Machi is a girl who serves as a shrine maiden (miko) at a Shinto shrine enshrining a bear (kuma) in the recesses of a certain mountain in Japan's northern Tohoku region. Machi's guardian is a talking bear named Natsu, and one day Machi tells him that she wants to go to a school in the city. The worrywart Natsu then gives Machi — who is ignorant about the ways of the world — a set of trials that she must pass in order to be able to survive in the city.
from ANN
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Notes

Alternative Names: Kuma Miko, Kumamiko
Author: YOSHIMOTO Masume
Artist: YOSHIMOTO Masume
Genre: Comedy, Slice of Life
Demographic: Seinen
Adapted into the anime, Kumamiko - Girl Meets Bear

Reviews

Michael Eh?

This has it's own quaint style of humour. Fans may not get their heads around a bear named "Natsu" given Fairy Tail's own famous dragon slayer but they both have alot in common. They are both can be over-bearing at times and humourous. Machi herself is a character in herself. At times, childish yet adult. This story has a Calvin and Hobbes relationship except this bear is no toy. Drawing from Ainu traditions this manga is quaint look at northern life in remote rural Japan. Well worth the read for comedic effect alone.