Posted on 02/02/2006 6:15:42 PM PST by blam
THE SAMURAI AND THE AINU
Findings by American anthropologist C. Loring Brace, University of Michigan, will surely be controversial in race conscious Japan. The eye of the predicted storm will be the Ainu, a "racially different" group of some 18,000 people now living on the northern island of Hokkaido. Pure-blooded Ainu are easy to spot: they have lighter skin, more body hair, and higher-bridged noses than most Japanese. Most Japanese tend to look down on the Ainu.
Brace has studied the skeletons of about 1,100 Japanese, Ainu, and other Asian ethnic groups and has concluded that the revered samurai of Japan are actually descendants of the Ainu, not of the Yayoi from whom most modern Japanese are descended. In fact, Brace threw more fuel on the fire with:
"Dr. Brace said this interpretation also explains why the facial features of the Japanese ruling class are so often unlike those of typical modern Japanese. The Ainu-related samurai achieved such power and prestige in medieval Japan that they intermarried with royality and nobility, passing on Jomon-Ainu blood in the upper classes, while other Japanese were primarily descended from the Yoyoi." The reactions of Japanese scientists have been muted so. One Japanese anthropologist did say to Brace," I hope you are wrong."
The Ainu and their origin have always been rather mysterious, with some people claiming that the Ainu are really Caucasian or proto-Caucasian - in other words, "white." At present, Brace's study denies this interpretation.
On the other hand, there were numerous intermarriages over the years, and it's difficult to separate the Emperor and his folks from the Samurai and their folks.
The Ya-Yoi, or Chinese origin people, belong to neither group.
I thought the Japanese descended from peoples from the modern-day areas of Korea and China.
Anthropologist Marvin Harris says that the Japanese practice of 'white-face' has origins in emulating of the ancient noblemen.
Someone needs to remind The Traditionalists how Hirohito Ruined The "well being" of japan
Japanese are the most racist people on Earth.
I have to respect the Japanese' love and protection of their culture. They have every right.
Furthermore, to claim that the Japanese were a patrilinear society for 2000 yrs is farfetched. My recollection is that the Yamato people may have been a matrilinear society. There was an Empress Suiko, I believe.
Then, too, as Shishedo demonstrated, coming up with cosmetics for Asian women is a different matter than scooping up red-clay, the common technique in the West.
What about green eyes?
Just insist that the Empress-to-be must marry a Japanese citizen, or else forfeit the right to the throne.
Ping
"The Ainu look like Caucasian people, they have white skin, their hair is wavy and thick, their heads are mesocephalic (round) and a few have grey or blue eyes. However, their blood types are more like the Mongolian people, possibly through many millennia of intermixing."
Not likely. The Hakkas (the guests) made a centuries long migration from north to south China. During that migration any of them with Caucasian features was executed. (for being barbarian)
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