Repun-Kamuy, the Ainu Kamuy of the sea. Repun-kamuy lords over the ocean and its various fauna, as well as lording over the other Kamuy of the sea. Manifesting as a orca or an Ainu fisherman, Repun-kamuy is the greatest of all ocean Kamuy. Along with his two servants the tortoise Kamuy and the albatross Kamuy, Repun-kamuy is said to be a very caring Kamuy, giving those who worship him large boons of sea fish. In one legend Repun-kamuy spotted an Ainu village, and feeling generous, Repun-kamuy used his harpoon to gift the villagers a whale to feast on. On his way back home a sea wren told him that the same villagers were disrespecting him and the whale by using unclean sickles and axes to cut apart the whale. Repun-kamuy could only laugh as he told the wren that the meat belonged to the villagers now, so they could use it however they wanted. In the morning he checked the village once more, he observed that in fact the sea wren lied, the villagers were in their ceremonial garb and using their sacred blades, showing the greatest possible respect to the whale and Repun-kamuy. Truly moved from this, Repun-kamuy promises the villagers that the sea will always keep them from famine.
As a culture that mainly subsisted off of what nature gave them, the Ainu’s coastal villagers relied heavily upon fishing. Because of this fishing became an integral part of Ainu society, leading to Repun-kamuy’s success in religious reverence. Repun-kamuy’s connection to the Orca has affected the whale’s importance in Ainu society, being revered as great and powerful spawn of the sea god. The Ainu show this respect with their treatment of deceased whales, using ceremonial swords and robes to prep the meat, sometimes even holding funerals for beached orca’s. However in the modern day with the Ainu’s continued loss of indigenous rights, they are no longer able to fish in their ancestral waters.
