#drawf

Todd. From mario.

commission for @elkieselkiewrites

Dwarved Kineticist and all around silly gal.

[Photo above: an Ainu woman in 1920s]

Legends and myths about trees

Forest spirits and natives (4)

Korpokkur (or Korbokkur) – ‘People under the butterbur leaves’

Korpokkur are the tribes of dwarfs in folklore of the Ainu people of the northern Japanese islands, meaning 'people under the butterbur leaves'.

The Ainu believe that the korpokkur were the people who lived in the Ainu's land before the Ainu themselves lived there. They were short of stature, agile, and skilled at fishing. They lived in pits with roofs made from butterbur leaves.

Long ago, the korpokkur were on good terms with the Ainu, and would send them deer, fish, and other game and exchange goods with them. The little people hated to be seen, however, so they would stealthily make their deliveries under the cover of night.

One day, a young Ainu man decided he wanted to see a korpokkur for himself, so he waited in ambush by the window where their gifts were usually left. When a korpokkur came to place something there, the young man grabbed it by the hand and dragged it inside. It turned out to be a beautiful korpokkur woman with a tattoo on the back of her hand (the tattooing of Ainu women is said to be based on this). She was so enraged at the young man's rudeness that her people have not been seen since. Their pits, pottery, and stone implements, the Ainu believe, still remain scattered about the landscape.

[History of Ainu]

The Ainu are an indigenous people from Sakhalin in the north to the Kuril Islands and Kamchatka Peninsula in the north-east and around the northern Japanese archipelago, especially in Hokkaido. The Ainu have long had an economic zone around the Sea of Okhotsk region.

They worshipped bears and wolves, as well as gods embodied in the elements of nature, such as water, fire and wind.

Ainu is the Ainu language for 'human' and is believed to have originally meant 'human' as a concept as opposed to 'kamui' (a designation referring to nature based on the spirit that everything in nature has a heart).

The Ainu people were conquered and their land confiscated by neighbouring Japan and Russia between the 15th and 18th centuries. Later, in the 19th century, forced them to convert, apply their customs and belong. During the Soviet era, hundreds of Ainu were executed or forcibly relocated. Today, the population and the Ainu language are in decline and there are revival efforts for their traditional culture.

木にまつわる伝説・神話

森の精霊たちと原住民 (4)

コロポックル (又はコロボックル) 〜「蕗の葉の下の人々」

コロボックルは、アイヌ語で「蕗の葉の下の人」という意味を持つ、アイヌに伝わる小人族のこと。

アイヌがこの土地に住み始める前から、この土地にはコロボックルという種族が住んでいた。彼らは背丈が低く、動きがすばやく、漁に巧みであった。又屋根をフキの葉で葺いた竪穴にすんでいた。

昔、コロボックルはアイヌと仲が良く、鹿や魚などの獲物を送ってもらったり、品物を交換したりしていた。しかし、小人たちは人目につくのを嫌い、夜陰に紛れてこっそりと配達していた。

ある日、アイヌの青年がコロボックルを一目見たいと思い、いつも贈り物を差し入れる窓際で待ち伏せしていた。そのコロボックルがそこに何かを置こうとすると、青年はそれを手で掴んで屋内に引きずり込んだ。すると、それは美しい女性のなりをしておりその手の甲には刺青があったという (なおアイヌの婦人のする刺青はこれにならったものであるといわれている)。コロボックルは青年の無礼に激怒し、一族を挙げて北の海の彼方へと去ってしまった。以降、アイヌの人々はコロボックルの姿を見ることはなくなったという。現在でも土地のあちこちに残る竪穴や地面を掘ると出てくる石器や土器は、彼らがかつてこの土地にいた名残である。

[アイヌの歴史]

アイヌ民族は、北は樺太から北東の千島列島・カムチャツカ（勘察加）半島、日本列島北部周辺、とりわけ北海道の先住民族である。アイヌ民族は永くオホーツク海地域一帯に経済圏を有していた。彼らは、熊やオオカミ、さらに水、火、風といった自然の要素に具現化された神を崇拝していた。

アイヌとはアイヌ語で「人間」を意味する言葉で、もともとは「カムイ」(自然界の全てのものに心があるという精神に基づいて自然を指す呼称) に対する概念としての「人間」という意味であったとされている。