Minamoto no Yoshitsune and the Matsumae Samurai: Demons or Deities of the Ainu (Studying the Ainu Folklore)

Abstract

Research on the folklore of the Ainu – native residents of Pacific islands – has mainly focused on cases where animals, plants, or natural objects were the protagonists. Yet there are stories that involve historical characters, such as Japanese Samurai who represented a different culture. It is interesting that some of those were depicted as deities, while others as demons in the Ainu folklore. This issue is the focal point of the article. To examine it, I investigate a variety of Ainu’s own local motifs and stories, not just the borrowed ones which commonly served as a reference point in the Ainu studies. Furthermore, neither the borrowed nor the Ainu’s own motifs have been explored to date from the perspective of the animistic worldviews, and it has been a common practice to discuss Minamoto no Yoshitsune as the only character. I introduce a range of other Samurai characters, arguing that their examination is instrumental in filling certain lacunae of the Ainu research.