Chiyo Nakamura (
Japanese: 中村チヨ,
romanized: Nakamura Chiyo; 1906–1969) was a Japanese
Nivkhshaman, craftswoman, performer, and writer of Nivkh folklore and songs.[1][2]
Early life
In September 1905, the year before Chiyo was born,
Sakhalin island below the 50° north parallel became Japanese territory under the
Treaty of Portsmouth.[3]
In 1906, Chiyo was born in
Shisuka,
Karafuto Prefecture,
Japan.[note 1][4] Her father was a Santan person (
Japanese: 山丹),[note 2] born on
Sakhalin and raised on the Asian mainland, who came to Shisuka in his 20s and married a Nivkh woman. Chiyo was named "Cho" (
Japanese: チョ) when she was born; she was a member of the Nivkh Kenvng (
Japanese: ケヌブン,
romanized: Kenubun) clan.[5] Chiyo also used the normative kanji spelling in
Japanese: 千代 for her personal name, as well as the longer "Chiyoko" (
Japanese: 千代子).[2]
When Chiyo was born in 1906, the southern
Poronay basin including Shisuka was a Nivkh enclave among settlements of
Sakhalin Ainu and
Oroks.[7]
In 1947, Chiyo and her family, including two of her children, relocated from
Otasu in Sakhalin to
Hokkaido. First, they lived in
Iwanai for about two years; then they moved to
Abashiri, where several other Nivkh and Orok families also settled.[1][11][12][note 3] Chiyo also had a third child; she hoped to be reunited her eldest son Igarainu (
Japanese: 一郎,
romanized: Ichirō) in Hokkaido, but he was
exiled to Siberia and died in a
Soviet camp.[1][12]
Cultural works
In Abashiri, Chiyo led an amateur performance ensemble.[1][13] Preserved at the
Hokkaido Museum of Northern Peoples are photos of Chiyo's performances, along with her three wooden idols, shaman's belt, rattle, and tambourine beater. Her other artifacts, including handmade traditional fur clothing, have been displayed at the
Hokkaido University Botanical Gardens Museum and at the
Hokkaido Island Historical Museum.[1] Chiyo also collaborated on linguistic research with Yonemura Kioe, director of the Abashiri City Local Museum.[2]
Chiyo's main written work is "
Gilyak Folklore" (
Japanese: ギリヤークの昔話) (1992),[14] posthumously published, which she dictated to
Robert Austerlitz between 1956–1958.[15] Her other dictations published in 1992 include "The Cowardly Santan," "Old
Ainu Stories," two stories about an Ainu fox, "The Alcohol-Loving Ainu God," two stories about the
Orok, and two stories about war between the
Ainu and Orok.[5]
^
abc"保谷民博関係人名録" [Directory of People Related to the Hoya Folk Museum] (PDF) (in Japanese). 国立民族学博物館フォーラム型情報ミュージアム [National Museum of Ethnology Forum Information Museum]. 28 July 2021. pp. 142–43. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
^
abcKojima Kyōko (1996).
"山丹交易とカラフト諸民族の状況" [Some Aspects of Peoples in Sakhalin Under the Influence of Santan Trade] (PDF) (in Japanese). pp. 11–12, 16–17. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
^国文学年次別論文集: 平成5(1993)年. 近代 [Annual Collection of Essays on Japanese Literature: 1993. Modern] (in Japanese). Vol. 2003. Hōbun Shuppan. 1993. pp. 132–33.
^
abTanaka Ryō (1993).
サハリン北緯 50度線 [Sakhalin at the 50th Parallel North] (in Japanese). 草の根出版会 (Grassroots Press). p. 38.
ISBN9784876480975.