronghold of the Ainu people in Honshu, remaining largely independent until it came under the control of the Japanese state, the Edo government, in the seventeenth century. Tsugaru has developed a distinct hybrid culture as a result of gradual mtermixing with non-indigenous populations, though an Ainu consciousness has never completely died out in the region. A comparison between Hokkaido Ainu shamanism and Tsugaru shamanism reveals the relative recentness of their contemporary characteristics, their shared roots prior to the Edo period, as well as changes in gender roles and aspects of gender inequity. In both traditions, shamanism has been transmitted primarily by the female population, and in the past, indigenous women played an essential role in maintaining social and spiritual integrity. The centrality of women came to manifest itself differently in the two regions, due mainly to differing socio-historical circumstances which transformed two originally similar cultures into divergent forms. This study questions the stereotypical ethnic opposition between the Ainu and the "Japanese," and sheds light on the intricate relationship among the Ainu and other indigenous groups in northern Japan. It also questions the powerful Ainu male myth and narratives which shaped much of the Ainu's cultural revival movement in the past century. Firthermore, by revealing a significant level of shared spiritual beliefs and practices between the past and present inhabitants of the Japanese archepelago of Japan and the traditional peoples of Northeast Asia and byond the Bering Strait, the study will point to a need for both Ainu study and Japanese study to be placed within the larger cultural domain, namely, the northern circumpacific region. / Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies / Graduate

Lexicalists assume that words with derivational morphology and compound words are not formed by syntactic transformation (Selkirk, 1982). The Lexicalist Hypothesis implies that the principles of universal grammar are not operative to word formation. / This thesis argues that a word is composed of lexical constituents and post-lexical constituents, and that the post-lexical constituents can incorporate into a verb, to form the complex predicate. This formational process is subject to syntactic constraints and principles. Therefore, I claim that the principles of universal grammar are also operative to word formation. This hypothesis will throw a new light upon the area of language acquisition of complex predicates.