Chiri Mashiho - Chiri Mashiho

Linguist. Born on February 24, 1909, as the second son of an Ainu chieftain in Noboribetsu, Hokkaido. Younger brother of Yukie Chiri, author of "Ainu Shinyoshu." He showed talent from his junior high school days in Muroran, and with the help of Kyosuke Kindaichi, he moved to Tokyo and studied at the Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Letters, Tokyo Imperial University. His graduation thesis, "Outline of Ainu Language," is a well-known work that is still read by Ainu language students today. He considered himself more of an ethnologist than a linguist, and aimed to study the Ainu language from the perspective of the Ainu people's everyday life. He first sought employment in Karafuto (Sakhalin) and researched the Karafuto Ainu language, and after returning to Hokkaido, he repeatedly collected and recorded Ainu from the same people in the prefecture, taking into account dialectal differences. The "Classified Ainu Language Dictionary" that he started to create not only analyzed many words in various fields into their finer components and clarified their original meanings, but also detailed the place where the words were recorded, the background of the life in which the words were used, and their uses. His teacher, Kyosuke Kindaichi, was amazed that there was no other dictionary in the world that could compare to his work, but unfortunately he stopped at the "Plants" and "Humans" sections. Along with his many other works, he left behind an immortal work in Ainu studies. Doctor of Literature, Professor at Hokkaido University. Died June 10, 1961.

[Yamada Hidezo October 19, 2018]

"Chiri Mashiho Collected Works" Volume 4 and Supplementary Volume 2 (1973-1976, Heibonsha)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

言語学者。明治42年2月24日、北海道登別(のぼりべつ)のアイヌ首長(しゅちょう)の家柄の二男に生まれる。『アイヌ神謡集』の著者、知里幸恵(ゆきえ)の弟。室蘭(むろらん)中学時代から俊秀で聞こえ、金田一京助の世話で上京、東京帝国大学文学部言語学科に学んだが、その卒業論文であった『アイヌ語法概説』は、現在もアイヌ語を学ぶ人々に読まれている好著である。彼は自らを言語学者であるより民族学者であるとし、アイヌ語をアイヌ同族の生活意識のなかから研究することを目的としていた。まず樺太(からふと)（サハリン）に職を求めてカラフトアイヌ語を調べ、北海道に戻ってからも広く道内の同族から、方言上の差異を考えた採録を繰り返した。彼がつくり始めた『分類アイヌ語辞典』は、各分野における数多くの語彙(ごい)について、ことばをより細かい成分に分析してその元来の意義を解明しただけでなく、ことばの採録の場所、そのことばが使われた生活の背景、用途が詳述され、師金田一京助も世界の辞典中比較するものがないと驚嘆したが、不幸にして「植物篇(へん)」「人間篇」で中断した。その他の数多い諸著とともにアイヌ学上の不朽の仕事を残した。文学博士、北海道大学教授。昭和36年6月10日没。

［山田秀三　2018年10月19日］

『『知里真志保著作集』4巻・別巻2（1973～1976・平凡社）』

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