1) Fascinating story. I had no idea the Ainu existed. Their way of life seems very reminiscent of the Haida and other indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest.
2) I thought the author's description of the iyomante was precious and patronizing. TLDR: according to the article, the iyomante is the ritualized slaughter of an adult bear that has been taken from its mother as an infant and raised in confined captivity. It's not a quick death, according to the article:
> At the start of the ceremony, an elder offered a prayer first to the goddess of the fire and hearth, Fuchi. The elder led the men to the bear cage. They prayed. They released the bear to exercise and play, then shot him with two blunt arrows before strangling and beheading him, freeing the spirit. People feasted, they danced, they sang. They decorated the head and an old woman recited sagas of Ainu Mosir, the floating world that rested on the back of a fish.
I get that knowing how this ceremony was carried out is extremely important anthropologically, and there's something to admire in the extent to which the Ainu were connected to the ecosystem in which they lived. That said, I thought the article really went out of its way to romanticize the captivity and torture of a non-domesticated wild animal.