Changing Individual Names of the Ainu and Spatial Application of the Name-giving Prohibition in the Nemuro District of Hokkaido, Japan, in the Mid-19th Century

Names were believed by traditional Ainu to be lucky or unlucky and could bring fortune or misfortune to an individual. For example, a sickly child was thought to be sick because his or her name was an unfortunate one. Therefore, his or her given name had to be changed. There were two types of name changing in Ainu society. One was to change their Ainu-language names to Japanese-language names, and the other was to change their Ainu-language names to different Ainu-language names. Many studies on the renaming of the Ainu have focused on the former, which reflected the acculturation process from the Ainu culture to the Wajin (traditional Japanese) culture. The renaming with Ainu names is thought to represent the Ainu culture itself. Name-giving prohibitions among the Ainu dictated that the name of a living neighbor or a dead person should not be given to another individual.<br> The purpose of this study is to reconstruct the actual conditions of the renaming with Ainu names as an element of Ainu culture and to investigate the spatial range of application of the name-giving prohibition. The findings of the analysis are as follows:<br> (1) The study area consisted of seven districts: Nemuro (1848-1858), Monbetsu (1856-1877), Shizunai (1858-1871), Mitsuishi (1858-1869), Takashima (1834-1871), the southwestern part of Sakhalin (1868-1874), and Ushoro (1856-1873). The renaming with Ainu names as an element of Ainu culture was identified in all seven districts. The number of persons per 100 inhabitants during a 10-year period who changed their Ainu names to different Ainu names was very large, especially in the Nemuro district. Previously, the. Ainu in the Nemuro district had been thought to have changed their own culture more significantly to Japanese culture, because the ratio of Japanese names (the number of persons who had Japanese names/total number of inhabitants) was higher there in 1858.<br> (2) In the Nemuro district, the number of persons who had only Ainu names was over 90% of the total number of inhabitants from 1848 to 1855, but was only about 30% of the population from 1857 to 1858. The change ratio of Ainu names (the number of persons who changed their Ainu names to different Ainu names/total number of inhabitants) was large among the heads of ordinary households but was small among the heads of “special” households. In special households, one or more members played an important role both in Ainu society and in the interrelations between the Ainu and the Japanese. On the other hand, the change ratio of Ainu names was high among the sons and daughters of the heads of special households.<br> (3) In the Nemuro district, four factors were recognized as influencing the changing of Ainu names to different Ainu names: 1) marriage, 2) the death of someone in the same household, 3) divorce, and 4) lodgement to other household. Of the total number of persons who changed their Ainu names to different Ainu names, 78.0% (160/205) did so due to these four factors. Other statistics revealed that 5.4% (11/205) were renamed due to marriage, and 10.2% (21/205) due to the death of someone in the same household. In the cases of renaming caused by two or more factors together, 60.5% (124/205) were renamed in relation to marriage, and 51.7% (106/205) in relation to the death of someone in the same household. Both the divorce and marriage rates were much higher in the Nemuro district than in the Takashima, Monbetsu, Shizunai, Mitsuishi, and Ushoro districts and in the southwestern part of Sakhalin.<br> (4) In the Nemuro district, no one had the same name as that of a living neighbor within the same settlement, except for one case in the Shibetsu settlement in 1848 and an other in the Uenbetsu settlement in 1854.