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Mashiho Chiri (Japanese: 知里 真志保) (February 24, 1909 – June 9, 1961) was an Ainu linguist and anthropologist. He was best known for creating Ainu-Japanese dictionaries.

Mashiho Chiri
知里 真志保
Born	(1909-02-24)February 24, 1909 Noboribetsu, Hokkaido, Japan
Died	June 9, 1961(1961-06-09) (aged 52)
Awards	1954 Asahi Prize
Academic background
Alma mater	Tokyo Imperial University
Academic work
Discipline	Linguist, anthropologist
Sub-discipline	Ainu language
Institutions	Hokkaido University

Biography

Chiri was born on February 24, 1909 in what is now Noboribetsu, Hokkaido, Japan. His older sister is Yukie Chiri and his aunt is Imekanu. Though they were both native Ainu speakers, Chiri was not. He was taught Japanese, and learned the Ainu language when he was in high school.[1]

He graduated from the Hokkaido Muroran Sakae High School. He had excellent grades, but couldn't afford go to college. Instead he worked at a local government office. Later, Kindaichi Kyosuke recognized his intelligence and invited Chiri to stay at his house in Tokyo and attend the First Higher School, Japan [ja].[2] Chiri took him up on his offer, and graduated in 1933.[3] He then studied at the Tokyo Imperial University and graduated from the literature department in 1937.[4] He was the first Ainu to enter the university.[5] He earned a master's degree at the same university. Chiri taught at a girls' school and researched at a museum in Karafuto for three years[1] before taking a temporary position at Hokkaido University in 1943. He became a full professor in 1947,[2] and was awarded a doctorate on December 22, 1954.

Ainu language

Chiri's academic work focused on the Ainu language. He won the 1954 Asahi Prize for writing a classified Ainu language dictionary.[6] He worked with Yamada Hidezo [ja] to study the Ainu names for places, eventually creating an Ainu place name dictionary that helped to give a better understanding of place names in Hokkaido.[5]

Chiri also translated Ainu stories, which were passed down orally because the Ainu did not have a written language. His translation style was meant to reflect the performative nature of how the stories were told, and he did this by writing them in colloquial Japanese and improvising. He also translated certain words like "vagina" and "ejaculation" into German in order to avoid censorship, though they were written using katakana in his translations. This style was criticized by later scholars for summarizing content and adding new sentences, and some re-translated his work in a more traditional style.[1]

Selected bibliography

• 分類アイヌ語辞典. Tokyo: Nihon Jōmin Bunka Kenkyūjo. 1954.
• アイヌ文学. Tokyo: Gengensha. 1955.
• Ezo obake retsuden. Sapporo: Puyara Shinsho Kankōkai. 1961.

Further reading

• Fujimoto, Hideo, 1927-; 藤本英夫, 1927- (1994). Chiri Mashiho no shōgai : Ainugaku fukken no tatakai (Shohan ed.). Tōkyō: Sōfūkan. ISBN 4883230686. OCLC 32974889.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Fujimoto, Hideo (1970). 天才 アイヌ人 学者 の 生涯 : 知里 真志保 評伝. Tokyo: Kodansha.

References

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