Ainu Bag with Blue Bead

Ainu People, Hokkaido, Japan
Mid 1800s – early 1900s
Cotton, elm bark fiber, silk velvet, glass bead, paper
7 x 7 x 1.5 in (17.8 x 17.8 x 3.8 cm)

This interesting bag resembling Japanese sagemono 提げ物 (carrying containers) shows the interconnectedness of Ainu and Japanese cultures thanks to centuries of trade exchange. Several bast fiber and velvet bags hang from a blue glass bead that would be looped under a sash at the waist to prevent the bags from falling. Historically, beads and other components for jewelry were purchased via trade and then incorporated into indigenous forms. Glass beads came primarily from China, but around the time of this object’s creation they were predominantly acquired from trade with the Japanese. The bags would be used to carry small objects, and still contain several ofuda お札, talismans containing a deity’s power that worshippers can purchase at both Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Two are from Shinto shrines, and one is from Mizuma-dera 水間寺, a Buddhist temple in Kaizuka, Osaka. The latter ofuda is a prayer asking Kannon [Bodhisattva of Compassion] to ward off evil spirits and increase happiness, prosperity, and fecundity of the family. From the Meiji period (1868-1912) onward, the Ainu believed in various religions such as Shinto, Buddist, and Christianity in addition to traditional religious beliefs. Experts at the Nibutani Ainu Museum believe the charm bag may have been made by an Ainu craftsperson and subsequently sold at the industrial exposition in Osaka in the Meiji era.