Nibutani Ita Ita

The Beauty of Patterns

To avoid attracting evil spirits, the Ainu carved abstract patterns rather than definite shapes of specific objects. Traditional patterns include soft spiral lines like rippling water (moreunoka), thorn motif (aiushinoka), and the diamond-shaped eye motif (shikunoka).
An infinite range of expression is possible on a single ita by changing the arrangement of these patterns.