Woman's Knife

Item number Ed9.4 a-b from the MOA: University of British Columbia.

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Description

Knife with light-coloured carved wooden handle (part a) and carved wooden sheath (part b). Both handle and sheath are decorated with oval-shaped sections of cross-hatching that are outlined with scroll designs. Sheath has grey and green coloured fibre wrapped around the opening that is threaded through a wooden loop at the side and connects to a wooden peg-like piece.

History Of Use

Woman's knife called menoko-makiri (menoko means woman, makiri means knife). Used by men to propose marriage to a woman. The man would give the knife to a woman he wanted to marry, and if she accepted his offer she would wear it at her waist. Then they would marry.

Iconographic Meaning

The lobed four-pointed design is an Ainu symbol. The hatching is the maker's design to represent fish scales.

Narrative

This group of Ainu objects was presented to the Museum in 1995 by representatives of the Sapporo Ainu Cultural Society so that their culture could be represented here. The Society works for the preservation and recognition of their culture. The Ainu are indigenous to the island of Hokkaido in northern Japan.