A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
The screech owl in Batchelor’s account is charged with overseeing deer under the eagle owl’s superintendence. Its names include yuk chikap kamui, isho sange kamui and hash inao koro kamui, associated respectively with deer, hunting success and shrub offerings. This subordinate office is not described as biological descent from the eagle owl.
In the embedded narrative, a hunter encounters an exceptionally large, entirely white owl in remote mountains and offers it an inao made from a shrub. A white-robed man subsequently appears in his dream, thanks him and promises that his children will guide hunts and warn of danger. When the hunter wakes around midnight, the bird is perched on the offering and hoots beautifully. In daylight he kills enough deer to feed his village.
The human appearance occurs within the dream: the account does not narrate a bodily transformation witnessed while the hunter is awake. Batchelor connects the bird’s white plumage and the man’s robes with purity, and discusses human forms attributed to bird deities in the spirit world. Those generalizations are the collector’s commentary around this particular tale. Neither the hunter nor its individual teller is named here, and the English bird label is not used to settle a modern zoological identification.
Origins & earliest records
Ainu traditions as reported in John Batchelor’s1901 English account; individual tellers generally unnamed in these passages.
Records & interpretation
Complete chapters XXXVI408–416 and XXXVII417–429 read; printed410,413,418–420 and427–429 visually checked alongside title and preface.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
The Ainu and their Folk-Lore
XXXVII, Bird Cultus (b), pp.417–420; London: Religious Tract Society,1901. Complete chapters and endings read.
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
The Ainu and their Folk-Lore
London: Religious Tract Society,1901. XXXVII, Bird Cultus (b), pp.417–420
Complete caches batchelor1901-ch36.txt and batchelor1901-ch37.txt. Actual printed410/413/418–420/427–429 retained as download n441/444/449–451/458–460. No indigenous-language collation; unnamed tellers, missionary framing and dream-versus-waking distinction preserved.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Historical English ethnographic and narrative accountThe Ainu and their Folk-Lore — XXXVII, Bird Cultus (b), pp.417–420Research access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.