Kamui yukar is an Ainu divine epic. In each kamui yukar, one deity is chosen as the theme, and the performer sings about the god in the first person.
These deities are often animal-shaped or represent a natural phenomena.
For example, there are stories abourd the fox deity, sparrow one, freshwater clam, dragon, son of the mountain deity, thunder deity, etc.
Kamui Yukar is characterized by a refrain called "sakehe".
The performers insert verses between the refrains.
The sakehe is often composed of one or several words. These words do not refer to the name of a deity whose story is being told during a given kamui yukar. However, these words often correspond to the story of a particular god, and from the refrain, it is generally possible to discern which story is being told.
I introduce you some refrains used in kamui yukar, which are featured on the website of the Nibutani Ainu Museum.
Okikurmi, Ainu’s mythical first man.
There are three stories about him in which he is mentioned as a small Okikurmi. For his story, the refrains such as "now o o ", 'tusunapanu" are used.
For the kamui yukar of fox deity, "Awa epaw awa", "a epaw awa", "a epaw "or "ay paw" are used.
These are more like onomatopea then words having a signification.
Sakehe makes the rhythm of the Kamui Yukar flow more smoothly.
It also gives the performer time to think of the next words.
Melodic inflections and repeated words make it easier to remember, which is an advantage of doing sakehe.
One verse of kamuy yukar consists of four or five syllables.
(In Japanese academic context, sakehe is often transcribed by a letter, "V". The structure of the first part of a kamui yukar is for example, as follows;
V <text>
V <text>
V <text>
V <text>
V <text>
and so on
or
<text> V
<text> V
<text> V
...
It is possible to chage several refrains during a kamui yukar.
Then it can be like following.
V1 <text>
V1 <text>
V1 <text> V1 <text>
V1 <text>
...
V2 <text>
V2 <text>
V2 <text>
V2 <text>
V2 <text>
...
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