#nivkh

[beehunni62]

Fishskin Robes of the Ethnic Tungusic People of China and Russia

Oroch woman’s festive robe made of fish skin, leather, and decorative fur trimmings [image source].

Nivkh woman’s fish-skin festival coats (hukht), late 19th century. Cloth: fish skin, sinew (reindeer), cotton thread; appliqué and embroidery. Promised gift of Thomas Murray L2019.66.2, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minnesota, United States [image source].

Back view of a Nivkh woman’s robe [image source].

Front view of a Nivkh woman’s robe [image source].

Women’s clothing, collected from a Nivkh community in 1871, now in the National Museum of Denmark. Photo by Roberto Fortuna, courtesy Wikimedia Commons [image source].

The Hezhe people 赫哲族 (also known as Nanai 那乃) are one of the smallest recognized minority groups in China composed of around five thousand members. Most live in the Amur Basin, more specifically, around the Heilong 黑龙, Songhua 松花, and Wusuli 乌苏里 rivers. Their wet environment and diet, composed of almost exclusively fish, led them to develop impermeable clothing made out of fish skin. Since they are part of the Tungusic family, their clothing bears resemblance to that of other Tungusic people, including the Jurchen and Manchu.

They were nearly wiped out during the Imperial Japanese invasion of China but, slowly, their numbers have begun to recover. Due to mixing with other ethnic groups who introduced the Hezhen to cloth, the tradition of fish skin clothing is endangered but there are attempts of preserving this heritage.

Hezhen woman stitching together fish skins [image source].

Top to bottom left: You Wenfeng, 68, an ethnic Hezhen woman, poses with her fishskin clothes at her studio in Tongjiang, Heilongjiang province, China December 31, 2019. Picture taken December 31, 2019 by Aly Song for Reuters [image source].

Hezhen Fish skin craft workshop with Mrs. You Wen Fen in Tongjian, China. © Elisa Palomino and Joseph Boon [image source].

Hezhen woman showcasing her fishskin outfit [image source].

Hezhen fish skin jacket and pants, Hielongiang, China, mid 20th century. In the latter part of the 20th century only one or two families could still produce clothing like this made of joined pieces of fish skin, which makes even the later pieces extremely rare [image source].

Detail view of the stitching and material of a Hezhen fishskin jacket in the shape of a 大襟衣 dajinyi or dajin, contemporary. Ethnic Costume Museum of Beijing, China [image source].

Hezhen fishskin boots, contemporary. Ethnic Costume Museum of Beijing, China [image source].

Although Hezhen clothing is characterized by its practicality and ease of movement, it does not mean it’s devoid of complexity. Below are two examples of ornate female Hezhen fishskin robes. Although they may look like leather or cloth at first sight, they’re fully made of different fish skins stitched together. It shows an impressive technical command of the medium.

赫哲族鱼皮长袍 [Hezhen fishskin robe]. Taken July 13, 2017. © Huanokinhejo / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 [image source].

Image containing a set of Hezhen clothes including a woman’s fishskin robe [image source].

The Nivkh people of China and Russia also make clothing out of fish skin. Like the Hezhen, they also live in the Amur Basin but they are more concentrated on and nearby to Sakhalin Island in East Siberia.

Top to bottom left: Woman’s fish-skin festival coat (hukht) with detail views. Unknown Nivkh makers, late 19th century. Cloth: fish skin, sinew (reindeer), cotton thread; appliqué and embroidery. The John R. Van Derlip Fund and the Mary Griggs Burke Endowment Fund; purchase from the Thomas Murray Collection 2019.20.31 [image source].

Top to bottom right: detail view of the lower hem of the robe to the left after cleaning [image source].

Nivkh or Nanai fish skin boots from the collection of Musée du quai Branly -Jacques Chirac. © Marie-Lan Nguyen / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 [image source].

Detail view of the patterns at the back of a Hezhen robe [image source].

Read more:

[littleduke]

persian - german - egyptian - nivkh - french

[nonrussian]

Иллюстрации "Храбрый Азмун". Нивхская сказка Illustrations "Brave Azmun". Nivkh fairy tale

Illustrator Gennady Pavlishin Иллюстратор Генадий Павлишин. Из "Амурские сказки" 1975

[thenuclearmallard]

Orok Indigenous

[dulin-duunde]

Nivkh is a very small language family, its varieties are quite close to each other. How can anything possibly go wrong with the reconstruction?

[du-buk]

My old man, Kirrill! He is mixed, and is half Nivkh. We will see him in future projects🐻‍❄️

[bastrod]

Nivkh bear festival. (the bear's costume is technically Ainu but it was the closest i could find)

[good-lobster]

Song: Heroic A Cappella Song, Tilgur (Tylgu, Tylgur)

Artist: Odrajn

Album: Sibérie 6: Sakhaline - Musique Vocale et Instrumentale (Sakhalin - Vocal and Instrumental Music)

[peonycats]

MISC ART DUMP 5

Haven't posted art in a while wowee!! here's some of my old art I never got around to posting :3

from top to bottom, left to right:

Syria (My Razzle Dazzle entry, he's having a smoke somewhere in the mid 20th century- im really proud of that bg!)

Chukotka (I would like to do more painting detailed portraits in the future hehe)

Hittite Empire (Not sure if I'll keep this design, but I do like the missing eye! I think she def acquired it towards the end of her life)

Egypt, Lebanon (Apparently crocs are quite popular in egypt i hear its quite depressing in cairo and evidently lebanon agrees)

Uzbekistan (I realized I never really put her blue since I associate her with earth tones and wanted to try it :3)

Nivkh, Ainu (Mr ainu makes an appearance again!! did some reading on sakhalin and the nivkh-ainu interactions were so interesting to me)

[irithnova]

You guys are cancelling Mongolia over the wrong things....this man shipped REAL PEOPLE ! 🤢

Ok to explain this OXOAOZ so uh. The Mongols had a pretty funny relationship with the Ainu and Nivkh people. The Ainu and Nivkh were at odds with each other for quite a while before the Mongols came along. Despite this, there was also frequent trade and intermarriage between the two.

Mongolia was pretty invested in Ainu vs Nivkh drama and really wanted Ainu on his side. When the Ainu killed some Nivkh warriors in 1265 - Mongolia responded by sending them gifts of food, armour and weapons.

The era of peace between the Ainu and Nivkh that Mongol intervention brought about facilitated an era of boosted trade and cultural exchanges between the two. I just think the idea that Mongolia saw Ainu and Nivkh, thought they'd make a great ""team"" (couple) and was like guys... Become my tributaries and make LOVE peace 🥺 is funny even if it seems like an insane far-fetched statement.

I guess Mongolia was right about them though because yes I think Ainu and Nivkh are. Together fully now😍 He's very smug about this he really thinks he's a good matchmaker

Mongolia's borderline obsessive affinity for stage plays and his situationship with China (hatesex) ... Is it really any surprise he tried to use his power to make them an enemies turned lovers couple 🤨 He's fudanshi brained... Arrest him

Ofc not everything was "peaceful" between them and the Mongols lol but. This was too funny to me. Mfw Mongolia sends them gifts under each other's names 😨

[idiotsonlyevent]

torn abt making a 'serious' slavchuck masterpost bc on one hand i want everyone to Consider The Vision on the other hand i think ppl might be weird abt it and i dont wanna open that whole can of worms lol

[fantasynamesbymeforyou]

Chalun - m (Nivkh) fog

From Nivkh ch'alu, "fog".

Usually given to a boy born on a foggy day.

Nivkh is an endangered language that I'm having trouble finding resources for. If anyone knows the pronunciation or Cyrillic spelling for this let me know!

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels

[laikabu]

I dont know about the complete AB but in the first adventurer's bible the "true name" column for Izutsumi is listed as unknown? Sorry if you have received asks like this already... Sorry for being a stickler to "canon" when even Kui doesn't care that much lol (read: thistle's new strip)

(Followup) I guess Izutsumi is in a similar situation with Kabru since iirc (I don't remember a source) there was a short comic the happened early on in Izutsumi's residency at the Nakamotos where Tade accidentally refers to her as Izutsumi and corrects herself quickly (calling her Asebi)? Which could imply Izutsumi has been calling herself Izutsumi from a young age? ...Whatever don't mind me

——

wait i dont get it, none of the new thistle comics contradict w canon i don’t think?

also her real name is unknown bc “izutsumi” is a gibberish japanese word that doesn’t mean anything. izutsumi is heavily implied to be nivkh(if you are familiar with ainu, they’re quite similar) and was brought over by a traveling freak show to the isle of wa(japan’s original name) so yes it is a name she chose for herself when she was young.

her legal name is probably asebi for documentation purposes, but she doesn’t like that

[nonrussian]

Gilyak (Nivkh). Peoples of Russia Series 1907.1911 Нивхи. Серия "Народности России". 1907.1911

models by Pavel Kamensky автор модели Павел Каменский

[txttletale]

legit question: would it be fair to say russia still has imperial/colonial possessions in places like siberia? (NOT the former soviet countries lmao im specifically talking about places mainly inhabitated by indigenous non white/slav peoples, like the ainu nivkhs etc)

absolutely! siberia and the 'russian far east' have absolutely been (& are) sites of settler colonialism during the russian empire, soviet union, and russian federation -- which makes it all the more annoying when eastern european nationalists & anticommunists appropriate the language of anticolonialism.

[mynnthia]

hypothesis on the ethnic/cultural background of izutsumi's mom

[disclaimer: i am not a professional ethnographer, nor of any of the ethnic groups mentioned in the post. this post was written based on research done over the course of a day.

if you have any corrections, feedback, etc, please feel free to inform me! my inbox/dms are open. if there is any misinformation present, i aim to correct them] ----------

idk if anyone else into dungeon meshi has noticed this, but i think izutsumi's mom (and therefore, izutsumi herself) might've been of Nivkh (indigenous east Siberian) heritage?

[details and explanation under the readmore, its slightly long]

when dungeon meshi chapter 59 came out (~2019), i saw a few people speculating that izutsumi's mom might've been Ainu because of how her clothing style notably differed from typical Japanese clothing.

while the Nivkh robe's trim features a different pattern style (swirly) than what izutsumi's mom wears (triangular), the Nivkh robe still looks to be a closer match than Ainu robes, especially in the collar/neckline & sleeve cuff areas.

note how the Ainu robes (image 2) have a different neckline style and wider sleeves:

heres more images of the robes, but from the past this time, found in Wikimedia Commons:

image 1: Nivkh robe from 1871 image 2: Sakhalin Ainu girl (left), Nivkh boy (center), Hokkaido Ainu girl (right) in 1912

Nivkh people have had interactions with Japan dating back centuries too. heres an exerpt from wikipedia:

"For many centuries, the Nivkh were tributaries of the Manchus. After the Treaty of Nerchinsk in 1689, they functioned as intermediaries between the Russians, Manchu and Japanese, and also the Ainu, who were vassals of the Japanese. Early contact with the southern Sakhalin Ainu was generally hostile, although trade between the two was apparent"

(sorry historians for quoting wikipedia as a source here. a lot of the more reputable sources are 20-200+ page papers, and not concise enough to put on a tumblr post)

the English language wiki doesnt have much more detail on Nivkh-Japan relations unfortunately, but there seems to be more info on the Japanese language version of the page.

i've also seen at least 1 speculation that izutsumi's mom might be Mongolian, as her robe somewhat resembles a Mongolian deel. in my opinion, the robe's neckline trim having patterning makes it resemble the Nivkh robes more. this – combined with the fact that prior to the 1900s, Japan-Mongolia relations consisted mostly of Mongolian forces trying to invade japan repeatedly – makes me think Nivkh (or some other indigenous east Siberian) heritage is more likely.

i wont rule it out entirely though, as i don't know how much Ryōko Kui cares about historical-based cultural relations. regardless, here are various deel styles across different Mongolian ethnic groups, if that is of interest to anyone:

i dont really have a profound conclusion for this post tbh. i wanted to document what i found, and figured i might as well share it to tumblr.

theres limited amounts of easily accessible information on traditional eastern Siberian clothing out there, but here's 1 source i found that goes over a few groups (including Nivkh):