Featured Japanese Hokkaido Ainu Carved Wooden Bear

This is ~12" long, ~6" wide, ~7" high; weight is ~3 lbs 9 oz.
It's a garage sale purchase from the late '90s, here on Washington's Olympic Peninsula. Pic 5 shows where the crudely removed upper fangs were sawn out of its mouth, prior to my acquisition. The seller was vague about its history; I suspected a bit of dementia at the time. His price was negligible.
I only know that the Ainu are native to Hokkaido, with their own language, an' that they are a distinct people in physical appearance.
Offered to y'all for illumination as may be possible, an' for incidental delight. Thanks for lookin'!

 

Wow,what a great looking thing and nice size and weight. Pity and a bit weird about the upper canines. But maybe not sawn out just removed? Could be easy to replace. That would have been a keeper for me also,I really dig it. Thanks for sharing

 

Read about the Ainu people and the Ainu bear sculptures (traditionally known as Kibori Kuma) now. The cultural & spiritual meaning was interesting.

 

Apparently these were traditionally finished with a Salmon in their mouth. Perhaps anchored by those canines. in a move or other mishap, the fish was broken out of the mouth? The saw marks are plainly visible in pic 5.

 

I think that may be just the grain of the wood exposed in the break.

 

On further look, you may be right...broken, not sawn. Thanks!