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

Overview

In Kuteashguru’s account of the early world, the earth’s crust is still thin and the burning ground prevents people from leaving their huts to obtain food. Okikurumi fishes for them and sends his wife Turesh to distribute the catch, warning them not to ask questions or try to see her face. One recipient grabs her hand as it reaches through his window and forcibly pulls her inside. She screams and struggles, then becomes a writhing dragon within the hut. The sky darkens, thunder crashes, she vanishes, and lightning consumes the building.

Okikurumi angrily stops feeding the people and departs to an unspecified place. The teller connects this loss of provision with subsequent hardship. No return of Turesh or restoration of the household is narrated. Chamberlain’s general preface gives the forms Turesh and Tureshi[hi] and describes her as Okikurumi’s sister-wife; this individual tale calls her his wife only. The entry retains that distinction and does not extend the collector’s derogatory generalizations about Ainu communities into its account of a named religious figure.

Fish delivery under a prohibitionDragon transformation after forced entryDisappearance during a thunderstorm
01

Origins & earliest records

Ainu oral narrative in Chamberlain’s historical English collection

02

Records & interpretation

Complete numbered tale, ending, attached notes, title and collection introductions read; teller and recording method retained.

Selected bibliography

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

  1. 01

    Aino Folk-Tales

    Basil Hall Chamberlain, collector and English translator; narrative by Kuteashguru · 1888

    xv, The Punishment of Curiosity, pp.19–20; Kuteashguru, July1886; written down from memory. Folk-Lore Society XXII. Page markers from the English transcription, not independent scan 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 English narrative and edition context read

Aino Folk-Tales

Basil Hall Chamberlain; Folk-Lore Society XXII,1888; introductionEdwardB.Tylor. xv, The Punishment of Curiosity, pp.19–20

Complete cache chamberlain-aino-15.txt; master chamberlain-aino.html/.txt. Kuteashguru, July1886; written down from memory. Actual Ainu original not collated. Source-specific divine or transformed identity; no genericJapanese/Chinese identification. Preface distinguishes male named informants, memory and literal methods, and separately expurgated illustrated adaptations.

Inspect the digitized plate · Source collection manifest

References

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

  1. Historical English record of a named Ainu tellingChamberlain, Aino Folk-Tales — xv, The Punishment of Curiosity, pp.19–20Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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

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