Kimun-Kamuy, lord of the summit. At the dawn of creation, Kimun-Kamuy was one of the myriad Kamuy who descended upon the earth. Like the others, Kimun-Kamuy proliferated his own ramat, with it manifesting as the bears of the mountain side. Prowling the mountains sculpted by his creator Kotan-kar-Kamuy, Kimun-Kamuy was an incredibly powerful spirit renowned for their strength. However one god challenged the great Kimun-Kamuy, This Kamuy was known as Etaspe-Kamuy, the Kamuy of Sea Lions. The two agreed to settle their rivalry with a race, whoever lost would have their respective species be banished to the sea. Though the race was close, the mighty Bear spirit won, with the Sea lions being banished to the Sea. In spite of their loss, Etaspe-Kamuy will provoke Kimun-Kamuy by sending his Sea lions onto the shore, while Kimun-Kamuy will send his bears to push them back into the sea. Another myth describes that one day while Kimun-Kamuy was in his home up in Kamuy-Moshiri he was alerted by the crow Kamuy that his wife and child had gone missing. Worried, Kimun-Kamuy swiftly left for the earth to search for his family. But before he could get far he was found by the hearth goddess Kamuy Fuchi, who told him to follow her. The goddess guided him to a close by Ainu village who were throwing a grand feast. Many gods were in attendance, drawn to the festivities, including the likes of the hunt goddess Hasinaw-uk-kamuy and the river goddess Waka-ush-kamuy, as well as Kimun-Kamuy’s missing family. Kamuy Fuchi told the bear god that the humans found the lost two Kamuy, bringing them back to their village and throwing a feast in their honor. At the end of the feast as Kimun-Kamuy was leaving the village promised him that if any of his family were to be lost in the mortal world again, they’d guide them back to Kimun-Kamuy with another banquet. The vile Kunne-kamuy of Tenei-pokna-moshiri are known to take on the guise of Kimun-Kamuy. These bears are called Wen-Kamuy and are known to attack and kill humans. But Kimun-Kamuy regularly combats these demons, driving them away from human villages.
Kimun-Kamuy is one of, if not, the most well known Ainu Kamuy. His importance among the Hokkaido Ainu is magnified due to the island being a mountainous region, as well as Hokkaido being the home of many brown bears. However the most conversed aspect of the worship of Kimun-Kamuy is the sending back ritual, known as “Iyomante”. The ritual entails an Ainu village adopting an orphaned or abandoned bear cub. For a year the villagers raise the cub, feeding it and treating it with the up most amount of love. After a year passed the villagers then shoot the bear cub to death with arrows. The Cub’s death isn’t seen as cruel or inhumane to the Ainu, as in their belief, the cub’s death sends it back to its originator: Kimun-Kamuy, in a sense continuing the tradition of the 2nd myth mentioned above. The name Kimun-Kamuy translates to “Kamuy of the mountain”, his other names include Nuparikor-Kamuy and Metotush-Kamuy. Due to the prominence of Kimun-Kamuy, there have been multitudes of misinformation that have been spread about bears and Ainu mythology. One such claim is that the Ainu Kamuy are bears, and while bears are referred to as Kamuy, the word Kamuy itself does not mean bear nor are all Kamuy bears. In Ainu mythology, when a Kamuy appears on earth, they’re said to don the skin of the beast they represent, transforming into them in the process. This is seen commonly in Kimun-Kamuy, who’s said to frequently come to earth and personally give his meat to Ainu hunters, similar to other gods like Repun-Kamuy.
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