Mashiho Chiri

Chiri was born on February 24, 1909, in what is now Noboribetsu, Hokkaido, Japan. His older sister is Yukie Chiri and his aunt is Imekanu. Though they were both native Ainu speakers, Chiri was not. He was taught Japanese, and learned the Ainu language when he was in high school.{{Cite journal|last=Sato-Rossberg|first=Nana|date=2008|title=Chiri Mashiho's Performative Translations of Ainu Oral Narratives|journal=Japanese Studies|language=en|volume=28|issue=2|pages=135–148|doi=10.1080/10371390802249040|s2cid=145812379|issn=1037-1397}}

He graduated from the Hokkaido Muroran Sakae High School. He had excellent grades, but couldn't afford go to college. Instead he worked at a local government office. Later, Kindaichi Kyosuke recognized his intelligence and invited Chiri to stay at his house in Tokyo and attend the {{Interlanguage link|First Higher School, Japan|lt=|ja|第一高等学校 (旧制)|WD=}}.{{Cite web|url=https://www.lib.hokudai.ac.jp/en/collections/personal/mashiho-chiri/|title=Mashiho Chiri collection – Hokkaido University Library|website=www.lib.hokudai.ac.jp|access-date=2019-11-07}} Chiri took him up on his offer, and graduated in 1933.{{Cite web|url=http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1447816/100|title=第一高等学校一覧. 昭和８至９年 - 国立国会図書館デジタルコレクション|website=dl.ndl.go.jp|language=ja|access-date=2019-11-07}} He then studied at the Tokyo Imperial University and graduated from the literature department in 1937.{{Cite web|url=http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1446243/267|title=東京帝国大学一覧. 昭和１２年度 - 国立国会図書館デジタルコレクション|website=dl.ndl.go.jp|language=ja|access-date=2019-11-07}} He was the first Ainu to enter the university. He earned a master's degree at the same university. Chiri taught at a girls' school and researched at a museum in Karafuto for three years before taking a temporary position at Hokkaido University in 1943. He became a full professor in 1947, and was awarded a doctorate on December 22, 1954.

Chiri's academic work focused on the Ainu language. He won the 1954 Asahi Prize for writing a classified Ainu language dictionary.{{Cite web|url=http://www.asahi.com/shimbun/award/asahi/20-30.html|title=asahi.com：朝日賞 - １９４５（昭和２０）年―１９６４（昭和３９）年の受賞者 - 朝日新聞社の賞・コンクール - 朝日新聞社から|website=www.asahi.com|access-date=2019-11-07}} He worked with {{Interlanguage link|Yamada Hidezo|lt=|ja|山田秀三|WD=}} to study the Ainu names for places, eventually creating an Ainu place name dictionary that helped to give a better understanding of place names in Hokkaido.{{Cite book|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/28232|title=Beyond Ainu Studies: Changing Academic and Public Perspectives|last1=Hudson|first1=Mark J.|last2=Lewallen|first2=Ann-Elise|last3=Watson|first3=Mark K.|date=2014|publisher=University of Hawai'i Press|isbn=9780824839185|language=en}}

Chiri also translated Ainu stories, which were passed down orally because the Ainu did not have a written language. His translation style was meant to reflect the performative nature of how the stories were told, and he did this by writing them in colloquial Japanese and improvising. He also translated certain words like "vagina" and "ejaculation" into German in order to avoid censorship, though they were written using katakana in his translations. This style was criticized by later scholars for summarizing content and adding new sentences, and some re-translated his work in a more traditional style.

• {{Cite book|title=分類アイヌ語辞典|publisher=Nihon Jōmin Bunka Kenkyūjo|year=1954|location=Tokyo}}
• {{Cite book|title=アイヌ文学|publisher=Gengensha|year=1955|location=Tokyo}}
• {{Cite book|title=Ezo obake retsuden|publisher=Puyara Shinsho Kankōkai|year=1961|location=Sapporo}}

• {{Cite book|title=Chiri Mashiho no shōgai : Ainugaku fukken no tatakai|last1=Fujimoto, Hideo, 1927-|last2=藤本英夫, 1927-|date=1994|publisher=Sōfūkan|isbn=4883230686|edition=Shohan|location=Tōkyō|oclc=32974889}}
• {{Cite book|title=天才 アイヌ人 学者 の 生涯 : 知里 真志保 評伝|last=Fujimoto|first=Hideo|publisher=Kodansha|year=1970|location=Tokyo}}

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Category:1909 births

Category:1961 deaths

Category:Japanese Ainu people

Category:Japanese anthropologists

Category:Linguists from Japan

Category:Academic staff of Hokkaido University

Category:20th-century anthropologists

Category:20th-century Japanese linguists

Category:People from Hokkaido