The Ainu had very few prized personal possessions. For women, this included their sewing needles, while for men this included their knives (makiri) and prayer sticks (ikupasuy). The Ainu relied completely on their ikupasuy to communicate with their gods. Because the Ainu do not pray directly to their gods, the ikupasuy acts as an intermediary between worshipper and the gods.

Carved in low relief with elongated blade-forms and a ringed boss. Fosco Maraini, who studied a thousand of these sticks in 1942, showed such shapes to be the dorsal fin of the orca Rep-un-Kamui, god of the sea. Notches at both ends, or itokpa, identified the owner to the gods. On the underside a single incised shiroshi serves as a property mark.

Ainu, Shari district, eastern Hokkaido, Japan

See: Ainu, Spirit of A Northern People, Fitzhugh and Dubriel, 1999. P. 327-334

Also: Sternberg, Leo. “The Ainu Problem.” Anthropos, vol. 24, no. 5/6, 1929, pp. 755–799.