Friday, May 30 - Exploring Ainu Culture

 Bob left at 6 AM to join the others birding around the hotel.   I joined them at seven, and we had a nice walk up the river where some fly fishermen were casting.  A huge White-tailed Eagle flew over us!

  At 7:30 we had breakfast, another very fancy meal of fish, custard, some fruit in jelly.

We drove over to Lake Akan and the Ainu village of Akankohan with its shops of handicrafts and a Ainu theatre with totem poles in front of it and met a young man, an Ainu native wearing an embroidered robe decorated with their unique designs.

You can clearly see the relationship of their art work to that of the Pacific Northwest Indians of North America.

He took us on a walk through the surrounding woods, the floor of which is covered with 2-foot high variety of bamboo.  He showed us the elm trees from which the Ainu used to strip the bark and process it into fiber for finely woven material for their kimono-like robes. A large red fox walked nearby as did several deer.

  In the village we had lunch at an Ainu restaurant and were served pieces of raw venison and trout and a fabulous berry drink.     

Our vans then drove for 45 minutes to a national park at Lake Onnetto where we set off uphill on a mile long hike to a hot waterfall.  Plumes of steam arose from the sides of the surrounding volcanoes.

Ainu house

My back was bothering me and I found the hike quite painful, although very scenic, and was glad to collapse into the van at four to return to the hotel for yet another very elaborate, exquisite dinner. 

 

My dinner appetizers

At 7:30 we left for the village again for a dance and music exhibit at the theatre.   It was very entertaining, although I was so tired that I’m afraid I slept through much of it!