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National Geographic and Celts
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gorseddphungus
185 posts

Ainu Japan
Mar 15, 2006, 23:38
"The Jomon are not ancient 'Japanese', they may even have been of Caucasian stock whose origins are still unclear but who were possibly the ancestors of the Ainu"

No. That is what many traditional Japanese archaeologists (a common view in 70s European textbooks) would wish to deny but the truth is that most of Eastern Japan retained the vast majority of the so-called 'ebisu' (savages or barbarians) even after the incoming populations of civilized 'Asians' occupied the archipelago from the west. The famous Ainu that have also captured the imagination of the West (because they are the 'pure' descendants of a supposed ancient non-Japanese race when, in fact ,they are no more 'pure' than many modern inhabitants of North-Eastern Japan who are of course the descendants of the Jomon (like many elements in the Japanese population). Just go on a trip around Japan and you will see how different the people in western Japan are from people in the north and east and yet they are all Japanese. I am afraid those views are derived from Japanese attitudes of superiority during the war (the civilized ones vs the savages or ainu) and by anti-japanese sentiment (trying to establish a 'foreign' caucasian link in their enemy).

Equally, they were not Caucasian, unless by Caucasian you mean Eurasian. In that case, the Jomon were originally Eurasian from Siberia. All of Yakutia, Sakhalin and the tiny islands across to America were Siberian whale and bear hunting territories.

"The Yayoi (ancestors of the modern Japanese) share a common linguistic/cultural origin with the Koreans, Mongolians and Tibetans (but not, of course, to the Ainu or Chinese)."

I have never said the opposite. Ancient Japan, like ancient Britain, is not a black and white story. The modern population of Japan is made up of those South and East Asian elements plus the original Paleolithic natives from Siberia who were partly absorbed / partly displaced towards the north and east. In some ways, the story is similar to Europe or the Welsh in Britain.

"For those interested there is a lecture tomorrow by Prof. Joseph Kreiner at the Sainsbury Institute in Norwich entitled <b>The Ainu of Japan: European Images of an Enigmatic People</b>."

It should be good to hear that.

The European fascination with the ainu has always been puzzling for the Japanese.

By the way, forgot to mention that ancient Ainu beliefs include shamanism very similar to the Siberian one.

XXX
GP
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