Pronno （アイヌ料理と手作りの店 民芸喫茶ポロンノ）| Ainu Restautant | Lake Akan Ainu Village

I take a lot of tourists to Ainu villages as a tour guide. Generally my guests are so interested in their culture that my guests are excited to see their performance and traditional housing at outdoor museums, but have never tried their traditional food. Through my blog, I'll introduce their dishes to you.

I was back to the "Lake Akan Ainu Village （阿寒湖アイヌコタン）" at night in order to eat authentic Ainu dishes.

This is "Pronno （アイヌ料理と手作りの店　民芸喫茶ポロンノ）" serving traditional Ainu dishes.

Look at the menu! I want to try everything including their desserts!! Hahaha! Let's enter the restaurant!

How distinctive the atmosphere is!

They display Tonkori （トンコリ・竪琴）, a traditional Ainu harp, on the wall, whose sounds are very gentle and soothing......

Look at the tapestry with Ainu patterns! How lovely it is!

This menu book has also Ainu design! Perfect!

Anyway, I ordered a "Yukku set （ユックセット）", a venison soup set, after all. This is the most popular set in this restaurant.

Of course, I also ordered Ainu herb tea.....

Voila!
This is one of the typical traditional Ainu dishes.

"Yukkuohau （ユックオハウ）" has a lot of seasonable mountain vegetables such as ...........

Kitopiro （行者ニンニク） or alpine leek, butterbur （フキ）, nuts, and of course venison!! As they use seasonings only a little, we can enjoy the natural taste.

This is Mehun （メフン）, salted salmon sand vein, which goes well with sake and Ainu rice. If you love sake, I'm sure you must love it!

This is Amamu （アマム）, rice cooked with Kitopiro （行者ニンニク）, Nikoro beans （にころ豆）, and millet, which tastes a little bit sweet and yummy x 2!!!

I really enjoyed Ainu dishes!!

Last but not least, I tried Shikerebe tea （シケレベ茶）, an Ainu herb tea made by boiling nuts of Amur Corktree （キハダ）.

This is good for stomachache, and surprisingly or naturally it tastes like a digestive medicine!!! Hahaha!

Some of Ainu crafts are sold at this restaurant, such as Mukkuri （ムックリ）, a mouth harp for Ainu people.

How do you like Ainu dishes?

I really enjoyed their culture very much!

(* If you need general information on the Lake Akan Ainu Village （阿寒湖アイヌコタン）, please refer to my other post→click here! We enjoyed their dances and musical instruments in the village theater!)

■Where is "Pronno （アイヌ料理と手作りの店　民芸喫茶ポロンノ）"?

View Larger Map

■Tour guide information■

Do you need a nationally-licensed English-speaking tour guide when you travel to Hokkaido?

I'll guide you! Plz click here!

Hokkaido Buffet HAPO （北海道ビュッフェHAPO）| Lake Akan Tsuruga Resort Spa Tsuruga Wings （あかん湖鶴雅リゾートスパ 鶴雅ウィングス）

I'm in the Akan National Park （阿寒国立公園） now.

This time we chose "Hokkaido Buffet HAPO （北海道ビュッフェHAPO）" at the "Lake Akan Tsuruga Resort Spa Tsuruga Wings （あかん湖鶴雅リゾートスパ 鶴雅ウィングス）" for lunch. Let's go!

Look at the Ainu patterns on the wall! How cool they are!

The hotel is very fashionable, using Ainu wood crafts effectively on the lobby floor↓ I love this atmosphere very much!

This is "Hokkaido Buffet HAPO （北海道ビュッフェHAPO）", located on the 1st floor of this hotel. They serve a wide variety of dishes made of local fresh products. Sounds perfect, doesn't it?

Look at the scenery from the window seats↓ The location is also wonderful, and we enjoyed Lake Akan （阿寒湖）and Mt. Oakan （雄阿寒岳） while eating lunch here!

The vegetables are so fresh that I took a lot of salad here! Hahaha!

But don't forget the open-kitchen corner!

As I love beef, I took three portions of the steak!

Personally I recommend this sushi corner, serving "vegetable" sushi! How healthy it is!!

Going back to the main buffet corner, I've found my favorite,

"local rainbow trout carpaccio with salmon row （虹鱒の「漬け」といくらのカルパッチョ）!" It is super super yummy!!

This is my 1st round. I enjoyed meals to the 3rd round.
When you come here, you should try their delicious desserts, too!

Actually "HAPO WAFFLE" is my favorite! 

Among two chef's special, I ordered a "cream cheese waffle".

Voila!!!
This cheese cream ice cream is very creamy, and very appetizing  I love freshly-baked waffles here!

We also enjoyed a lot of fresh fruits here. We were soooooooooooo full!!!

After lunch, we enjoyed walking on its terrace. I recommend to take lunch here in sunny warm days!

Look at Mt. Oakan （雄阿寒岳）. How beautiful it is. Lake Akan （阿寒湖） is still partly frozen, and I guess the spring is just around the corner in this area!

■Where is "Lake Akan Tsuruga Resort Spa Tsuruga Wings （あかん湖鶴雅リゾートスパ 鶴雅ウィングス）"

View Larger Map

■Tour guide information■

Do you need a nationally-licensed English-speaking tour guide when you travel to Hokkaido?

I'll guide you! Plz click here!

Lake Akan Ainu Village （阿寒湖アイヌコタン）| Kushiro

I'm now in the Akan National Park↓ The lake is still partly frozen even in April!

First, we went to "Lake Akan Ainu Village （阿寒湖アイヌコタン）".
(* Ainu is one of the indigenous people in Japan.)

"Lake Akan Ainu Village （阿寒湖アイヌコタン）" is the biggest Ainu settlement in Hokkaido, and home to 130 Ainu.

When we came here at night, the scenery was like this↓ How romantic it is!

They sell their handmade folk arts here!

I personally recommend their wood crafts and embroidery.....

A lot of my tour guests enjoyed shopping, and communicating them here!

Going up the slope, we can appreciate their altar. The striped owl is one of their most revered gods.

Beside the altar, there are some their traditional housing named chise （チセ）↓

This is ponchise （ポンチセ）. Pon means small, and chise means housing in Ainu language. Let's enter it!

Wow! How pon it is! Hahaha!

One of the main attractions here is Ainu performance in the Lake Akan Ainu Theather "Ikoro" （阿寒湖アイヌシアター「イコロ」↓
Look at the tour guest just in front of the theater! He posed like a striped owl!!!

Ainu people have had great respect to the environment where they've lived since ancient times. The traditional dance of the Ainu people, which is designated as an Important Intangible Cultural asset, is performed here several times a day.

We enjoyed some of their performance. For example .................

■ITASANKA (Sitting Song) -- イタサンカ（座り歌）↓
This song begins with Ainu women sitting around a treasure box, called Shhintoko. It helps women relax at the ceremony.

■UTAREOPUNPAREWA (The first dance of feast) --- 祝宴の時の最初の踊り（ウタレオプンパレワ）

■SARORUNRIMUSE (Crane Dance) --- 鶴の舞（サロルンリムセ）
The dancers mimic cranes' wingspan and voices.

They played their musical instruments, too.

■MUKKURI (Ainu musical instrument) --- 口琴（ムックリ）
Mukkuri is their traditional musical instrument that was typically played by women only. It produces rhythmic, haunting, chant-like sounds.

■TONKORI (Ainu musical insturument) ---竪琴（トンコリ）
Tonkori is often used in performances of the Kamuy-Yukar (songs of the Gods), and religious ceremonies. Tonkori is an important instrument for Ainu culture in which objects themselves are all considered deities. All Tonkori are custom-made for the player and the sizes and designs vary.

They performed  dances that audience can join. For example...........

■SHINENOKKAITONMENMENOKO (Dance of Lady-Killer) --- 色男の踊り（シネンオッカイトゥンメノコ）
This is a humorous dance in which two women fight for one men.

After the performance, one of the audience became a "lady-killer"! Hahaha!

■ESSAHOHO (Dance in a Circle) --- 踊り比べ（エッサーホーホー）
People dance in a circle. There are many different steps and pattern in it.
Of course, I also joined it!

I couldn't take good pictures of "FUTTARECHUI (Dance of Ainu girls with black hair) --- 黒髪の踊り（フッタレチュイ）", but the playful but difficult dance performance by women with long black hairs is one of my favorites. Please check it when you come here!

Thank you very much, performers! We really enjoyed Ainu culture today.

If you want to reproduce the sounds of Mukkuri, you can buy it here. I know it is really difficult to play it, through!

* Are you interested in traditional Ainu dishes? Actually I tried them in this village. Please check my other post, and enjoy them virtually!→click here!

■Where is "Lake Akan Ainu Village （阿寒湖アイヌコタン）"?

View Larger Map

■Tour guide information■

Do you need a nationally-licensed English-speaking tour guide when you travel to Hokkaido?

I'll guide you! Plz click here!