"In the beginning, the world was an endless sea, and in the sea stretched boundless marshes. There was no firm earth to stand on, only swamps that swallowed everything... Above the chaotic marshes and sea were equally chaotic thunderclouds, bright with thunder and dark clouds... And the first Sky God of creation, Kotan-kar-kamuy, meaning 'create-world-Sky God,' was born within those endless thunderclouds!..."
Snowflakes whirled and scattered, not falling from the sky, but swept up by the howling north wind from among the rolling mountain and hills. The accumulated snow of the Kamchatka Peninsula never melted year-round, clothing the forests and mountains in silver. The sky was a clear blue-white, and under the reflection of the snow, the white was even a little dazzling. The sea was an even more brilliant expanse of ice, without the slightest trace of dust or gray-yellow, much less gray-brown marsh.
Exploration Captain Zuwaro held the Ainu girl Chishima Shell in his arms, gazing at this cold, white, bright world of ice and snow, while also imagining the warmer, richer mountain islands to the south. He pressed his lips together, listening to the Ainu tribal myth the girl was telling, while a thoughtful gleam flickered in his eyes.
"Shell, this great creator spirit, Kotan-kar, is he the Main God your people usually worship and sacrifice to?..."
"Ya? Ancestor, what is a 'Main God'?..."
"The great spirit who rules everything, the supreme being above all!"
"Ah! Mm... The creator Kamuy Sky God, Kotan-kar, is the highest, highest Sky God. But aside from creating the world, he doesn't care about anything. He has no feelings, never speaks, and only watches us from the sky... Very few tribes make sacrifices to him. The ones we truly worship are the guardian spirits sent down by the three Sky Gods..."
"Mm?