Matagi

Matagi is an ethnic and social group of Japanese people whose representatives are found in Hokkaido , the country's northernmost island, and the Tohoku region of Honshu Island. Their traditional occupation is hunting for large animals using ancient methods, from where their name comes from (the word "matagi" can be roughly translated as "hunting specialist"); in modern Japanese, however, the word "matagi" is used to refer exclusively to representatives of this group.

Despite the fact that the Matagi are traditionally associated with the hunt for bears, serow, Japanese macaques and rabbits could also become their prey. The exact etymology of the word “matagi” is unknown: according to the most common theory, it meant “hunter” in the old Tohok dialect ^[1] , although there is a version that it comes from Ainu matangitono , which can be translated as “winter hunter”. The appearance of the matagi is sometimes attributed to the Heian era.

Matagi mainly hunted game in winter and early spring, the rest of the year being peasants or miners; hunting always took place in groups, and collectivism was an integral part of the matagi culture. Most often hunted for a black bear and serow . Hunting a bear in these poor places was a lucrative affair: in addition to meat, the Matagi traded in bear bile, which since ancient times was considered the cure for all diseases in northern Japan ^[2] , as well as fur and bones that were used to make various ritual objects. Often, several Matagi even before the start of the hunting season built a small hunting hut near the forest, which after the start of fishing became a kind of base where game stocks were stored and processed and where the Matag lived most of the hunting season; during long crossings there was a tradition to build a night shelter out of snow. The matagi group consisted, as a rule, of eight to ten people, but in some cases it could be significantly larger (this depended on the object of the hunt); in each group there was a leader who enjoyed absolute power and authority. The roles in the group regarding participation in the hunting process were usually strictly distributed.

Matagi had a rich culture ^[3] , extending to almost all spheres of life and life, although it was not unified: many details varied depending on the particular village. In particular, there was its own “jargon” with a large number of special words or special names for the most important concepts, which was not understood by the uninitiated; there were a huge number of rituals and customs, both religious, that is, all kinds of spells or retribution to the gods of the mountains for a successful hunt, and, for example, the peculiarities of cooking or the special whistling technique with which the matagi echoed each other on the hunt. According to some researchers, the life of the Matagi, as well as their vocabulary, was significantly influenced by the Ainu culture.

The appearance of firearms at the end of the 19th century was adopted by the Matagi, who began to hunt with rifles, but gradually began to destroy their traditions of collectivism, since it was usually easy for a person armed with firearms to kill an object of hunting alone. Modern Matagi hunt almost exclusively bears, with special permissions, since hunting, for example, Japanese serow is prohibited by law even for them. Today, the number of matagi has significantly decreased compared to even the middle of the 20th century, however, for example, their villages still exist in the area of ​​the mountain forests of Shirakami ^[4] .