Oral Tradition of Ainu. Genre Characteristics

The article deals with the oral tradition of Ainu, the indigenous peo ple of Japan, now living mainly on Hokkaido island. Ainu are recognized as a people and language that are isolated, with no relation to any other people or language. They suffered assimilation and discrimination from the Japanese government and society to the extent that the population numbers dwindled, and connection with their traditions, rituals, language, and culture was lost. In the last three decades, in Ja pan there has been a growing movement for restoration and revival of what was lost through various initiatives, projects, and events. Ainu has a primary oral culture as they never had any script system. There are certain characteristics of all orally transmitted cultures that are briefly explained in the article. Genre classification of Ainu oral culture is still disputed and there are spacial and dialect variations, but roughly researchers speak of: heroic epics (英雄叙事詩), mythic epics (神謡) and prose tales (散文説話). Apart from these, there are also lyric poems, songs, riddles, prayers, greetings, negotiations, etc.