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Remains Shed Light On The Northern 'Barbarians' (Japan/Ainu)
The Asahi Shimbun ^ | 5-19-2004

Posted on 05/19/2004 1:57:55 PM PDT by blam

click here to read article


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To: lizma
"My biggest beef with archeology is how little credit we give our predecessors."

Yup. Same IQ as today.

21 posted on 05/19/2004 6:46:40 PM PDT by blam
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To: jim_trent

Thanks for the link! Fascinating stuff.


22 posted on 05/19/2004 6:50:12 PM PDT by Fedora (I'm Fedora, and I approved this message before I disapproved it)
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To: jim_trent
"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."

Thanks, I learn something everyday.

23 posted on 05/19/2004 6:53:31 PM PDT by blam
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To: genefromjersey
"Sioux",I think,means "vipers",and "Iroquois" means something similar-given a French-sounding ending.

The name Sioux is an abbreviation of the French spelling of "Nadouessioux", the name they were given by their Algonquin neighbors. It means little snakes signifying that they (the Sioux) were little or secondary enemys.

The name "Iroquois" is a French derivative of uncertain origin, however it may come from the Algonquin word Irinakhow which means real snakes, signifying that they (the Iroquois) were the primary or main enemy.

24 posted on 05/19/2004 8:01:15 PM PDT by Apollo
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To: Apollo

You're right,of course. I believe a lot of "tribal names" originated with the practice of asking one's guide,"Who are those people over there ?"; to which the guide might reply: " Oh, they're the Rotten Wife-Stealing Bastards."

"Rotten Wife-Stealing Bastards,huh ? Say that slowly so I get the pronunciation right..."

The Ainu used to observe a Feast of the Bear. A bear cub would be "adopted",and raised as a family member for a year; then ritually strangled and burned on the New Year,so that he would tell the spirits of the other animals how well he had been treated: thus insuring better hunting.

The Iroquois still observe the Feast of the White Dog,which parallels the Ainu observance almost exactly.

There is also a matter of "ballistic grooving" of arrow shafts-practiced by Ainu,Sioux,and Iroquois,some linguistic carry-overs,and the appearance of the "Mongol moustache" on Ainu and (some) Amerindian women.


25 posted on 05/20/2004 4:46:45 AM PDT by genefromjersey (So little time - so many FLAMES to light !!)
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To: Fedora

I am another anime fan; most of the time characters that look sort of Caucasian to American eyes are supposed to be regular Japanese, do to the artistic style used. Only a couple anime have Ainu characters in them; Princess Mononokee is the most notable. If you do have a caucasian character in a show, they are typically drawn just different enough, that you can tell they are not supposed to be Japanese.


26 posted on 05/20/2004 5:25:28 AM PDT by DreadCthulhu
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To: blam

That's pretty interesting. Maybe he actually is one.


27 posted on 05/20/2004 5:36:21 AM PDT by FITZ
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To: DreadCthulhu

Thanks. I was wondering if the art style might also be a factor--I know early anime was influenced by Disney, so that would make sense.


28 posted on 05/20/2004 7:06:26 AM PDT by Fedora (I'm Fedora, and I approved this message before I disapproved it)
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To: genefromjersey
"There is also a matter of "ballistic grooving" of arrow shafts-practiced by Ainu,Sioux,and Iroquois,some linguistic carry-overs,and the appearance of the "Mongol moustache" on Ainu and (some) Amerindian women."

James Chatters, in his book, Ancient Encounters, points out that a number of the Kennewick Man (main genetic component is Ainu) skeletons have been found across North America. The most prominent (besides Kennewick Man) is Spirit Cave Man, 9400 years old and the oldest mummy ever found in the Americas.

29 posted on 05/20/2004 7:54:32 AM PDT by blam
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To: genefromjersey
First Americans

"Spirit Cave Man is one of a dozen or so early Americans who are helping rewrite the prehistory of human habitation in the New World. A small cohort of skeletons and skull fragments up to 11,500 years in age, they are the oldest human remains known in North and South America. While some of these individuals, like Washington State's notorious Kennewick Man, are new finds, most were discovered decades ago and were preserved in museum collections. Only in the last few years, however, have anthropologists made a systematic effort to determine the antiquity and ancestry of these remains."

30 posted on 05/20/2004 8:01:26 AM PDT by blam
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To: blam

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.


31 posted on 05/27/2004 9:42:14 PM PDT by shamoji (Remember!)
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To: blam

The 1899 Meiji "Domin Act" discriminating against the Ainu was finally changed on May 8th 1997. However, this was not changed out of an act of kindness on behalf of the Japanese. The United Nations and other groups protesting against the discrimination of minorities caused the Japanese to change the law. Ainu discrimination still exists. Ainu and "burakumin" are treated as outcasts. Ainu are much different than the Japanese in appearance, but are forced to become Japanese citizens. Whereas minority Asian groups living in Japan such as second, third and even fourth generation Coreans and Chinese are denied citizenship due to their "zainichi" status.


32 posted on 05/27/2004 10:39:27 PM PDT by shamoji (Discrimination continues...)
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To: shamoji

Interesting, thanks for the input. I knew a female engineer from Okinawa who said her people were discriminated against by the Japanese also.


33 posted on 05/28/2004 3:37:16 AM PDT by blam
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