Japanese Ainu Hokkaido 4" Tall Hand Carved Figurines w/Sacraficial Bear Ex.Cond!

Japanese Ainu Hokkaido

Vintage

4" Tall Hand Carved Figurines w/Sacraficial Bear

Excellent Conditon!!!

History of Ainu People...

It is said...About 300 B.C., Honshu (Japan's mainland) experienced the Yayoi Period. Between the Yayoi and Muromachi Periods, Hokkaido experienced periods of earthenware cultures, such as the Zoku-Jomon Period, the Satsumon Period, and the Okhotsk Culture.

The interest of the Ainu people to us concerns the most spectacular element of their culture which served to call the Ainu to the attention of the Western world. The Ainu practiced an elaborate bear cult into the 1920s which immediately calls to mind the Paleolithic bear cult and the epiphany of the Great Goddess as Bear Mother. The Ainu captured a bear cub, nurtured it for months and then sacrificed it during an elaborate ritual. They are the only people to have retained a full fledged bear cult into the twentieth century and the Paleolithic elements are unmistakable; the Ainu are truly spectacular from a Western anthropologist's viewpoint...

This vintage Japanese Ainu figurine is hand carved and painted with a natural wood stand.  It is 4-inches tall which includes the stand; it is in excellent condition and has never been used for display.    This figurine could be a one of a kind item and very difficult to find a duplicate...