Kibori Kuma Carved Wooden Bears, Abashiri Nipopo Dolls & Traditional Ainu Woodcrafts

No handcrafted object is more iconic to Japan’s northern island than **Kibori Kuma**—hand-carved wooden sculptures depicting a Hokkaido brown bear (*Higuma*) clamping a wild salmon in its jaws. Remarkably, this beloved folk art began in 1924 in the town of Yakumo, when Marquis Yoshichika Tokugawa brought back wooden bear carvings from Bern, Switzerland, and encouraged impoverished Yakumo pioneer farmers alongside indigenous Ainu master carvers in Asahikawa to sculpt native Japanese basswood (*shina-no-ki*) as a winter livelihood. Over the past century, Hokkaido’s *Kibori Kuma* evolved into two highly collectible artistic styles: the intricate *kebori* (hair-carving) style where thousands of fine chisel strokes recreate realistic fur, and the modernist *menbori* (plane-carving) movement that uses bold, faceted geometric planes to highlight the natural grain of northern timber. In Lake Akan’s Ainu Kotan and Asahikawa workshops, master artisans also carve sacred Blakiston’s fish owls (*Kotan-kor Kamuy*) and protective geometric *Morew* coasters. Along the Sea of Okhotsk in Abashiri, travelers can also collect **Nipopo Dolls (Nipopo Ningyo)**, whose name translates from the Ainu language as "Little Children of the Trees." Turned and chiseled from unpainted Japanese katsura wood with distinctive octagonal torsos and serene expressions, these paired wooden talismans have long been cherished as guardians of safe travel, bountiful harvests, and household happiness.