Film For Thought: SISAM (HIFF44)

SISAM is a fictional drama with a historical backdrop set during the Edo period in the middle of conflicts that arose between the men of Wa or Wajin (those of settler-Japanese ancestry), and the Indigenous Ainu tribes of Ezochi (what is now known as Hokkaido). Kojiro is the son of a Samurai who is part of the Matsumae clan and specializes in trading goods with other clans. Einosuke, Kojiroʻs older brother gets killed by their servant Zensuke. During Kojiro’s quest to avenge Einosukeʻs death, he spends time with an Ainu tribe and learns about the injustices done to the Ainu by the Matsumae clan.

It is important to give some historical context to the cinematic setting to acknowledge the social and cultural significance of this film. My Ainu ancestors are the Indigenous people of Ainu Mosir (Ainu term for ancestral lands spanning from Northern Honshu, Hokkaido, Sakhalin, Kuril & Kamchacta). Ainu maintain both genetic and cultural distinctions from settler populations in the archipelago, despite surviving violent assimilation policies. Some families have hidden their Ainu ancestry to give the younger generation a chance at a life without bigotry against them. As a result, the Ainu language is critically endangered. While writing this essay, I can identify no living Native speakers of the Ainu language.

The use of the Ainu language in SISAM is unprecedented for a Japanese film. I quickly realized that this film could be a catalyst to normalize the Ainu language again. Though our Native speakers have passed, we have dynamic young Ainu paving the way in language revitalization. A movie featuring monologues depicting Ainu as a living language again, will play an important role in language revitalization efforts 

Seeing the Ainu language normalized in media through SISAM left me with a feeling of hopefulness. At the same time, I longed to see Ainu people in lead acting roles. I was taken aback to see Sahel Rosa (an Iranian actress living in Japan), in the role of the Ainu wife, Rikkiano. I questioned if this was intended to further position Ainu as “foreign” on our own mosir or land. However, I deeply appreciated the depth that Rosa brought to this character. SISAM illustrates some differences between the traditional gender roles of women in Ainu versus Wa-jin society. I was very pleased to see the beauty of our sacred tattoo markings (a matrilineal practice linking Ainu in the genealogy of Indigenous people across the Pacific), highlighted in several of SISAM’s scenes. And for that alone, I have to commend Hiroyuki Nakao for this bold and progressive step given that our sacred markings are still frowned upon in Japanese society. 

Kojiro eventually learns that in the Ainu language, uen/wen means “bad” while sisam means “neighbor”. This film is a drama and not a depiction of the actual atrocities that Ainu have endured due to settler colonialism and imperialism, but this film is just as important for the Hawai’i context as it is for the Japan context. Kojiro’s entire schema and understanding of what it means to be a Samurai is disrupted once he truly opens himself up to the Indigenous perspective. Today, there are also many Japanese-settlers living in the aftermath of an illegally occupied Hawaiian Kingdom. Through this film, we too (as people of Japanese-settler ancestry) can interrogate our internal Samurai narrative, and do the deep reflection that it takes to get in a right relationship with the Native people of Hawai’i. Perhaps Nikkei in Hawai’i, like Kojiro, can stop with the settler patterns of the Uen Sisam, and instead, choose to be a Pirka Sisam (Good Neighbor).