Posted on 01/17/2004 2:50:55 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.
5-19-2004 bump.
CC
Sounds familiar...Japan was connected to the mainland during the Ice Age. The Oldest people in Japan are the Jomon - Ainu. My guess is that they're early Caucasians that may have crossed over through Siberia. James Chatters (of Kennewick Man Fame), in his book, Ancient Encounters, indicated that the Kennewick Man line may have produced todays Asian and Europeans. So....
Japanese nationalism often is source for censorship of information in Japan. During my study abroad, I had an opportunity to hear the professors of Kansai University express their biased opinions of Japanese history against the (also biased) opinions of the professors of Keimyung University in Korea. The "Toraijin" theory of Corea populating Japan is supported by logic and evidence. The magatama, mirror and sword were introduced to Japan from Corea. It was also the Coreans who populated Japan and are the ancestors of the modern Japanese. The Emishi/Ainu in the North and the Ryukyu people in the South were the ancient inhabitants of the islands before the modern Japanese were introduced from Corea. The "mokohan" (Mongolian birth mark) is biological evidence that the Japanese and Coreans are the same people. The amount of evidence supporting this theory is always overlooked by the Japanese. Even a casual study of the Corean and Japanese language supports linguistic similarities. Japanese are good about changing history to conform to their own interpretations of events. Even the spelling of Corea was changed to "Korea" by the Japanese in 1908, so that the Japanese athletes in the 1908 London Olympics would be announced ahead of the Corean athletes. The Japanese professors at Kansai University and Kansai Gaikokogu University as well as the history teachers at Keiho High school here in Nagasaki continuously lie about this historical fact claiming that the Japan was still known as the "Wa" or the "Yamato" "Nihon/Nippon" and that the title of "Japan" was not in existent. I have collected copies of maps from the 18th century to present and have found the English spelling "Japan" as early as the 1840's and the spelling of "Corea" gradually changed to "Korea" between 1908 and 1920. Likewise, we readers have to discern about what the Japanese present as "truth" concerning the Ainu history. An Ainu acquaintance of mine in Obihiro, who is still living today explained to me how the Japanese conquered Ezo and changed it to Hokkaido by inviting the Ainu leaders to a peace talk in Edo and then slaughtering the leaders and sending back their decapitated heads to their families. Such is Japanese "his"tory. The "Kojiki" and "Nihon Shoki" were a myth created in the 7th Century for political support of the emperor. The great and honorable emperor... Remember Ezo like as the Ainu do. Remember Tokdo like as the Coreans do. Remember Tsushima like Russians do. Remember Pearl Harbor like Americans do.
Thank you for that and welcome to freerepublic.
Your lengthy post while informative was predominantly Korean anti-Japanese rhetoric. There are people who have no idea that what you are saying is biased one sided charges.
I am Japanese born in Japan. Allow me to state some facts;
The Japanese of today are a mix of the original inhabitants
called Jomon who were making pottery in Japan as early as 10,500 BC. The Ainu of today are considered to be the decendants of the Jomon. The people who crossed over from the Korean penninsula the Yaoi started coming over in 300BC.
By looking at the number of years you can tell to what extent the original Jomon plays in the makeup of a modern Japanese. Without doubt the Yaoi invasion brought many new advanced technology, farming skills, etc. However, consider this; by 500-600 AD the Japanese(the Yamato) were a recognized seperate nation called Wa by the Korean states, and was an ally of Kudara (Paekche). Already the spoken language between Yamato and Kudara was completely different.
Today even Koreans say that Japanese look different from Koreans. If so the only explanation would be the extent of Jomon (Ainu) blood that exists in modern Japanese.
The Ainu of today are a mostly assimilated people with few if any "pure" ainu left. They were treated very much as the Native Americans were in North America. Now there is no bias
towards Ainu. Just as there is no bias towards Okinawans who
are far more Japanese than anyone realizes; their regional dialect is similar to very old Japanese prior to Chinese influence. The Okinawan word for Japanese is Yamatobito-
a Yamato person.
Sounds like YOU missed the point, Choppari! ƒAƒCƒk‚Í·•Ê‚³‚ê‚Ä‚È‚¢‚Á‚ÄHIƒAƒzIƒoƒJIƒ}ƒkƒPIƒJƒ{ƒ`ƒƒIƒ`ƒ‡ƒbƒpƒŠI
BTTT
The 'Bushmen' of Africa have Mongolian Spots also.
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
My demographic coupe goes 185!
bttt
"A picture of an Ainu taken in the 19th century"
You wouldn't happen to know where there is a larger version of that picture, and maybe some others, would you?
" In New York, it's reasonable to assume anyone who simply looks confident would know his way around, regardless of race. In racially pure Japan, we have to assume differently."
My daughter is half Japanese, and looks Japanese enough to pass under most circumstances.
One of our fun games is that when anyone ignores me and talks to her (even though I'm the papa) she either ignores them or walks away, so they have to talk to me.
We get some very comical reactions.
It is very charitable of you to give the Japanese the benefit of the doubt like that, but their behavior is based on racism, not rational thought.
"Now there is no bias towards Ainu."
BWAAAAAAAAAhahahahahahahhahahahah.
Reminds me of my boyhood in Oklahoma, when you'd occasionally hear somebody say, "I ain't prejudiced. N*ggers really *is* inferior. A-hyuk, a-hyuk."
The thing is, the Japanese really think there's little or no racism in Japan, because they don't understand that their way of thinking is exactly what we mean when we say racism. Only worse.
well, to some extent Europe was civilised by Africa -- if you include Egypt as being part of Africa (isn't it strange when people think of Afrika in the West they only think of negroes while all of Nord Afrika is Arab or Berber or Coptic
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