A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

Konupki-ot-guru inhabits muddy places at the river’s edge in Batchelor’s account. He makes the water thick and muddy and causes banks to fall, an especially harmful action where gardens stand above them. His wife is Konupki-ot-mat. Small inao are sometimes offered to him, and the collector records differing assessments: some grant him a measure of beneficent divinity, while others emphasize his destructive effects. This internal disagreement qualifies the chapter’s broad division between gods and demons. The passage gives no detailed anatomy or separate transformation story; it is a historical religious explanation of riverbank dangers, not a biological creature or a geological finding.

01

Origins & earliest records

Ainu traditions as reported in John Batchelor’s1901 English account; individual tellers generally unnamed in these passages.

02

Records & interpretation

Complete chapters XLV–XLVI read, with original printed pages checked for selected names, variants and locators.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    The Ainu and their Folk-Lore

    John Batchelor, missionary author and translator of collected traditions · 1901

    XLVI, Fish Cultus: Demons of the Sea and Rivers, p.544; London: Religious Tract Society. Complete chapter context checked; no independent Ainu-language collation.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

Primary records and illustrations

Complete XLV532–539 and XLVI540–545 read; title and relevant printed pages visually inspected. Source collector and variant limitations explicit.

The Ainu and their Folk-Lore

London: Religious Tract Society,1901. XLVI, Fish Cultus: Demons of the Sea and Rivers, p.544

Caches batchelor1901-ch45.txt/ch46.txt and master OCR. Original pixels batchelor1901-leaf10.jpg(title),567–568(printed536–537),571–576(printed540–545). The download page/n index is three below scandata leafNum here; printed numbers take precedence. Metadata names author1854–1944; no artwork reuse.

Inspect the digitized plate · Source collection manifest

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Historical English ethnographic and narrative accountThe Ainu and their Folk-Lore — XLVI, Fish Cultus: Demons of the Sea and Rivers, p.544Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

FT·2204 · RESEARCH EDITION 01Back to top ↑