Ainu actors in prewar Japanese film

Mon Sep 12 20:33:49 EDT 2011

Seeing as how the Lumière film, 'Les Aïnus à Yéso' isn't on my Fremoux/Tavernier DVD issued by 'Kino Video', I took the opportunity to ask Bryony Dixon, the BFI silent film curator, whether the BFI had a copy.  She has replied that sadly no, but they do have a Selig film of 1913.  The catalogue entry is itself of another era, but I'll forward it as received.

The AINUS OF JAPAN 1913 Selig 612592A 177ft

Note that the titles and intertitles are in German.  

The Ainus, a tribe of Japan are a Caucasian people rather than Mongoloid race. This is our earliest film of the people and one of only two films held by the Archive showing this particular tribe. An incredibly important piece of film from an ethnographic and historical point of view especially when it is considered that today only 12,000 people in Hokaido are of Ainu descent, few of whom are purebloods. The film shows a dance performed by the women and a ritual ceremony performed by men. The men have incredible beards lending truth to the claim that they are famed as the hairiest race on earth. The moustaches of the women are actually tattoos.

This sounds rather like the sequence in the YMCA film but since it predates it, I would guess it's a different film.

So, if anyone could point me to the Japanese DVD of Lumière that was mentioned, I'd appreciate it.
Roger
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Quentin Turnour 
  To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu 
  Cc: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu ; owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu 
  Sent: Sunday, September 11, 2011 10:44 AM
  Subject: Re: Ainu actors in prewar Japanese film

   "D'OH!!" and sorry. Had my head full with programming films about camels, so I must have got humps on my head. Although I'd done French and English language searches, I'd somehow completely missed the Yamagata screening and also a listing on the silent era database: http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/A/AinusAYeso1897-2.html. 

  However, another search of French DVD sites makes me think this title has only ever come on Japanese DVD release.  Keen to see this; trying to get a sense of extant first ethnographic films of indigenous peoples for future programs, especially pre-1900 footage. 

  Hello to a few of you and thanks to all for replies. 

  Quentin Turnour, Programmer, 
  Access, Research and Development
  National Film and Sound Archive, Australia
  McCoy Circuit, Acton, 
  ACT, 2601 AUSTRALIA
  phone: +61 2 6248 2054  |  fax: + 61 2 6249 8159
  www.nfsa.gov.au
  [Please note that I am often absent Mondays]

  Film prints shipped to:
  NATIONAL FILM AND SOUND ARCHIVE OF AUSTRALIA
  att: Cinema Programming
  Loading Dock
  McCoy Circuit Acton Canberra 
  ACT 2601 AUSTRALIA
  +61 2 6248 2289 / cynthia.piromalli at nfsa.gov.au (Please email all invoices to this address)

  The National Film and Sound Archive collects, preserves and provides access to Australia's historic and contemporary moving image and recorded sound culture. 

        Frederick Veith <notreconciled at gmail.com> 
        Sent by: owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu 
        11/09/2011 02:11 AM Please respond to
              KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu 

       To KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu  
              cc  
              Subject Re: Ainu actors in prewar Japanese film 

  It may be on other compilations as well, but "Les Aïnous à Yéso" is definitely on the first disc of the Les films Lumière set that Geneon brought out in Japan.

  Fred.

  On Sat, Sep 10, 2011 at 11:41 PM, Mark Nornes <amnornes at umich.edu> wrote: 
  Hi Quentin,  

  Could have sworn the Lumiere Ainu films were on one of the DVD compilations. The one by Travenier? 

  The films are extant, and Institut Lumiere has them. There are several other documentaries/home movies. As Mark wrote, I write about these in my book.  

  In 1993, I also showed Japanese-made films about the Ainu in Nibutani. The main footage was shot by a Scotsman, Neil Gordon Munro, who also wrote one of the first monographs on them (Ainu Creed and Cult). He was a doctor in Nibutani.  

  The films are owned by an anthropology institute in Tokyo, so they are extant and can be programmed. Although the institute has it's own compilations on video, and that may be the only thing within reach. If you'd like their address, I've got it buried somewhere.  

  Maria-Jose also mentioned Chipuchisekor, which is how he transliterated his name if I remember correctly. He was a great help back when I was programming our First Nations event at Yamagata (1993). At the time, he was also publishing his own little zine about Ainu representations in film and video games. I have a stack of them somewhere, if a serious researcher wanted to do work on them.  

  Markus 

  On Sep 10, 2011, at 3:37 AM, Mark Roberts wrote: 

  Quentin, 

  The Lumières film was entitled "Les Aïnous à Yéso", and there were two parts. Information on the net is sketchy, but it looks like these films are extant and screened at Yamagata in 1995. Markus Nornes also discusses them in the first section of his "Japanese documentary film: the Meiji era through Hiroshima". 

  HTH, 

  M 

  On Sep 10, 2011, at 11:29 AM, Quentin Turnour wrote: 

  My sidebar turns into a supplementary question: does any of the very early Ainu footage you mention survive? I know the survival rate for Lumiere titles is quite high, but whilst some tiles survive with Japanese scenes, I've not seen any title that indicates Hokkaido or Ainu footage. 

  Then - whilst my French is better than my Japanese - it's still not good enough to fully access French-language Lumiere scholarship. 

  QT 

  Quentin Turnour, Programmer, 
  Access, Research and Development
  National Film and Sound Archive, Australia
  McCoy Circuit, Acton, 
  ACT, 2601 AUSTRALIA
  phone: +61 2 6248 2054  |  fax: + 61 2 6249 8159
  www.nfsa.gov.au
  [Please note that I am often absent Mondays]

  Film prints shipped to:
  NATIONAL FILM AND SOUND ARCHIVE OF AUSTRALIA
  att: Cinema Programming
  Loading Dock
  McCoy Circuit Acton Canberra 
  ACT 2601 AUSTRALIA
  +61 2 6248 2289 / cynthia.piromalli at nfsa.gov.au (Please email all invoices to this address)

  The National Film and Sound Archive collects, preserves and provides access to Australia's historic and contemporary moving image and recorded sound culture. 

        Maria Jose Gonzalez <tkarsavina at yahoo.com> 
        Sent by: owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu 
        09/09/2011 07:10 PM 

              Please respond to
              KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu 

              To "KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu" <KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>  
              cc  
              Subject Re: Ainu actors in prewar Japanese film 

  Something else I forgot to mention,Makino Productions "Ainu no Musume" from 1927,most likely without any Ainu in it although as Aaron has already mentioned,any existing actor of Ainu origin would have concealed their origins and in any case during the Meiji period most people had been forced to adopt Japanese names. 
  Actor Takashi Ukajo surprised the media by confessing he was actually of Ainu origin when he was already 46 a few years ago! 

  http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1927/bc003810.htm 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  From: Maria Jose Gonzalez <tkarsavina at yahoo.com>
  To: "KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu" <KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
  Sent: Friday, September 9, 2011 4:47 PM
  Subject: Re: Ainu actors in prewar Japanese film

  Fascinating question. 
  Can you read Japanese,Peter? 
  The sadly departed and Kyoto-based Ainu scholar,Chupuchisekor -I apologise if the romanised version is not correct,for I have never seen it- did a very interesting series on "Images of Ainu in Japan" for Kyoto Shimbun. 
  You can find it here: 
  http://www6.plala.or.jp/fynet/2scrap411nihonnoainu.html 
  Available online,you will also find a summary for a seminar titled "Ainu Culture and Media",where he discusses 
  Ainu in films. 
  http://www.frpac.or.jp/rst/sem/sem1109.pdf 
  The first Ainu moving images date from 1898 courtesy of the very own Lumière  Brothers so they predate Japanese cinema!Accounted next are documentary films regarding the Russo-Japanese war,which geographically makes a lot of sense .After these,the emphasis is on landscape/nature documentaries and next he discusses some studio films. 
  Since so much has been lost,it is impossible to say for sure how much Ainu appeared in Yamato productions but Chupinsenkor talks about three Shochiku films from 1921 and 1922,mentioning there were others he did not watch and where the Ainu were often depicted as bad characters. 
  I have not watched the Naruse you cite but was this the case? 
  Already at war,北の同胞-Northern Brothers ?-from 1941 is a Kokusaku Eiga where both Ainu and Yamato people fight for their country... 
  I am not that familiar with Ainu culture but will confess to finding this information after watching Kimi no Na,which Chupu-san also discusses. 
  There is not much available in English and it is a pity.Just a study of name places and Japanese words that actually come from Ainu would be an excellent read. 

  Maria-Jose Gonzalez 

  Maybe not strictly relevant, but have you seen the footage from Benjamin Brodsky's A TRIP THROUGH JAPAN WITH THE YWCA which includes 1919 shots of the Ainu community? The NFSA recently restored it in collaboration with the National Film Preservation Foundation in the US. See http://www.filmpreservation.org/preserved-films/screening-room/a-trip-through-japan-with-the-ywca-ca-1919 

  I mention this as we are curious to know if there is any earlier surviving material which shows Ainu community, whether drama or actuality? 

  Quentin Turnour, Programmer, 
  Access, Research and Development
  National Film and Sound Archive, Australia
  McCoy Circuit, Acton, 
  ACT, 2601 AUSTRALIA
  phone: +61 2 6248 2054  |  fax: + 61 2 6249 8159
  www.nfsa.gov.au
  [Please note that I am often absent Mondays]

  Film prints shipped to:
  NATIONAL FILM AND SOUND ARCHIVE OF AUSTRALIA
  att: Cinema Programming
  Loading Dock
  McCoy Circuit Acton Canberra 
  ACT 2601 AUSTRALIA
  +61 2 6248 2289 / cynthia.piromalli at nfsa.gov.au (Please email all invoices to this address)

  The National Film and Sound Archive collects, preserves and provides access to Australia's historic and contemporary moving image and recorded sound culture. 

  Hello all,

  This will be an odd question, but does anyone know if there were any
  Ainu actors in prewar Japanese film? I have seen a couple of silents
  recently which featured actors that look like they might, in fact, be
  of Ainu decent, though I could just be seeing things. The western
  looking man in Naruse's "No Blood Relation" (1932) comes to mindPardon
  me if this is an odd question.

  Pete 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  From: Aaron Gerow <aaron.gerow at yale.edu>
  To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
  Sent: Wednesday, September 7, 2011 2:59 AM
  Subject: Re: Ainu actors in prewar Japanese film

  I have not heard of any actors from that era who then or later termed themselves Ainu. Perhaps there were some but because of factors such as discrimination, which lead zainichi actors for instance to hide their backgrounds, did not admit it publicly.

  A good paper could be written about the representations of Ainu in Japanese cinema, which incidentally could include Naruse's Kotan no kuchibue, as well as other works like Kimi no na wa or Daisogen no wataridori.

  Aaron Gerow
  Professor
  Film Studies Program/East Asian Languages and Literatures
  Director of Undergraduate Studies, Film Studies Program
  Yale University
  320 York Street, Room 311
  PO Box 208236
  New Haven, CT 06520-8236
  USA
  Phone: 1-203-432-7082
  Fax: 1-203-432-6729
  e-mail: aaron.gerow at yale.edu
  site: www.aarongerow.com

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