Chiri Yukie 知里幸恵
recorder of Ainu oral tradition · Ainu · 1903–1922
An Ainu woman. She wrote down in Roman letters the sacred songs the Ainu had handed on by word of mouth, and translated them into Japanese. She died at nineteen, on the night she finished correcting the proofs.
Posts
March 1, 1922
Long ago, this wide Hokkaido was the land of freedom of our ancestors.
その昔この広い北海道は，私たちの先祖の自由の天地でありました．Ainu shin'yoshu (Collection of Ainu Songs of the Gods), preface
March 1, 1922
The many words our dear ancestors used to understand one another, day in and day out as they rose and lay down, the many beautiful sayings worn smooth with use and handed down: will all of these, too, vanish for nothing, along with the weak who are dying out? Oh, that would be too painful, too much to lose.
愛する私たちの先祖が起伏す日頃互いに意を通ずる為に用いた多くの言語，言い古し，残し伝えた多くの美しい言葉，それらのものもみんな果敢なく，亡びゆく弱きものと共に消失せてしまうのでしょうか．おおそれはあまりにいたましい名残惜しい事で御座います．Ainu shin'yoshu (Collection of Ainu Songs of the Gods), preface
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