Arjuna Badger PressArjuna Badger Press
Audiobooks comingReal voice narration is in production — full audiobook editions for Audible and wide release are on the way. Read and download the text editions free here until then.

Place Wiki

The Way That Was Invented — real places & people

The Unheard · Japan · A photo wiki for travellers and curious readers. The novel is fiction; these grounds are real — go stand in them. Read the book · All place wikis

Places of awe

Hokkaidō — the Ainu homeland, renamed from Ezo within living memory of the land.

Hokkaidō — the Ainu homeland, renamed from Ezo within living memory of the land.
Hokkaidō — the Ainu homeland, renamed from Ezo within living memory of the land.

掬茶, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Lake Akan — one of the surviving Ainu kotan (community) homes.

Lake Akan — one of the surviving Ainu kotan (community) homes.
Lake Akan — one of the surviving Ainu kotan (community) homes.

ブルーノ・プラス, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Upopoy, Shiraoi — Japan's first national Ainu institution (open the living-people question, not the glass case).

Upopoy, Shiraoi — Japan's first national Ainu institution (open the living-people question, not the glass case).
Upopoy, Shiraoi — Japan's first national Ainu institution (open the living-people question, not the glass case).

Higa4, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Ishi-no-Hōden 'floating rock', Takasago — hand-cut from the bedrock, its makers unknown.

The Ishi-no-Hōden 'floating rock', Takasago — hand-cut from the bedrock, its makers unknown.
The Ishi-no-Hōden 'floating rock', Takasago — hand-cut from the bedrock, its makers unknown.

z tanuki, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Himeji and Hōryū-ji — the celebrated wonders the unheard hands actually built.

Himeji and Hōryū-ji — the celebrated wonders the unheard hands actually built.
Himeji and Hōryū-ji — the celebrated wonders the unheard hands actually built.

Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Things of wonder (made by hand)

An attus elm-bast robe with moreu swirl appliqué — woven and cut by Ainu women.

An attus elm-bast robe with moreu swirl appliqué — woven and cut by Ainu women.
An attus elm-bast robe with moreu swirl appliqué — woven and cut by Ainu women.

Unknown Ainu artisan. Published in Hali magazine, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The tonkori (five-string zither) and mukkuri (mouth-harp) — Ainu voice and string.

The tonkori (five-string zither) and mukkuri (mouth-harp) — Ainu voice and string.
The tonkori (five-string zither) and mukkuri (mouth-harp) — Ainu voice and string.

Calistemon, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Tamahagane and the hamon — clean sortable carbon, real metallurgy, never katana-mysticism.

Tamahagane and the hamon — clean sortable carbon, real metallurgy, never katana-mysticism.
Tamahagane and the hamon — clean sortable carbon, real metallurgy, never katana-mysticism.

Toby Manzanares, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The taiko — there is no drum without the leather the outcast hands once tanned.

The taiko — there is no drum without the leather the outcast hands once tanned.
The taiko — there is no drum without the leather the outcast hands once tanned.

Kenneth C. Zirkel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Peoples, in their own dress

Ainu people in their own dress — a living culture, modern and self-determining, not a relic.

Ainu people in their own dress — a living culture, modern and self-determining, not a relic.
Ainu people in their own dress — a living culture, modern and self-determining, not a relic.

Japanexperterna.se, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

An Ainu elder — one of the keepers of a critically endangered language.

An Ainu elder — one of the keepers of a critically endangered language.
An Ainu elder — one of the keepers of a critically endangered language.

Tamoto Kenzō, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

A yamabushi mountain ascetic — a near-extinguished living path, handed on, not graved.

A yamabushi mountain ascetic — a near-extinguished living path, handed on, not graved.
A yamabushi mountain ascetic — a near-extinguished living path, handed on, not graved.

Noah0812, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

All photographs are freely licensed (public domain / CC) via Wikimedia Commons. See each caption for author and licence.

All wikis · Library · Craft Library

← All place wikis