Today 's guest speaker , Mis Kyoko Kojima specializes in Ainu
history . She has wrote many books and thesises .
Introduction
Nowadays we have been enjoying reading , listning and
playing Ainu 's oral literature as a part of Ainu
culture . This is their important function and we can
learn the way of thinking and acting of the
ancient people through them .
Although oral literature has such role , I suppose a
prose style story , called '' uwepker '' might have a
social function which differes from an entertainment
and literary creation .
It ' s my small trial that I can find out a role
of Nerrative Literature that was played in history of
Ainu .
I 'd like raise a problem that aral leterature could
a historical materials ?
1 The differnce of the name of Nerrative Literature
1-1 uwepeker
This word has been used in southern part of
Hokkaido . Its original meaning was to ask imformations
each other and then changed the word ''news '' and
'' rumor ''
1-2 tuytak
This expression has been spoken in the central and eastern
part of Hokkaido , Sakhalin .
tu-itaku ：two or sevral wards
What 's tuytak ?
a corruption of ru-itaku .
ru-itaku ： partly talking
auther 's hypothesis ： there are different kind of ones
in a narration something like
word of animal , song of
bird and cry of baby
it was seen mainly in Saklin .
1-3 isoytak
The original meaning of '' Isoytak '' is devided into two
parts .
'' iso '' ： a game or catch , when it is specialized it
means '' bear '' and '' seal ''
'' itak '' ： talk about a story . a word . a talking about
great expoitation in hunting
1-4 upaskuma
'' upaskuma '' originally should be bequeathed by each
family as a wisdom of living to children and
grandchildren .
1-5 ikopepka
to talk about a story of one 's exoerience and one of
ancestor
2 The content of Nerrative Literature
The content is manifold .
a talk about a trade between the Japanese and Ainu ,
various story of one 's experience , a get-together with a
god and a struggle of Ainu
2-1 There are lots of '' uwepeker '' s that told about
the history of kotan .
formation of Kotan , distruction , revenge , revival of Kotan
It has something in common with Hero Epic Poetry that
an orphan had guardian and revenged himiself on his
parent .
That human got married animal showed them the reason why
they worshiped their ansector through holding specific
god . That is , it 's to talk about the history of a
family or the founder .
2-2 A time of narrative literature
If a motive told the fact of the Ainu society in the
particular piriod , when it would be ?
According to the historical materials , there were not
description of komashyain in the 15 C and shyakushyain in
the 17 C , but one a hiro in 18 C .
3 Nerative literature has become a law
People made use of Narrative literature as the historical
evidence that guaranteed the right of hunting and
fishing in local group in the 19 C .
Sometimes Narrative literature functioned as the
historical proof in the Ainu society that had no
letter , and even if it contained absurd element
the story was certified as a social truth .
Conclusion
It is no doubt that '' ucaskuma '' was the history of
an oral statement . Nerrative literature piled a
layer on another as a nucleus .
'' ucaskuma '' or its contnet is strict and special .
A tale of history of a god that was connected
with holding an ancestor played an important role in
the histry of Ainu . That is to say , we can guess
that was related to the self-consciousness in the social
group and the formation of historical recognition .
'' uwepeker '' may includ a moral , a wisdom of living
and a historical fact . However we can not overlook
its fun itself in the background .
Talk and have fun . Listen and enjoying .
'' ucaskuma '' was a folklore within the experimential
memory of a speaker and its content changed as the
time passed by beyond the range of experimential
memory ?
A each traditional legend in the narrow community
might become a wider and universal one as
the hours went by .
An additional remark
Nerrative Literature was not only one that was
in one go formed at some period and has been
handed but also will be added to a story of
new generation .
A story of one 's experience included a rethoric
of Nerrative Literature and bocome complicated .
