An elderly Ainu woman on the island of Hokkaido in northern Japan shows off tattooing that resembles a mustache around her mouth and encircles her arm. The painful tradition of rubbing soot into cuts in her skin was done during a girl's childhood to ward off evil spirits and to indicate she was qualified for marriage. The practice stopped more than a century ago after being outlawed by the Japanese government. The woman was one of only 300 pure-blooded Ainu still living when she posed for this historical photograph in 1962.
An elderly Ainu woman on the island of Hokkaido in northern Japan shows off tattooing that resembles a mustache around her mouth and encircles her arm. The painful tradition of rubbing soot into cuts in her skin was done during a girl's childhood to ward off evil spirits and to indicate she was qualified for marriage. The practice stopped more than a century ago after being outlawed by the Japanese government. The woman was one of only 300 pure-blooded Ainu (pronounced I-noo) still living when she posed for this historical photograph in 1962. Since that time the Ainu have assimilated into Japanese society and their age-old crafts, customs and ceremonies are only seen today in special tourist villages. The Ainu were officially recognized as indigenous people of Japan in 2008.
Size: 4134px × 2700px
Location: island of Hokkaido, northern Japan, East Asia
Photo credit: © Michele and Tom Grimm / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1960s, 1962, aborigine, aborigines, ainu, arms, aynu, close-, clothing, costume, costumes, cultural, culture, cultures, custom, customs, dress, elderly, ethnic, eyeglasses, face, faces, facial, female, headband, headbands, historical, history, hokkaido, horizontal, indigenous, indoors, japan, japanese, landscape, lifestyles, living, moustache, mushtache, mustaches, people, peoples, photograph, portraits, seniors, tattoo, tattooing, tattoos, tourism, tradition, traditional, traditions, travel, woman
