Huri (Ainu legendary bird)

A huri or furi is a giant bird in Ainu folklore. Its name suggests a red or reddish bird, and by some lore said to have a single wing measuring 28 kilometres (17 mi).

According to an etiological tale, its ancestors had been banished to hiding in caves by the gods who sided with humans, and were vengeful, bringing wind-storm disaster to humans(§ Kunnui River). Another tale holds that the ancestors of eastern Hokkaido i their chilhood were attacked and held down by the huri, but saved by the ancestress of western Hokkaido (§ Sumunkur Ainu). Some regions remember the huri as harmless to humans when it lived near them, though it hunted large game and even whales, but was offended by a girl's transgression in its drinking spot and moved away (§ Tokachi). Other regions characterize the huri as man-killers, requiring eradication. The eradication was done with the use of two special ipetam swords in the lore of § Abashiri (and Bihoro). Elsewhere, a man with a giant male member killed the bird with a giant spear, saving the village (§ Hobetsu).

In some tales, a decoy is used to lure and slay the bird, such as a decoy made of deerskin (§ Saru, Hidaka), or a sort of scarecrow using crafted deadwood as framework and dressing it up in human clothing (§ Uryū). Some are onomastic (toponymic) tales for Uryū, or for Chikabumi (§ Asahikawa), or § Ishikari. Some hypothesize the giant bird myth derives from an eagle or a vulture.