I've sometimes wondered if that reflects the artists depicting Ainu characters. What do you think?--do these characters look Ainu to you?
Posted on 05/19/2004 1:57:55 PM PDT by blam
Remains shed light on the northern `barbarians'
The Asahi Shimbun
AOMORI-In ancient times, northern Honshu and southern Hokkaido were considered untamed lands inhabited by mysterious barbarians who refused to be ruled by Japanese emperors.
Much remains a mystery about the northern ``Emishi'' people, but a recent excavation in Aomori Prefecture sheds some light on the tribes that had a long history of conflict.
Researchers have dug up an unprecedented number of iron arrowheads, as well as human remains-one with its hands bound-from the Hayashinomae ruins near Hachinohe. The discovery suggests a fierce war was fought at the settlement site in the 10th or 11th century.
The findings also support the theory that the Emishi were forced to flee the plains and build fortress-type settlements high up in the mountains to foil enemy attacks.
``The discovery is the first of its kind that proves there was an ancient society forced to go into fortified settlements because it was impossible to lead a normal life completely defenseless,'' said Masaki Kudo, curator of the Tohoku History Museum.
The Emishi tribes defied the emperors during the late Nara (710-784) and Heian (794-1185) periods, but military pressure forced them to move farther north.
The Hayashinomae dig revealed the possibility that the Emishi tribes ended up battling each other in a long civil war in the Tohoku region.
The excavation of Hayashinomae was conducted by the Aomori Prefectural Archeological Artifacts Research Center. The research took four years and finished in 2003.
What made the Hayashinomae discovery so unique was the number of iron arrowheads-about 200-spread out over a wide area.
Arrowheads were usually recovered and recycled after battles. But the ones at the site appeared to have been left where they fell, indicating that the battle was too fierce to allow time for collection-or that there were not enough survivors to do the job.
Ten human remains were also found, but none had received a proper burial.
At one area in the site, a whole skeleton, with its hands and feet bound, was discovered. Three skulls and skeletons with missing body parts were also found.
The findings led the researchers to conclude that the site was once a settlement that had to be abandoned after exceptionally heavy warfare.
The Hayashinomae ruins are located atop a jutting cliff near the coastline about 5 kilometers northwest of central Hachinohe.
The research team also recovered 130 dugout housing units in the cliff. The top of the cliff housed the tribal leader's housing compound, featuring an outer moat that stretched 30 meters east-west and 70 meters north-south.
Since the 1990s, researchers have found similar settlements built high on the mountains and protected by moats or other barriers in Morioka, Iwate Prefecture, and southern Hokkaido.
The Emishi tribes had settled on the northern plains. But for a 150-year period in the 10th and 11th centuries, they probably moved to the mountains. Not a single ``general'' settlement in the plains has been discovered for that 150-year period.
Some specialists believe the mountain habitats were religious facilities.
But the artifacts from Hayashinomae have given ammunition to those who believe the mountain accommodations were fortified settlements used to repulse enemies.
During the eighth and ninth centuries, the emperors were making major attempts to subjugate the Emishi and gain control over the Tohoku region, which was rich in horses and gold.
However, the military advances reached a standstill around the area that is now Morioka.
Emperors switched tactics in the 10th century, demanding tributes instead of control of the region.
Conventional theory has been that peace prevailed in the Tohoku region after the new policy was implemented until the War of Zenkunen (1051-1062) started in the prefectures of Akita and Iwate.
But fortified settlements were cropping up in the latter 10th century, after the imperial policy change came into effect, indicating that battles were being waged in the mountains. But the Emishi's enemies at that time were probably not the emperor's warriors. Instead, the tribes likely fought each other.
``There must have been internal tribal disputes erupting among the various Emishi tribes fighting over pipelines with the emperor over food, arms and riches gained through trade,'' said Kudo, the curator of the Tohoku History Museum. ``It was a time when the emperor tried to control the region by manipulating the Emishi against each other.''
Kudo said a large battle among the Emishi at Hayashinomae may have erupted in the early 11th century.
Although the Hayashinomae site provided some insight into the mysterious ``barbarians'' of the north, the excavation area is no more. It fell victim to modern warriors-the ``road tribe'' of the political world.
The site had to make way for a prefectural road that was completed in December 2003.(IHT/Asahi: May 19,2004) (05/19)
The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities by Joel Cogen
Executive Director and General Counsel
About ten thousand years ago, people lived in the northern part of Japan who were ethnically distinct from the rest of the Japan-ese population. These people were named "Ainu," meaning human being or male in their own Ainu language. They were generally assumed to be descendants of an ancient peo-ple referred to as Emishi in the famous Japan-ese chronicles called "Kojiki" and "Nihon-syoki." Today, the term Ainu is used to denote the indigenous people of Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost island, as a single, integrated population.
Ainu culture reached its height in the 13th and 14th centuries. Fostering a symbiotic relationship with nature, the traditional Ainu lifestyle was supported by hunting, fishing and gathering. Village communities (kotan) were located along river banks and near game trails to take advantage of water and food resources. Ainu religious beliefs centered around the existence of another world of spirit essences subject to the same forces that con-trol the visible world. The people worshipped animal gods, especially the bear, with ritual, song and dance. Even the Ainu language was unusual. Although they possessed no system of writing, they created a rich oral tradition of stories and poems expressed in formal prose and verse.
Ainu culture was threatened in the 15th century by wajin, which can be loosely trans-lated as Japanese who emigrated to Hokkaido from the southern islands of Japan. During the Edo period (1600-1868), the Bakufu shogun-ate government instituted trade policies that favored the wajin and exploited the Ainu. During the Meiji era (1868-1912), further emigration to Hokkaido was encouraged by offering settlers homesteads. Hokkaido's population increased to over a million people, and the Ainu became a minority. The national government abolished unfair trade, but still prohibited the Ainu from practicing their cus-toms and compelled them to learn and speak Japanese. These oppressive policies resulted in skirmishes between Ainu and wajin.
Efforts to improve the state of affairs for the Ainu prompted the 1899 national "Hokkaido Ainu Preservation Law" encourag-ing Ainu to cultivate the land. Unfortunately, this law failed, as most of the available land had already been ceded to wajin immigrants. During the 1960's, the Hokkaido prefectural government established housing, education and environmental programs specifically for its Ainu population. These well intentioned efforts were only marginally effective, and the Ainu continued to suffer from discrimination and lower standards of living.
For the last three decades, the Ainu and the Hokkaido prefectural government have been striving together to develop a more effec-tive law. Their efforts achieved tangible results when, on May 8, 1997, the Diet (Congress) passed the "Act on the Encouragement of Ainu Culture and the Diffusion and Enlighten-ment of Knowledge on Ainu Tradition." This new law advocates research on Ainu culture, provides opportunities to study the Ainu lan-guage and supports preservation of Ainu cus-toms and traditions. Although human rights issues are not specifically addressed, it is expected that the new law will help expand awareness, improve understanding and lessen discrimination.
No telling what information has been lost concerning their origins, language, customs, religion...
Thanks, blam. This reminds me of a question I was wondering about the other day. Have you seen any indications of samurai swordmaking techniques having parallels in other cultures which might indicate cultural contact?
Samurai swords were made from wootz, a high carbon steel manufactured in India since 300 AD. Ingots of wootz were shipped all over the world, including Damascus and Toledo.
True fact I learned from Neal Stevenson's latest book, "The Confusion."
Google wootz, it's fascinating.
Should have typed 300 BC. Alexander had swords made out of wootz.
Apart from the material, the other thing I'm curious about is whether the Japanese forging method had any parallels elsewhere. A friend who makes knives tells me the Japanese method was different than that used by the European Knights; however, he wasn't sure about whether there was any resemblance to earlier Viking methods. I've read some descriptions of Norse and German swordmaking which remind me somewhat of Samurai methods as described in Oscar Ratti and Adele Westbrook, Secrets of the Samurai: A Survey of the Martial Arts of Feudal Japan. However I don't have enough details to argue for any cultural exchange; hopefully tracing the history of the forging methods used with wootz will shed some light on that. As I'm looking something up now I see that on pp. 256-258 Ratti and Westbrook mention:
The shape of the weapon as we know it today, and as it was manufactured during the feudal era of Japan, eveolved from extremely ancient models made of bronze (later of iron) either on the Asian continent or in Japan. Blades found in dolmens dating back to A.D. 700 were straight and single-edged, cast in a single piece from handle to point. . ."they possess one distinctive characteristic, i.e., they all have a perfectly straight back, and thus are distinguished from swords of later times, all of which have a slight curvature". . .Other forms of straight, double-edged swords. . .appeared almost simultaneously with the spreading of Buddhism in Japan during the Nara period, and they closely resembled the pre-Buddhist symbolic swords used in religious ceremonies in central Asia, particularly in the northern Indian territories of Nepal and Tibet, as well as in China. As is true of almost every aspect of Japanese culture, China casts its shadow over the Japanese sword. In fact, not only the shape, but the names of Japanese swords are related, directly or indirectly, to Chinese sources. . .There seems to have been an interlude in the evolution of the ancient, straight-backed ken during which its single edge gave way to a double-edged construction. In turn, this straight-backed, double-edged weapon with a heart-shaped point (made of bronze or iron) underwent a gradual change in shape and material during the Heian period, until it became the curved, single-edged sword made of steel which we recognize today. According to legend, "Amakuni (who lived in the time of Emperor Mommu--A.D. 697-708) invented the katana or single-edged sword, by dividing the ken in two.". . .In any case, by the end of the eleventh century A.D., the sword had achieved its characteristically curved shape, although it is doubtful that the blade had yet acquired the astounding purity and cutting power which made katana famous the world over.
bttt
This link has a lot of interesting stuff:
http://www.tf.uni-kiel.de/matwis/amat/def_en/kap_5/advanced/t5_1_5.html
Interesting people-with possible cultural links to the Mongols,the "Sioux",and the "Iroquois"
(I put quotation marks around Sioux and Iroquois because they are actually perjorative nicknames given to them by other tribes. "Sioux",I think,means "vipers",and "Iroquois"
means something similar-given a French-sounding ending.)
No but, I'll keep my eyes open for such.
My hunch is that they are related to/mixed with the Red-Paint People whose trail stretches all the way to Norway.
A Cross-Linked Glossary of Some Terms from the History of Metal Working
Some Japanese samurai had their swords made in Toledo!
History of Swords from Toledo from some tourist agency
Even Japanese Samurai were aware of the existence of Toledos steel as it had been introduced by the Spanish merchants that followed the steps of the Spanish and Portuguese Jesuits. As Japan lived in a state of continuous civil war, it is not surprising that some of their Daimyos even came to Toledo to have their katana and wakizashi forged there. They knew how important was a perfect design and finish for the effectiveness of a sword.
I think it will take time and a dropping of old prejudices before this really gets sorted out.There seems in Japan to be a major difference between their pre-war and post-war people. The pre-war people may show you respect up the whazoo but they reeealy don't like Americans and our culture. The post-war people have no problem with it.
Hope the "Act on the Encouragement" has a chance. My biggest beef with archeology is how little credit we give our predecessors.
I know a hispanic guy from NM who gets asked by Japanese people if he's an Ainu.
I've sometimes wondered if that reflects the artists depicting Ainu characters. What do you think?--do these characters look Ainu to you?
You might be interested in this article:
http://www.tms.org/pubs/journals/JOM/9809/Verhoeven-9809.html
It seems that the "secret" of Damascus steel (true Damascus steel, not what is called that today) was the impurities in the iron that naturally occured in certain mines in western India. Those "impurities" are exactly the same minerals that we deliberately add to iron today to make it into steel. When the mines ran out, the "secret" was lost because they did not know what the real secret was to begin with.
Maybe this is your answer. I read this book and Dr Davis makes a heck of a good argument.
"Did a group of thirteenth-century Japanese journey to the American Southwest, there to merge with the people, language, and religion of the Zuni tribe?"
"For many years, anthropologists have understood the Zuni in the American Southwest to occupy a special place in Native American culture and ethnography. Their language, religion, and blood type are startlingly different from all other tribes. Most puzzling, the Zuni appear to have much in common with the people of Japan."
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