Pirikanoka(ピリカノカ) (lit. 'beautiful form') is the Ainu name, sung in yukar , for a grouping of geological features in Hokkaidō, Japan. In 2009 Pirikanoka was nationally designated a Place of Scenic Beauty, with the first six sites listed below, with an extension in 2012 to include the next three, and another in 2014 for the tenth. Each has its own name in Ainu. [1] [2] [3]
Hokkaido Ainu is a language spoken by members of the Ainu people on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.
Yukar are Ainu sagas that form a long rich tradition of oral literature. In older periods, the epics were performed by both men and women; during the 19th and early 20th centuries, when Ainu culture was in decline, women were generally the most skillful performers.
Monuments is a collective term used by the Japanese government's Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties to denote Cultural Properties of Japan as historic locations such as shell mounds, ancient tombs, sites of palaces, sites of forts or castles, monumental dwelling houses and other sites of high historical or scientific value; gardens, bridges, gorges, mountains, and other places of great scenic beauty; and natural features such as animals, plants, and geological or mineral formations of high scientific value.
