Nipopo Dolls

Sakhalin Ainu shamans produced abstract wooden figurines called nipopo ("wooden baby"), used primarily as amulets for curing or warding off childhood disease. The addition of strips of red and blue cloth or a blue bead (on the upper figure) was thought to increase their power; such dolls were dressed in inaw-kike (wood shavings) to increase their efficacy. The two- headed figure may have been a charm to enhance the probability of giving birth to twins. (Twins were believed to bring success in fishing and hunting among the Sakhalin Ainu and neighboring Eastern Siberian groups. A similar belief was also held by the Kwakwaka'wakw, the native people of Canada's Northwest Coast.) These nipopo were collected in Novoe, Sakhalin, in 1945. Both have the deep patina of long-held personal treasures.

(Ainu: Spirit of a Northern People. Arctic Studies Center. Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History)

Kan Wada Collection
B. Wada, col. 1945, Novoe, Sakhalin

Ainu: Spirit of a Northern People. Arctic Studies Center. Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History