The bear kamui pierced Okikurumi’s knee with a thorn, causing great pain.  The bear explained that he and Okikurumi were both sent to the land of the Ainu to be rulers as a pair, but that he had not been invited to Okikurumi’s feast even though many other lesser kamui were there.  He warned Okikurumi that if he wanted to live, he was to instruct the men to offer the bear kamui many inau (carved willow votive sticks) as well as food and drink, especially when the bears decided to become “visitors” in the world of the Ainu.  Okikurumi promised to do so, and the bear kamui eased his pain.  Afterward, the founder of the Ainu taught the people to respect the bear, and to treat him politely when he visits.

The hearth goddess and the water goddess

There are kamui who help canoes go upstream and kamui who are rabbits, doves, and crows.  Kamui are found in poisons and in the resin of trees.  The smallpox god, pa-koro-kamui, is the most feared; the bear god, who is also god of the mountains, and Okikurumi, the ancestor of the Ainu, are the most revered.  All natural phenomena are the interacting of man and gods and, as such, must follow the order prescribed for both.

Most Ainu tales begin with some sort of imbalance in the moral scheme of things: A god is ignored or smitten with love for a human or a woman feels slighted by her husband and appeals to a god for his punishment.  The conflict in the tales is usually between humans and gods or between the gods themselves.  There are not many traditional tales that deal only with humans.  Generally, the conflict is resolved in these tales and balance is restored. Tales such as these are always told from the point of view of one of the main characters, and the narrator is very often a god.

Most kamui live in the moshiri (world, place, “country”) of the kamui.  Ainu live in their own moshiri, and the Ainu worldview appears to be based on the idea of a special interrelationship or fusion of these two worlds.  One kamui who dwells in every Ainu home as well as in the kamui world is the goddess of fire.  This goddess appears in many tales and in the narrative verse epics, the Yukar.  Closely associated with the hearth of each home, this goddess is central to the relationship of man to the rest of the world.  She is generally the first god mentioned in prayers, and offerings are made to her before similar offerings are made to other gods.  The hearth goddess narrates the following tale:

One day the hearth goddess noticed that her husband did not return after going outside.  The goddess of the waters had fallen in love with her husband.