The origin of the Japanese nation

First, the origin of nations and countries

The origin of the Japanese nation can be investigated from two aspects: the physical structure and the origin of Japanese. The Japanese nation is the subject and creator of Japanese civilization. But the "nation" mentioned here is different from the concept of "race" in anthropology and the narrow concept of "nation" in ethnology, but refers to a broader concept. Therefore, the "Japanese nation" mentioned in this book also includes the Ainu people in Japan.

As for the origin of the Japanese nation, or the origin of the Japanese, academic circles are still controversial. From the physical structure, various opinions can be roughly divided into three categories: (1) "the theory of ethnic replacement", which holds that there has been one or even two ethnic replacement in the Japanese archipelago. For example, in the 1980s of 19, the cutting scientist Yoshinori Ogi believed that the aborigines living in the Japanese archipelago in the rope-grain era were Ainujin people, who were driven to the north by other ethnic groups in the mainland after the rope-grain era. (2) The "half-blood theory" holds that the "original Japanese" (Japanese in Paleolithic Age) mixed with other nationalities who migrated from the mainland or Nanyang Islands after the rope-grain age, and gradually formed the modern Japanese. Kenji Kiyono, a medical scientist, first put forward the "half-blood theory", which remained the mainstream of academic circles until the 1930s. (3) The "evolution theory" (or "continuum theory") holds that the Japanese in the rope-grain era gradually evolved into people in the Yayoi era, people in the ancient grave era and even modern Japanese due to changes in their lifestyles. It pays more attention to the inheritance of race, neither agrees with the theory of "race replacement" nor pays much attention to the influence of mixed blood on the composition of Japanese nation. After World War II, Ren Yan of Hasebe and Professor Suzuki of the Anthropology Research Office of the University of Tokyo held this view, which still has an influence on the academic circles.

Judging from the physical structure of Japanese in different times, they undoubtedly belong to Mongolian race. Archaeology has proved that the Japanese archipelago was inhabited by humans 654.38+10,000 years ago, or even 200,000 years ago (that is, in the early or middle Paleolithic period). However, because no human bone fossils have been found in this period, it is impossible to understand its physical characteristics. At present, the earliest human bone fossil found in the Japanese archipelago is/kloc-0 "Niuchuan Man" found in Niuchuan Town, Toyohashi City in 957. It lived in the Paleolithic Age and has the characteristics of "Zhan people" (Neanderthals). In addition to Niuchuan people, the Paleolithic bones discovered in Japan, such as Sanri people, Bangbei people, Gangchuan people and Shengyue people, all lived below 30,000 years ago and have entered the stage of "new humanity". Their physical characteristics are short stature. For example, the "Okawa man" found in Okinawa is about 18000 years ago, with the height of male about 155cm and that of female about 144cm. Compared with the human bone fossils found in Chinese mainland in the late Paleolithic period, they are more similar to the short Liujiang people found in Guangxi, China, than the tall cavemen in northern China. It can be considered that during the Ice Age when the sea level was low and the continental bridge appeared, some "ancient Mongols" (widely distributed in Southeast Asia) migrated from southern Chinese mainland to Okinawa and west Japan, forming the above-mentioned "original Japanese". They are the mothers of the Japanese in the era of rope food.

From 1 10,000 years ago to the 3rd century BC, it was the Japanese rope pattern era. As the ice age passed and the sea level rose, the Japanese archipelago was isolated from the mainland. It is generally believed that people had little contact with the mainland in the rope pattern era. So far, the remains of several people with rope patterns have been found. Judging from their physical structure, although the rope-tattooed people also have physical differences due to different times and environments, most of them retain the typical signs of "ancient Mongols", such as short stature, short face and flat nose, which are obviously different from modern Japanese. However, from the late period of the rope pattern era, immigrants from the Asian continent entered Japan. In the Yayoi era, mainland immigrants increased dramatically. 1953, Professor Naoshi Naoshi of Kyushu University (1) found more than 200 well-preserved yayoi bones in Tujingbang, Yamaguchi Prefecture, at the northwest end of Honshu. Its body structure is obviously different from that of the tattooed rope man, which is characterized by its tall figure (about 162- 163 cm on average) and long face, which is closer to modern Japanese. According to the research of many scholars, the mainland immigrants in the Yayoi period came from the Korean Peninsula and the northeast of China. Northeast Asia, such as Mongolia's East Siberia, belongs to the "New Mongolia" system. It first lived in Honshu and the western tip of Kitakyushu, and then gradually spread eastward, and spread to kanto region through Feng Jingen. In the process of diffusion, they are constantly mixed with the indigenous people (descendants of the tattooed rope people). However, scholars' evaluation of the number of mainland immigrants and the influence of mixed blood on the Japanese nation is quite different. Scholars who hold the theory of evolution believe that these mainland immigrants from Northeast Asia are gradually absorbed by the indigenous residents in the process of mixed blood because of the lack of follow-up, and the impact is not great. Scholars who hold the "half-blood theory" (2) calculated by the methods of contemporary population integration and mimicry model, in the process of immigration for nearly a thousand years (from the 3rd century BC to the 7th century AD), the number of new immigrants from the mainland can reach hundreds of thousands or even millions, accounting for 40% to 90% of the population in some areas. They think that the influence of mixed blood is far beyond the imagination of ordinary people. Kazuhara, a natural anthropologist, holds this view. Admittedly, they also acknowledge the regional differences, and think that most of the new immigrants from Northeast Asia lived in Kitakyushu during the yayoi period. Some of them have spread to Feng Jingen and kanto region, while remote areas such as Northeast China, Hokkaido, northwest Kyushu and outlying islands are less or almost unaffected by the mixed blood of immigrants. The residents are still mainly descendants of the rope people, so the Ainu people living in Hokkaido are considered to be the direct descendants of the rope people who are not affected by the mixed blood. Thus, in the Yayoi era, the dual structure of Japanese people was formed, that is, the immigrant Yayoi (mainly distributed in western Japan) and the rope Yayoi (mainly distributed in eastern Japan). Moreover, the investigation of fingerprints, earwax and crown types, as well as the investigation of blood and virus genetic factors in recent years, seem to support this "dual structure" theory. Of course, in the Yayoi era, there may also be immigrants from southern China who entered Japan directly or through the South Island region. However, the related research by Japanese scholars is still rare.

After the Yayoi era, in the ancient grave era (3rd to 6th century), mainland immigrants continued to enter oral books, and continued to spread to all parts of East Japan, and the mixed-race with the indigenous residents continued. However, Japan's dual structure still exists. This is still the case until modern times. It's just that the influence of the rope pattern system is shrinking. Therefore, from the perspective of physical structure, the Japanese nation is by no means a single nation, but a "mixed nation" formed by population groups from Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia in a long history.

Judging from the origin of Japanese, what is directly related to the origin of Japanese nation is what is the origin of Japan and which language system it belongs to. Because under the conditions at that time, only people from ethnic groups who used a certain language arrived and lived in the Japanese archipelago could that language become the source of Japanese. By exploring the origin of Japanese, we can also prove that the Japanese nation is a "mixed race".

Many Japanese scholars have long noticed that there are many similarities between the grammatical structure of Japanese and that of Altai language family, including Korean. For example, the object or complement is placed before the verb predicate, and the sentence-making order is subject-object-verb predicate; Append auxiliary words or verbs after words to express grammatical meaning; The difference between asexual nouns and singular and plural nouns. This shows that Japanese and Altai language family (including Korean) may be the same system language differentiated from homophones, so the Japanese nation may also have some relationship with Altai language family living in Northeast Asia. However, they also noticed some differences between Japanese and Altaic languages. For example, there is a lack of phonological correspondence between word pronunciations, so Altaic language family cannot be the only source of Japanese.

As a result, some scholars have gradually noticed that there may be some kinship between the Japanese and the Austronesian family (that is, Malays and Polynesians). Austronesian language family is the island of Madagascar distributed in 14 Indian Ocean, passing through Malaysia. Indonesians, a large language family from the east to the South Pacific Islands, can reach some non-Han ethnic minorities in the south of China. Austronesian is similar to Japanese, with five vowels (vowels), namely (a)(i)(u)(e)(o), and diphthongs is not used; Words end in vowels; The voiced sound is different from the initial. This shows that some Austronesian-speaking peoples in Southeast Asia may have influenced the composition of the Japanese nation. However, there is very little archaeological evidence to prove that these peoples directly entered the Japanese archipelago from the South Pacific or Southeast Asia. Some scholars speculate that Austronesian languages may have passed through southern China and then spread to Japan.

In recent years, many scholars believe that Japanese should be regarded as a "mixed language", that is, Japanese is a mixture of several languages in a long history. Based on the comprehensive research results of linguistics, archaeology and ethnology, some scholars believe that the formation of contemporary Japanese has gone through such a process: there may be a basic language called "original Northeast Asian language" in the deciduous forest belt in Northeast Asia thousands of years before the rope pattern era. Japanese in the early rope-grain era may come from this system, and some characteristics of Altai language family in Japanese may come from this system. In the late rope pattern or early yayoi period, immigrants engaged in rice cultivation entered Japan from the Korean Peninsula or directly from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River in China. In this way, not only the Altaic language family was introduced from the Korean peninsula, but also Wu language was introduced from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River in China. Vietnamese was introduced into Japan. Some scholars believe that Wu and Vietnamese belong to the southern system, Vietnamese belongs to Austronesian or Thai, and Wu belongs to Tibeto-Burman. Some features of Austronesian family in Japanese may come from this. In the ancient tomb era, the number of immigrants from Chinese mainland increased, and the influence of China people on the Japanese became stronger. It is the mixture of these linguistic elements that formed ancient Japanese.

Japanese is a "mixed language" composed of the northern systematic language and the southern systematic language in the Asian continent, which can also prove that the Japanese nation is a "mixed nation" formed by the mixed blood of the northern population and the southern population in the Asian continent, and eventually becomes a unified Yamato nation.

Like the formation of the Japanese nation, the formation of the Japanese nation has gone through a long historical process. Due to the late appearance of Japanese historical documents, we can only trace this process with the help of the historical documents of Japan's neighboring countries, especially China, and Japanese archaeological materials.

It is generally believed that there were many "small native countries" in Kitakyushu and Gini during the early and middle period of the Yayoi period (about 3rd century BC to 1 century). China's official history "Geography of Han Dynasty" records: "There are Japanese in the Sea of Le Lang, which are divided into more than 100 countries and come to watch the clouds." Among them, "100 countries" is not exact, but it also reflects the situation of small Japanese archipelago countries from the 2nd century BC to 1 century. "The Biography of the Later Han Dynasty in Japan" records that since the destruction of Korea by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, it has reached 30 countries of the Han Dynasty. "Although it can't be said that these small countries on the Japanese archipelago have the conditions to establish contacts with the Han Dynasty, the number of' thirty countries' is much less than that of' more than one hundred countries'. This probably reflects that these small countries are gradually developing in the direction of geographical unity. The Book of the Later Han Dynasty specifically mentioned the "slave country" and said: "In the second year of Jianwu Central Plains (AD 57), the slave country paid tribute, making people call themselves doctors, and the slave country was also in the extreme south. Guangwu gave it a seal. "The seal given to the Japanese slave king by Emperor Guangwu of Han Dynasty in 57 AD was found in Shiga Island, Fukuoka Prefecture in February (1784). This is a gold seal, about 2.3 cm long and 0.8 cm thick. It has a snake-shaped button and five characters of "Han Wei Wang nu" in seal script. For a long time, some people doubted whether this seal was a relic of the Han Dynasty. However, in recent years, Wang Yin in Yunnan (1957), Wang Yin in Guangling (198 1) and Wendi Seal (1983) have been found in China. The golden seal of "Hanwang" is similar to these seals of the Han Dynasty in terms of button type, shape, weight or font. It can be concluded that the golden seal of "the slave king of the Han Dynasty" is indeed a relic of the Han Dynasty, and it can also prove that China's historical records are generally correct in recording the Japanese national conditions at that time. In addition, according to Japanese archaeological excavations, some sites where people lived together in this period were found in Feng Jingen, centered on the northern part of Kyushu and the coast of Osaka Bay. Trenches were built around most colonies. Some funerary objects, such as bronze mirrors, swords, spears, bronzes, priests, jade articles, etc. It was unearthed in all these places. Iron weapons used in the war, such as shovels, have also been unearthed in some sites. These archaeological excavations show that the interior of these colonies has been divided into upper and lower levels, and wars have been waged abroad. Therefore, every colony may be a "small native country", and there were indeed "100 countries" in the Japanese archipelago at that time. China's history book "The Story of the Three Kingdoms Wei Zhi Japanese Biography" recorded in detail the social, political and metallurgical situation of the regional forces that gradually formed later. The evil Mattel Kingdom (5) existed from the 2nd century to the late 3rd century. In bad Thailand, there is already a distinction between up and down. " There is a distinction between honor and inferiority, and the feet are obedient. "There are also class differences, such as the aristocratic ruling class calling it the Lord of the country and the Lord of the country, the ruled class belonging to the Lord of the country, the humble mouth that can be used as a gift and the handmaiden that can be used as a sacrifice. The evil Mattel country has formed a national institution. The supreme ruler of the country is the king, and "the country is also people-oriented". Later, civil strife, "is * * * made a female king, named JiMeiZi". During the reign of Empress Kimiko, there was an assistant minister who ruled the country with a younger brother. Queen Jimiko lives in the city and is guarded by a standing army. " Living in a palace building, the gates are strictly set, and people often take soldiers to guard them. Officials at the central level, as well as "big rate", "enemy" and "doctor" in charge of politics, trade and diplomacy. Bad Matai state-owned tax system, "tax collection has a mansion"; There are also penalties. "If you break the law, you will have no wife. If it is serious, you will destroy your portal and your family. "The evil Mattel countries also supervise and control other small countries in the same region, such as 2 1 small countries from Malaysia to slave countries and Yidu countries. Empress Ji Miko sent many missions to Cao Wei, and was named "pro-Wang Wei" by Wei Mingdi. After the death of Queen Ji Meizi, the funeral ceremony was grand. " There are 100 steps in the tomb, and there are 100 slaves. "The record of bad horse Thailand in the biography of the reflection of Wei Zhi shows that bad horse Thailand is a class country that controls a considerable area, although its class differentiation and state institutions are still immature.

China's history book "Ji of Emperor Wudi of Jin Shu" also records the last tribute sent by the Queen in the second year of Emperor Taishi (AD 266). However, since then, China's historical records have been short of information about Japan for nearly a century and a half until the Biography of Song Dynasty recorded that Emperor Gaozu of Song Dynasty praised the king of Japan in the second year of Yong Chu (AD 42 1 year). It was during this period that the Yamato kingship, which controlled most parts of Japan, appeared in Kikini area. Due to the lack of documentary records, although the activities related to the rise of Yamato and its unification of Japan are not detailed, according to a small number of inscriptions preserved so far, it can be seen that Yamato's kingship has a strong military nature. It is said that the seven knives given to Yamato by King Baekje Kotani are still kept in the Shishang Shrine in Tian Li City, Nara Prefecture. The inscription on the knife shows that this knife was given by Baekje King to thank Yamato for sending troops across the sea to attack Silla, and it is now kept in Ji 'an County, Jilin Province, China. The inscription on the tablet of Koguryo traitor King (King of Guangkai) built in 4 14 AD records that Yamato sent troops across the sea to jointly attack Silla with Baekje. So Silla turned to Koguryo for help and repelled the Yamato National Army. In addition, from the early to the middle of the 5th century, many ancient human graves appeared in the Yamato Basin and Hanoi Plain, which also showed that Yamato was stronger than the evil Matai.

China's history book "The History of Song Dynasty" records the contacts between the Five Kings of Yamato (the "Japanese Five Kings") and Liu and Song Dynasties in the 5th century. Their department once sent envoys to pay tribute and accepted the knighthood of Emperor Liu Song. For example, Wang Zhen of Japan was named "General Che 'an and King of Japan", and his subjects 13 were also named "General Day, Lu Zheng, Guan Che and Guo Fu" respectively. According to Song Shu's Biography of Japan, in the second year of Emperor Enlightenment (AD 478), the Japanese King Wu sent an envoy to the above table, which mentioned the activities of our ancestors to unify Japan, and said: "I have never been at peace since I worshipped you." Zhengdong Maoren has 55 countries, suitable for 66 countries and crossing 95 countries in Haibei. "However, the Japanese national system in this period is not clear. However, during this period, Yamato not only gradually unified Japan, but also grew into a powerful country on the Korean peninsula that could compete with Koguryo and Baekje. Because it was committed to accepting the conferring of Liu and Song Dynasties in China, it also tried to establish a regional conferring system centered on it. The Biography of Japan in the Book of Song Dynasty records that Japan's generals, Ji and Wu all requested titles from the Emperor of Song Dynasty, such as "establishing Japanese viceroy, Baekje, Silla, Qin and Han Dynasties". As a result, the Japanese Ji and Wu partially achieved their goals, and the Liu and Song Dynasties recognized military control over several other countries and regions except Baekje.

Japan should become a country with a complete system after the 7th century. At the beginning of the 7th century, Queen Tuigu and Shoto Kutaishi sent "Sui envoys" and overseas students to Chinese mainland many times. In his contacts with Sui, he began to call the country "Japan" and the king "emperor". They seriously studied the political system of the Sui Dynasty and began to implement the so-called "pushing the ancient to reform". Especially in 645. After the reform, Japan frequently sent "envoys of the Tang Dynasty" and overseas students and monks to China to comprehensively study the various systems of the Tang Dynasty, carry out economic, political and social reforms, and make some modifications by imitating the "regulations" of the Tang Dynasty, thus codifying various reforms and systems and making Japan a relatively mature civilized country.

① 193 1 year. Homo erectus once discovered the so-called ape-man waist bone fossil, but recent research proves that it does not belong to "ape-man", but belongs to the "newcomer" stage later than Ding.

(2) Jiro Naoki: The Birth of Japan, Primary School Museum, 5th edition 1 edition 1978, p. 378.

(3) Kazuhiro Horara: The Formation of Japanese, included in General History of Japan, Volume 1, first edition of Yanbo Bookstore, 1993, p. 96.

4 Sasaki is smart; "The Birth of Japanese History", first edition in May, 260-256 by Jiyingshe199/KLOC-0.

⑤ There have been different opinions about the location of Bad Horse Thailand, some think it is in Kitakyushu, and some think it is in Kitakyushu.

It is considered to be the Yamato in the hinterland of Kyrgyzstan. There are other sayings that are omitted here.

⑥ Wang Jinlin: Han-Tang Culture and Ancient Japanese Culture, Tianjin People's Publishing House, L Edition, June 1996, p. 5- 12.