instrument produces, is a plucked string instrument and generally has five strings made out of gut. Unfretted and played open, the tonkori is limited in tones by the number of strings. The tonkori is played by both men and women and commonly serves as musical accompaniment to yukar or dances and rituals, although solo-performances have been noted as well. Kakko The kakko was a percussion instrument similar to the tambourine, used for accompanying yukar or shamanistic rituals. It was made by stretching animal skin over a cylindrical ring commonly made out of willow or larch, and its drumbeater was done by wrapping dogskin over a branch. Cirektekuttar The cirektekuttar (referred to in Sakhalin as henyudo, ionka or pehkutu), was a cylindrical wind instrument made out of the root of a reed indigenous to northern Japan, and is thought to have been similar in style and usage as the didgeridoo developed by Indigenous Australians. Pararayki After cultural exchange with the Russians, Ainu living on the Kurille islands built this instrument in the image of the Russian balalaika, pronounced in Ainu as pararayki. Ainu fiddle Missionary-anthropologist John Batchelor describes the existence of several Ainu-created fiddles no longer in use. Identity and marginalization Ainu music has been important throughout the years in both reflecting and establishing the Ainu cultural identity. Ainu music, historically, has represented the state of Ainu society. The folkloric epics of the Ainu often refer directly to the state of the Ainu as a group. For example, when the Ainu were first conquered, in the period of decline after the 16th century, the culture heroes featured in the heroic types of epics were said to have "departed in indignation,". In addition to this kind of direct representation of Ainu cultural identity, the variable increase and decline of Ainu music is also indicative of Ainu culture. In the peak Ainu period, the most complex and fantastic epics were created, stretching out to tens of thousands of verses and building on new and complex ideas. In the most desperate period for the Ainu, however, in late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the population declined to only 15,000 or so, Ainu music was very scarce; even the famous bear-sending ceremony was described as a "once-in-a-lifetime" experience in 1948. Decline The pressure on Ainu music throughout their history as a people under the rule of a dominant majority has come largely from the