HOKKAIDO - TANI, Gentan.

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Ezo jinbutsu-zu ("Illustrations of the Ainu"). A manuscript copy of this ethnographic study, with many bright illustrations of Ainu clothing, religious ceremonies, and games. One spread shows a crane dance, with a group of people in a circle with arms outstretched to mimic the bird. Ainu dance was declared intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2009. In the 18th and early 19th centuries the Tokugawa shogunate recognized the need to survey and prepare the north of Japan against a possible Russian incursion. As such, they commissioned over 800 geographer-explorers to survey the island of Ezo (now Hokkaido) in 1799. Tani Gentan (1778-1840) was the representative of the Tottori domain in the capital and an accomplished artist. He spent approximately four months in Hokkaido as part of a 34-person team cataloguing and collecting the medicinal plants of the region. While he was there he also produced five manuscript books. Ezo jinbutsu-zu, commonly known as Ezo fuzoku zushiki, focused on the Ainu themselves. "Ezo fuzoku zushiki depicts not only the distinctive rituals of Ainu culture, but people eating, passing around a pipe while talking together, and children playing. He captured their daily lives in a way that reveals his commitment to document the Ainu as he saw them" (Yamashita, p. 110). Notable illustrations include one of a large leaf being used as an umbrella and children playing the game Uko Karip Chiwe, where a hoop is thrown into the air to be caught on a stick.This co

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