How Ainu oral epics survived without a writing system

The Cyrus Cylinder is a Babylonian inscription made after the Persian conquest. Like other rulers’ texts in the region, it proclaimed reforms and drew on local religious traditions to support the ruler’s authority. Its later use as a human-rights symbol came from modern reinterpretation, not its original purpose.

In the Ainu bear-sending ceremony Iyomante, a bear cub was raised by a family for several years before being ritually killed. The Ainu believed that treating it well would send its spirit back to protect the community.