Kite - Kite (English spelling) Ainu

The revolving detachable head harpoon was used by the Ainu people to catch marine mammals such as whales and large fish. It consists of a harpoon head made of bone, horn or wood with a cutting edge made of iron or other materials, a middle handle that is inserted into a stem chamber at the tail of the harpoon head, a long handle that is tied tightly to the middle handle, and a rope that connects a hole in the harpoon head to the archer. When the harpoon head is shot into the prey, it detaches from the middle handle and remains inside the prey's body. If the archer pulls on the rope and the prey tries to escape, the harpoon head rotates around the hole inside the prey's body, making it difficult to remove. In whaling, for example, it is said that many kite smeared with monkshood poison and engraved with the family crest were shot into the prey one after another, making for a gruesome hunt. Influenced by the harpoon traditions of the North Pacific Circumference, particularly the Okhotsk culture, the basic form is thought to have been established in the 14th or 15th century, and early ones often had open-hollow stem chambers and string holes arranged vertically or diagonally.

[Tetsuo Kikuchi]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

アイヌ民族が鯨などの海獣や大形魚類の漁に使用した回転離頭銛(りとうもり)。鉄製などの刃先をつけた骨角製・木製の銛頭(もりがしら)、その尾部の茎槽(けいそう)に差し込む中柄、中柄に緊縛される長柄、そして銛頭にあけられた索孔から射手までをつなぐ索縄(さくじょう)からなる。銛頭が獲物に射込まれると、中柄から離脱して獲物の体内に残る。射手が索縄を引き、一方獲物が逃げようとすると、銛頭は獲物の体内で索孔を支点に半転し抜けにくくなる。鯨漁の場合など、トリカブト毒を塗り、家紋を刻んだキテを次々と何本も打ち込んで凄絶(せいぜつ)な漁となったという。環北太平洋諸地域とくにオホーツク文化の銛の伝統を受け、14～15世紀に基本形は成立したと思われ、初期のものは茎槽が開窩(かいか)式で、かつ索孔が縦ないし斜位に並ぶものが多い。

［菊池徹夫］

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