thumb|A replica amappo on display at the Osaka Museum of Natural History thumb|John Batchelor (missionary)|John Batchelor (1854-1944), "The Ainu of Japan", 1892, classic horizontal amappo thumb|Ibid., vertical amappo for otter thumb|Ibid., amappo rat trap An was a traditional bear and deer hunters' trap of the Ainu people of the northern Japanese archipelago and Sakhalin. Traps similar to amappo were also used by ethnic Japanese matagi hunters.
thumb|A replica amappo on display at the Osaka Museum of Natural History thumb|John Batchelor (missionary)|John Batchelor (1854-1944), "The Ainu of Japan", 1892, classic horizontal amappo thumb|Ibid., vertical amappo for otter thumb|Ibid., amappo rat trap An was a traditional bear and deer hunters' trap of the Ainu people of the northern Japanese archipelago and Sakhalin. Traps similar to amappo were also used by ethnic Japanese matagi hunters.
== Summary == Mechanically, the amappo was a simple crossbow of elastic yew wood set in a notch at the top of a short post or tree stump. A stump prepared for this purpose was called a . A release mechanism actuated by a tripwire was strung across a game trail. When an animal traversing the path disturbed the tripwire, a loaded arrow was released. These arrows were wrapped in birchbark to protect them from rain, marked with an , or family symbol, to indicate ownership of the kill, and coated with a paste of , a lethal poison derived from aconitum ground in a mortar and pestle specially set aside for the purpose. This style of trap originated in eastern Siberia. On the Japanese archipelago, amappo are believed to have been in use since at least the Neolithic period.
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