Ai - Ainu Arrows
Purchased in 1904 at Louisiana Purchase Exposition
Bamboo or copper, deer bone, feathers
Top to bottom: 52, 48, 44.5 cm long
Top to bottom: Cat. 88077, 88077, 88075
© The Field Museum
These three arrows were purchased in 1904 from an Ainu group in St. Louis participating in the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. When used with a bow or a spring trap, a single arrow like the ones to the right could bring down any animal in the Hokkaido forest.
Arrows were constructed out of four main parts. The point could either be made of carved bamboo (as the top arrow illustrates), iron, or copper (as the middle arrow illustrates). The point was connected to the fore-shaft by thread and could be easily removed (as the bottom arrow illustrates). Arrows with bamboo points had a fore-shaft made from the fibula of a deer. This added extra weight made it stable in flight. Iron or copper-tipped arrows did not need this extra weight, but some were constructed with a fore-shaft in order to change from an iron point to a bamboo point at will. If the arrow had a fore-shaft, then it was connected to the shaft of the arrow, usually made from a native reed. Feathers were then added to the shaft as fletching in order to stabilize its flight. Finally, the notch at the end was strengthened with string.
While the construction of these Ainu arrows may seem simple, they were amazing deadly due to the use of poison on the tips. The poison would be placed into a hollowed area on the bamboo arrowhead and covered with gum. Its entry into an animal would dislodge the gum and let the poison enter the bloodstream. This poison was strong enough to fell a full-grown bear in a matter of minutes, and its use has been outlawed for over 100 years. The nature of the poison left only the area around the wound dangerous to eat.
Reverend John Batchelor, a missionary who spent 60 years among the Ainu, described the manufacture of poison at length in the late 1800s: "The poison the Ainu formerly used upon their arrows was made from the roots of aconite plants or 'monkshood'. The roots were dug up in the spring and peeled, and put in the sun to dry. When they were thoroughly dried, the Ainu ground them to powder between two stones. They then soaked some tobacco and capsicums in water. When this was well soaked they moistened the powdered aconite with the liquor, adding thereto a little foxes' gall. It was then again put to dry, and again wetted with the liquor; but this time some of the hunters added a poisoned kind of spider. Some of them used to bury the poison for a few days, but others did not do so. When an Ainu wished to know whether his poison was good or not, he applied a minute particle to his tongue. If good, it was said to quickly produce a peculiar sense of tingling and numbness."
(Commentary by Stev Weidlich)