A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower (6 page)

J
mon people as a whole are invariably described as short-statured. There are confusing differences in the heights given by experts, but in general J
mon males towards the end of the period seem to have been around 157 cm and females 148 cm.
²⁰
These heights contrast with those of the subsequent Yayoi immigrants who arrived around 400
BC
and marked a new era. The Yayoi were some 3 or 4 cm taller and little different from their modern Japanese descendants at the start of the twentieth century.
²¹

As well as being relatively short in stature, the J
mon people typically had a stocky muscular appearance. They had heavy skeletons, flattened leg bones, and wide, square faces.

In fact, the J
mon people bore considerable similarity to the present-day Ainu of Hokkaid
. This is not surprising, for studies by physical anthropologists confirm that the Ainu are unmistakably descended from J
mon people.
²²
This sets them apart from modern Japanese in the other main islands, who overall show greater descent from the Yayoi – though this is a matter of degree, since 43 per cent of males in Japan carry a Y chromosome related to J
mon genes, ranging from 25 per cent in southern regions to 60 per cent in the north. It is unclear when exactly they arrived in the country, or even exactly where from,
²³
but Ainu certainly have a very great antiquity as inhabitants of Japan.

The Ainu are in effect the original Japanese. For many centuries the Yayoi-derived modern Japanese (known in this context as Yamato Japanese) were to deny this, and to marginalise or even ignore the Ainu. Though there was semi-official recognition of the indigenous status of the Ainu during the 1990s, it was not until 6 June 2008 that there was full and formal legal recognition of them as such.
²⁴

We see in the Ainu the J
mon origins of Japan, but J
mon Japan was still far from being a nation. The following Yayoi period was to contribute far more to the emergence of Japan as we know it today.

1.4   New Beginnings: The Yayoi Period (ca 400
BC
–ca
AD
250)

Around 400
BC
– or possibly even as early as 1000
BC
, according to some scholars
²⁵
– Japan was effectively invaded. Immigrants arrived in number from the continent, immigrants different in appearance and culture from the J
mon people. They were lighter and taller, with narrower faces. Their culture included technology such as bronze and iron, and was also more rice-based than that in Japan.

There is great diversity of opinion over the nature and scale of this immigration, and even the motives and origins of the immigrants.
²⁶
The picture is confused, but what is clear is that newcomers arrived, very probably in northwest Ky
sh
initially, and were to change J
mon Japan forever. Genetically, in modern Japan 54 per cent of male lines and 66 per cent of female lines show Sino-Korean origins, reflecting this influx.
²⁷
In material terms, both Korean and Chinese artefacts are found at this time.