The Circassian Way
チェルケス人の道
Origins
The Circassians—Adyghe in their own tongue—have lived in the Caucasus for millennia. Their homeland stretched from the Black Sea to the Caspian, a land of peaks and valleys where identity was forged in stone.
In 1864, after decades of resistance against Russian expansion, the majority were exiled. Scattered across the Ottoman Empire and beyond, they carried their language, their code, their memory.
チェルケス人は「アディゲ」と自称し、黒海とカスピ海の間のコーカサス地方に数千年住んでいました。
"A guest is a gift from God.
Even your enemy, once he enters your home,
is under your protection."
— Circassian proverb
Xabze
Xabze is not merely etiquette—it is the ethical architecture of Circassian life. Passed down through generations without scripture, it governs hospitality, honor, respect for elders, treatment of women, and conduct in peace and war.
ハブゼは書かれたものではなく、世代を超えて受け継がれる生き方の規範です。
Pause here. Practice the sounds. Let your fingers remember.
Type this word
псы
psy
water
The Nart Sagas
Before the Greeks wrote of Prometheus, the Circassians told of Nasren, chained to a mountain for bringing fire to humanity. The Nart sagas—epic tales of warriors, mothers, and tricksters—form one of the oldest mythological cycles in the world.
Satanay, the wise mother. Sosruquo, born of stone. Pataraz, the unconquerable. These are not just stories—they are instructions for how to live, encoded in verse.
"The one who has no напэ
has no shadow."
— On honor
Diaspora
Today, more Circassians live outside the Caucasus than within it. Turkey, Jordan, Syria, Israel, Germany, the United States—and yes, Japan. Wherever they are, they maintain the language, the dances, the code.
Turkey
~3 million
Russia
~700,000
Jordan
~170,000
Syria
~100,000
Germany
~50,000
USA
~20,000
Memory is not nostalgia. It is continuation.
To learn a word is to keep it alive.
To understand a code is to carry it forward.
記憶は郷愁ではなく、継続です。
言葉を学ぶことは、それを生かし続けること。