Chiri Yukie

• Born: 1903
• Died: 1922

Chiri Yukie was an Ainu student who traveled to Tokyo in May 1922, at the age of 19, to study at Tokyo Imperial University under Ainu linguistics expert Kindaichi Kyôsuke. Sadly, she fell ill and died only four months after her arrival in the city.

Prior to her death, however, Yukie published one of the earliest books of Ainu yukar (heroic epics), a volume entitled Ainu shinyôshû. Her younger brother, Chiho Mashiho, is also regarded as a significant early scholar of Ainu Studies.

References

• Mark Watson, "Tokyo Ainu and the Urban Indigenous Experience," in ann-elise lewallen, Mark Hudson, Mark Watson (eds.), Beyond Ainu Studies, University of Hawaii Press (2015), 75.