A. H. Savage Landor (1867–1925), the grandson of the author Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864), was born and educated in Florence. He abandoned his painting studies in Paris to travel around the world, and visited Asia, the Middle East and South America, supporting himself as he went by painting portraits of people he encountered. Landor became a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 1892, and a Member of the Royal Institution in 1897. This volume, first published in 1893, deals with his adventurous experiences among the indigenous Ainu, the 'hairy men' who lived in the northern 'home islands' of Japan and in Sakhalin, the island whose possession was disputed by Japan and Russia for two hundred years. Landor insisted on 'doing in Ainuland as the Ainu does'. He describes his journey through the Ainu territory and gives a detailed and ethnographically aware account of its people and their culture.
Contents
Preface; 1. From Hakodate to Mororran; 2. From Mororran to the Saru River; 3. Up the Saru River; 4. An Ainu festival; 5. From the Saru River to Cape Erimo; 6. From Cape Erimo to the Tokachi River; 7. The Tokachi region; 8. From the Tokachi River to the Kutcharo River; 9. The Koro-pok-kuru; 10. The Kutcharo River and Lake; 11. From Akkesi to Nemuro; 12. The Kurile Islands; 13. On the east and north-east coast; 14. Along the lagoons of the north-east coast; 15. On the north-east coast; 16. From Cape Soya to the Ishikari River; 17. The Ishikari River; 18. Nearing civilisation; 19. Completing the circuit of Yezo; 20. Ainu habitations; 21. Ainu art; 22. Ainu physiognomy; 23. Movements and attitudes; 24. Ainu clothes; 25. Ainu music; 26. Heredity; 27. Physiological observations; 28. The Ainu superstitions; 29. Marital relations; Appendix; Index.
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