Ainu Legends

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- KAPPA - 河童 / 合羽　/ かっぱ /　カッパ - Legends -
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- Ainu アイヌ Legends -

ア​イ​ヌ​伝​承​の​コ​ロ​ポ​ッ​ク​ル Koropokkuru



日​本​の​お​け​る​グ​レ​イ​、​そ​れ​を​「​河​童​」​と​呼​び​、​古​代​被​征​服​民​民​話​や​神​話​、​呪​術​に​至​る​様​々​な​要​素​が​含​ま​れ​、
​ア​イ​ヌ​伝​承​の​コ​ロ​ポ​ッ​ク​ル​や​琉​球​の​ブ​ナ​ガ​に​キ​ム​ジ​ナ​ー​な​ど​。​
- source : ｗww.sdgundamonline.jp

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mintsuchi　みんつち
/ ミントゥチ（mintuci）ミントゥチカムイ（mintuci kamuy） / ミムトゥチ（mimtuci）、ミントチ（mintoci）
Related to the advent of the Mailand Japanese in Ezo, who brought the smallpox - and the Deity of Smallpox 疱瘡神 to the island. Many Ainu died
. Medochi　メドチ，　めどち Kappa .



He has about the size of a human child, from 3 to 13 years. He has hair on his head and no sara plate. His skin is violet or reddish. His feet look like those of birds. Both arms are fitted inside the body, and if you pull on one, both come out of the body.
There are some local varieties of his features.

Mintsuchi is a water deity, reigning over the fish and granting a good catch to the fishermen. Bus sometimes he wants a human sacrifice in return.

Sometimes he takes on the form of a human and becomes the son in law to some folk living in the mountains near a river. He brings good luck to his hunter family, but when he gets angry the whole region will suffer from his wrath.
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA - ミントゥチ !

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- quote
Some say the Kappa is of Ainu origin, . . .
The Ainu, Japan’s earliest inhabitants, live primarily in Hokkaido, the northernmost island, and their folklore is rich in imagery and monsters. Near Sapporo, the main city in Hokkaido, is an area called Jozankei, home to the “Great Kappa King” and the “Kappa Buchi Legend.” However, the Jozankei legends are probably not of Ainu origin.
According to the Angelfire web site:
The Ainu believe in a magical connection between trees and humans. For example, when a certain tree is cut down a girl will die. They feel that willows are like living humans and make miniature sacrificial willows from willow peelings (see also Willoughby-Meade, Chinese Ghouls and Goblins for more). The Ainu are also known for their Shamanistic beliefs and practices (perhaps of Siberian origin).
... Ainu tales ... One story in the collection is called The Old Man of the Sea (Atui Koro Ekashi). It describes an ocean monster able to swallow ships and whales.

The symbol of Jozankei Valley is the Kappa, the water sprite.
Jozankei (valley) 定山渓温泉　is a hot spring area and spa near Toyohiragawa River in southwest Sapporo (Hokkaido). Called "Sapporo's Back Parlor," the spa is surrounded by mountains, and was discovered by a monk called Jozan, and named after this monk for the efforts he made to develop it. The Kappa is the guardian spirit of the area. Local legend tells of a young boy who fell into a deep pool, where he was taken to the land of the Kappa, and lived happily thereafter. Approximately 23 Kappa stand in various poses around the spa town, including the Great Kappa King. There is also a Kappa Pool, which becomes very lively during the Kappa Festival that takes place in early August.

Kappa-Buchi (Kappa Pool) Legend in Jozankei　定山渓
According to local folklore, a young man was fishing in a deep pool in Jozankei, but fell in and never surfaced. Months later he appeared in his father's dreams to say he was living happily with the Kappa, and his Kappa wife and child. The pool is named “Kappa-buchi," or kappa pool, in light of this legend.
- source : Mark Schumacher


. - Jozankei Hokkaido　定山渓 北海道 - .
and the Kappa Tourist

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The Old Man of the Sea (Atui koro ekashi)
is a monster able to swallow ships and whales. In shape it resembles a bag, and the suction of its mouth causes a frightfully rapid current. Once a boat was saved from this monster by one of the two sailors in it flinging his loin-cloth into the creature's open mouth. That was too nasty a morsel for even this monster to swallow; so it let go its hold of the boat.
—(Written down from memory. Told by Ishanashte, July, 1886.)
- source : www.shamana.co.uk


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koropokkuru コロボックル "the little people"
Kor-pok-un-kur, Koro-pok-guru, and Koro Pokunguru.
Lake Akan 阿寒湖 / Asahikawa 旭川


The Mysterious Little People of Japan
On the island of Hokkaido, in the cold northern reaches of the Japanese archipelago, the indigenous Ainu people too have their long traditions of an ancient race of dwarf-like people thought to have inhabited the land long before humans arrived.


The name Koropokkuru is most commonly translated as “the people who live under the burdock leaves,” and implies the diminutive size of the creatures. In some stories a whole family was said to be able to fit underneath one burdock leaf, with one such leaf measuring about 4 feet across.
... The Koropokkuru and Ainu were said to have peacefully shared the land like this until a war broke out between them and the Koropokkuru were subsequently wiped out or driven away.
source : Brent Swancer
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. Ainu アイヌ .
- Introduction -

. Ainu Folk Toys from Hokkaido .
koropokkuru コロボックル "the little people" figures

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. - - - Join my Kappa friends on facebook ! - - - .

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. Legends and Tales from Japan　伝説 - Introduction .

. Mingei 民芸　Regional Folk　Art from Japan .

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