Ainu - carved wooden bear

This is a Japanese vintage Ainu artisan hand carved wooden bear.  It was made 52 years ago. The bear is made from one piece of wood, it’s fur is intricately carved with a chisel (kibori technique) and it holds a salmon in it’s mouth: the most common design for the kibori kuma.  The Ainu had great reverence for bears. They were providers of food, fur and bone for tools. Bears brought gifts from the deities and were regarded as the important mountain god in disguise.

The Ainu are an indigenous people of northern Japan living and practicing their art and culture on the island of Hokkaido.

Being expert carvers as part of their way of life, it was a natural choice for them to supplement their livelihood by carving images of bears from wood. In the early part of the 20th century, the Ainu were forced to relocate to Hokkaido to cultivate the land and become farmers.  Due to the harsh winter conditions, they found it difficult in doing this and instead kept their way of life hunting and gathering. 

The bear was a big part of their life providing food and clothing for their basic needs.  The Ainu have always worshiped the bear as a diety which resulted in a perfect match of carving their image to honor them.  This started their artisan craft line of sculptures that began around the later 1940's just after the war and it has become an important part of their survival as a people.

Measures approx: 7.87" w x 4.7" h

• Name : Linda Wroth