Kunne cikap

Kunne cikap is a mythical bird in Ainu tradition.

Description

According to tradition the kunne cikap was the monstrous bird of the Kunne pe in the northern parts subjugated by the hero, while the hure cicap was the monstrous bird of the Hure kenas.
As for the said Black River, there is a village by the name of Kunnai in Yamakoshi District, Hokkaido, about which onomastic folklore exists that connects it to the Red Bird. The Kunnai River also flows through the village.
Yaeko Batchelor mentions the Black Bird in a waka which reads:

"Ainu child, in you lives on the blood you shed, why fear the kunne cicap-po and the rest ウタリの子に君流せし血生きてありなどか恐れむクンネチカッポ等"

This is included in her anthology For the Young Ainu. The bird, here called kunne cicap-po, symbolizes false images and evil according to literary commentators. This kunne cicap-po is also explained to be "black birds that flock together and peck at cadavers... yōkai birds " in Taijun Takeda's novel . Such an explanation recurs in commentary on the poem or the poetess by other commentators.