Ainu Bamboo Mouth Harp (Mukkur)
About the Product
This traditional Ainu instrument - called mukkur in the Ainu language - is a handmade mouth harp carved from Hokkaido bamboo and produced right here in Shiraoi, the heart of Ainu culture.
The Ainu are Hokkaido's indigenous people with millennia of history playing the mukkur during their spiritual animistic ceremonies.
The sound resembles a deep and rhythmic birdcall. The vibrations produced are both soothing and trance-like.
See the YouTube video below (English subtitles included) for an instructional video on how-to-play the mukkur mouth harp, taught by Shiraoi elder Shimako Yamazaki san. A QR Code linking the YouTube video is also printed directly on the product packaging.
This simple instrument can bring countless hours of fun and take us back thousands of years in the musical tradition of Hokkaido.
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About the producer
The Shiraoi Net Shoten is a local association from the heart of Shiraoi's Ainu culture, located 1.5 hours south of Sapporo. Their mission is to promote local Ainu crafts and bring together local producers under one roof. Founded and operated by Shiraoi's local municipal government, they hope to further promote local Ainu crafts & producers both online and via the newly renovated Shiraoi Ainu Museum Upopoy - now the premier Ainu cultural museum in Japan. |
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