Mashiho Chiri () (February 24, 1909 June 9, 1961) was an Ainu linguist and anthropologist. He was best known for creating Ainu-Japanese dictionaries.

Biography

Chiri was born on February 24, 1909, in what is now Noboribetsu,

Hokkaido is the list of islands of Japan by area, second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own list of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō fr ...

, Japan. His older sister is

Yukie Chiri was an Ainu people, Ainu transcriber and translator of Yukar (Ainu epic tales). Life Yukie Chiri was born into an Ainu family in Noboribetsu, Hokkaidō during the Meiji (era), Meiji era. At the time, the Hokkaidō Development Commission, colon ...

and his aunt is

Imekanu , also known by her Japanese name , was an Ainu people, Ainu missionary and epic poetry, epic poet. Along with her niece, Yukie Chiri, she wrote down and preserved numerous Ainu yukar she learned from her mother. Life and work Imekanu belonge ...

. Though they were both native Ainu speakers, Chiri was not. He was taught Japanese, and learned the Ainu language when he was in high school. He graduated from the

Hokkaido Muroran Sakae High School Hokkaido Muroran Sakae High School () is a high school in Muroran, Hokkaidō, Japan, founded in 1917. Hokkaido Muroran Sakae High School is one of the high schools administered by Hokkaido. The school is operated by the Hokkaido Prefectural Boa ...

. He had excellent grades, but couldn't afford go to college. Instead he worked at a local government office. Later, Kindaichi Kyosuke recognized his intelligence and invited Chiri to stay at his house in Tokyo and attend the . Chiri took him up on his offer, and graduated in 1933. He then studied at the

Tokyo Imperial University The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public university, public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several Edo peri ...

and graduated from the literature department in 1937. He was the first Ainu to enter the university. He earned a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

at the same university. Chiri taught at a girls' school and researched at a museum in

Karafuto , was established by the Empire of Japan in 1907 to govern the southern part of Sakhalin. This territory became part of the Empire of Japan in 1905 after the Russo-Japanese War, when the portion of Sakhalin south of 50°N was ceded by the R ...

for three years before taking a temporary position at

Hokkaido University , or , is a public research university in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. Founded in 1918, it is the fifth-oldest government-authorised university in Japan and one of the former Imperial Universities. The university finds its roots in Sapporo A ...

in 1943. He became a full professor in 1947, and was awarded a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

on December 22, 1954.

Ainu language

Chiri's academic work focused on the

Ainu language Ainu (, ), or more precisely Hokkaido Ainu (), is a language spoken by a few elderly members of the Ainu people on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. It is a member of the Ainu language family, itself considered a language family isola ...

. He won the 1954

Asahi Prize The , established in 1929, is an award presented by the Japanese newspaper ''Asahi Shimbun'' and Asahi Shimbun Foundation to honor individuals and groups that have made outstanding accomplishments in the fields of arts and academics and have greatl ...

for writing a classified Ainu language dictionary. He worked with to study the Ainu names for places, eventually creating an Ainu place name dictionary that helped to give a better understanding of place names in

. Chiri also translated Ainu stories, which were passed down orally because the Ainu did not have a written language. His translation style was meant to reflect the performative nature of how the stories were told, and he did this by writing them in colloquial Japanese and improvising. He also translated certain words like "

vagina In mammals and other animals, the vagina (: vaginas or vaginae) is the elastic, muscular sex organ, reproductive organ of the female genital tract. In humans, it extends from the vulval vestibule to the cervix (neck of the uterus). The #Vag ...

" and "

ejaculation Ejaculation is the discharge of semen (the ''ejaculate''; normally containing sperm) from the penis through the urethra. It is the final stage and natural objective of male sexual stimulation, and an essential component of natural conception. ...

" into

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

in order to avoid

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governmen ...

, though they were written using

katakana is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji and in some cases the Latin script (known as rōmaji). The word ''katakana'' means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana characters are derived fr ...

in his translations. This style was criticized by later scholars for summarizing content and adding new sentences, and some re-translated his work in a more traditional style.

Selected bibliography

* * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chiri, Mashiho 1909 births 1961 deaths Japanese Ainu people Japanese anthropologists Linguists from Japan Academic staff of Hokkaido University 20th-century anthropologists 20th-century Japanese linguists People from Hokkaido

Biography

Ainu language

Selected bibliography

Further reading

References