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BC
18th January 2001, 15:46
Can anyone tell me where the Japanese/Nihon people originally came from in mainland Asia? From what I have read, they originally arrived in southern Japan, and moved northwards, displacing the Ainu in the process. Is this correct?

Joseph Svinth
18th January 2001, 21:44
The oldest proto-Japanese culture of which I am aware was the Jomon culture, which produced some of the oldest known pottery. The Jomon culture developed in Japan about the same time that Clovis people came to North America. Which makes sense --if one can walk or boat to Alaska with comparative ease, then doubtless a trip across the shallows today known as the China Sea to Japan would seem simple.

For some non-academic discussion of this, try http://www.staff.livjm.ac.uk/lanjcoll/japanroo.htm . The same article also appears at http://www.britannica.com/bcom/magazine/article/0,5744,42469,00.html .

Bishamon
19th January 2001, 01:56
When I was studying Japanese archaeology at Waseda University, there was a theory going around that at least some of the racial stock, namely that of the Jomon people, came from ancient Polynesia during the extended diaspora throughout the South Pacific--some scholars believe that they spoke a language belonging to the Austronesian linguistic family, which would support this idea.

Conversely, the people of the Yayoi culture seem to have come from the Asian continent via China and the Korean Peninsula and either displaced or intermingled with the "indigenous" Jomon, depending upon the school of thought to which one subscribes.



[Edited by Bishamon on 01-18-2001 at 08:04 PM]