Southern Okinawa
Minatogawa Man
Restored bust of Minatogawa Man No.1
Are Okinawan people related to mainland Japanese? This question has deeply concerned Okinawan people anxious for a long time to confirm their identity.
The research of professor Emeritus Naoshi Suzuki of Tokyo university concluded that the Minatogawa Primitive Man was discovered by Mr. Seiho Oyama, amateur archaeologist, at the coral clefts of Minatogawa, Gushikami Village in 1970.
The Minatogawa Man lived 18,000 years ago during the Stone Age. The bones of Minatogawa Man formed an almost complete figure when they were discovered, resembling those of skeletons found in the Kwangsi Chuang region of China dating back 40,000 years. They are also similar to human bones found in many areas of the Japan of the Jomon Period around 10,000 years ago.
The Minatogawa Man is commonly believed to be the direct ancestor of the modern day Japanese as his descendants spread throughout the Japanese Islands, particularly those of southern Japan.
Minatogawa Man No.1, male skelton estimated 153 centimeters tall
Minatogawajin
In 1967, the human bones of the “Minatogawajin” said to be the roots of Japanese People was found at ae stone pit near the seashore of Minatogawa, Guhsigashirason. This man's bone is presumed to be about 17,000 to 8,000 years ago.
About 5 to 9 bones were found, and they are blessed with a preserving state among the Pleistocene fossil man's bones found in Japan . We can understand the whole form only in the Minatogawajinn.
They are about 153 to 155 centimeters tall, and they are small in a whole, and their arms are thin and their hands are large, it seems that they were very strong . Their head bones are larger than modern people, their cheek bone are high, their noses are high, and they have craggy faces.
For the physical features, it was indicated that they are similar to the “Wajyakujin”at Java island in Indonesia and the “Ryukoujin” in the south area of China, so there is an opinion that the “Minatogawajin” belonged to the marine adaptive group at the shore area in East Asia.
Anyway, the “Minatogawajin” can be said to be an important existence for the roots of Japanese people.
The “Minatogawajin” has the little same feature as the Jomon man, so , at present, it is positioned as they are the roots of Japanese people. It is said that Minatogawajin crossed the main land for Ryukyu Islands, and then they became the Jomon man. But, it isn't clarified that it became an ancestor of Okinawan People.