Yayoi linked to Yangtze area: DNA tests reveal similarities to early wet-rice farmers
“Some of the first wet-rice farmers in Japan might have migrated from the lower basin of China’s Yangtze River more than 2,000 years ago, Japanese and Chinese researchers said Thursday.
This was suggested by DNA tests conducted by the researchers that showed genetic similarities between human remains from the Yayoi Period found in southwestern Japan and the early Han Dynasty found in China’s central Jiangsu Province, Satoshi Yamaguchi told reporters.
People who introduced irrigation techniques to the Japanese archipelago in the Yayoi Period (250 B.C.-300) were believed to have come to Japan either from the Korean Peninsula across the Tsushima Strait, or from northern China across the Yellow Sea.
The latest findings, however, bolster another theory suggesting the origin of the Yayoi people was an area south of the Yangtze, which is believed to be the birthplace of irrigated rice cultivation.
Yamaguchi, a researcher at Japan’s National Science Museum, said the researchers compared Yayoi remains found in Yamaguchi and Fukuoka prefectures with those from early Han (202 B.C.-8) in Jiangsu in a three-year project begun in 1996.
The researchers found many similarities between the skulls and limbs of Yayoi people and the Jiangsu remains.
Two Jiangsu skulls showed spots where the front teeth had been pulled, a practice common in Japan in the Yayoi and preceding Jomon Period.
But the most persuasive findings resulted from tests revealing that genetic samples from three of 36 Jiangsu skeletons also matched part of the DNA base arrangements of samples from the Yayoi remains, the scientists said. “
This suggests the relationship between the Japanese and Chinese based on an argument of their ancestral tribes.
Source: Trussel News
This blood type unlike what we are accustomed to is called GM blood type was a method used by the Japanese Doctor Matsumoto to answer his own question of “Where are the Japanese from?”. According to him, everyone must originate from somewhere and this natural curiosity instigated him into making the map above.
ag – presented in Japanese by around 50% concentration. Over 60% in Ainu and 40% in Northern Han.
ab3st – Presented in Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Ainu, and Eskimos.
afb1b3 – Constitute most of the Thailand population and even more in Borneo.
axg – Presented in all Asians, most people, little or none in black and white.
fb1b3 – White
fb1c – n/a
ab1c – Black
ab1b3 – Central Africa and black.
ab3s – n/a
1) You cannot ignore geographical location. Korean Peninsula is closer to Japan rather then Yangzte river to Japan.
2) Jomon and Yayoi Tribe came from Korean Peninsula.
3) Chinese never had direct contact with Japanese Islanders. All contacts were done
by Koreans.
4) Majority of 80 percent of Japanese nobles traces to Korean origin ( Korguryo, Paekje, Shilla Kingdoms).
5) Kansai area you will find more ” Kudara” Paekje signs then any Chinese Kingdoms.
You are perfectly right, professor, and I also think Korea is underestimated in the map. Korea and Japan are and nowhere in the world so similar nations situated so near. Only YDNA haplogroup D is prevalent in Japan and C is a bit more in Korea. Korean actors, sportsmen, dishes rae so popular in Japan.
Queen Himiko, when asked by Chinese ambassadors, said that her royal house descended from princes in East China. Do you think this could refer to a Dongyi migration from Shandong to southernmost Korea (Kaya) where they blended with Tungusics and thereafter invaded Jomon Japan as the Yayoi? Korean (like Japanese) has a substrate which sets it apart from the Altaic languages. Dongyi is supposed to have been related to Hmong, and was not Sinitic. Do you think a Dongyi influx into Korea might account for the non-Altaic part of Korean?
“descended from princes in East China” which translation is that? Do you have a reference? As far as I know, she is known to have been referred to as Ruler of Heaven in the land where the sun rises in the east – or something akin to that – which upset the Chinese emperor since the title was reserved only for Chinese rulers, and which meant Queen Himiko was elevating her status to a similar level. Queen Himiko ethnic origins (or that of her lineage) are definitely debateable – depending on whether you place Yamatai-koku or her resting place in Kyushu or Kansai. The shamanic practices (are Central Asian/pan-Siberian) but the earliest of the keyhole tomb architecture that Queen Himiko was contemporaneous with would place her as being possibly related to Gaya/Kaya kingdoms or other arguments have been made for Silla or proto-Paekche/Mahan lineages.
At a small part of ideas the korean professor may be is correct. But why the today koreans are taller than the today Japanese?
Why the Jomon and Yayoi Tribes came from Korean Peninsula and did not happen the opposite?
If the Jomon live for 14.000 years in Japan how many years live the koreans in their country?
When started finishing the last ice age?
Were human movements be possible for thousands of miles with tempretures below zero?
Who much food did they have with them for so long distance trips? Was it possible found food at those deggrees?
Please answer. Thank you.
May be barbecue eating makes you taller than fish eating.
These people sure had the best way to live, I love Your blog and the information you have on it, life was so simple looking in these times. It seems like a wonderful way of living with no worries or bills. It’s like the our father prayer, give us this day our daily bread, what a wonderful way in living
Does anyone think that the Yayoi people might have been Dongyi refugees from Shandong mixed with Tungusics? I hear that the Dongyi might have been related to the Hmong, and this may be why Japanese is different from Altaic. I have also heard that the Yezo (Jomon) were somewhat different from the Ainu, though both spoke Austroasiatic, and that the Ainu originally spoke a Uralic -related language close to Yukaghir. I have also heard that the Jomon had Melanesian blood, and that the Kumaso and Hayato of Kyushu were Austronesian from Taiwan. Thoughts, anyone?
Dongyi is a vague term used to refer to groups that occupied Eastern China and so it is probably not helpful or would be impossible to establish if Dongyi peoples formed the Gaya/Kaya populations. It is however possible to try to investigate which genetic lineages out of East China are the most likely ones that made it into Korean peninsula and ending terminally in Japan while comparing the archaeological evidence. For the Gaya period, I am assuming we shan’t be looking at the deeper layer and earlier peopling of Korea and Paleolithic-to-Jomon Japan by the C1 http://dienekes.blogspot.com/2010/05/origin-and-dispersal-of-y-chromosome.html coastal lineages (M130) from the south or the Buryat-related migrations from of the Altai-Baikal area http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.3378/1534-6617-80.3.239?journalCode=hbio / https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/lan/en/atlas.html
For the Yayoi period, we can see archaeological evidence pointing to migrations from the Shandong area (Jiangsu http://www.trussel.com/prehist/news111.htm), Fujian southern complex, but also from Mahan related societies in Korean (bronze bell and dagger cultures). Hmong tribal contributions have been suggested (The Eastward Spread of the Hmong Culture Guodong LI http://bbs.3miao.net/thread-47455-1-1.html / Genetic structure of Hmong-speaking populations… http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/content/22/3/725.full Y chromosomes of prehistoric people along the Yangtze River) because HM people, descendants of Daxi culture, carry the M7, G, G2 (as well as Y-DNA O3a3b) could have carried these genes to Japan. However, another likely contender for the M7 (and Y-DNA O3a3b) gene carrying population could be She or Bunu because She populations cluster the closest and according to one Y-DNA hg C study as well. There may also have been a strong Austro-asiatic migratory contribution from Y-DNA haplogroup O2b (SRY465, M176) which is exclusively found among the Korean, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese and Indonesian populations. There are those who speculate that these are the Chinese continental contributions to Japanese populations: O2a-M95* 1.90% Yue (Jiangnan) / O2b-SRY 7.70% Mo（Harbin） / O2b1-47z 22.00% Ye（Yalijiang）/ O3-M122* 6.60% Yan（Liao）/ O3a4-LINE1 3.10% Miao（Yangze） / O3a3c-M134 10.40% Ji 箕（Shanxi) – but I don’t see any evidence on the archaeological side to corroborate this. I have huge problems with all of these “too-specific” tracing theories that pinpoint a specific tribe or city. The closest we can get to the picture is I think is the probable and rough regional origin of a particular Japanese haplogroup-lineage. Like as not, East Asia is the probable origin of more than one haplogroup lineage migrating through Korea or directly to Japan. For help on East Asian lineages, for example, we could take a look at this mtDNA map of M7; M7a (in situ branched off its own M7); M7b (China) and M7c (Sabah or Philippines from the south) http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/content/19/10/1737/F3.large.jpg – The Emerging Twigs of the East Asian mtDNA Tree http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/content/19/10/1737.full. It is suggested in the article though that all the M7 populations separated in Japan and Korea during Jomon times (which is now supported by newer studies that say agriculture (millet) and rice cultivation began in Jomon times far earlier than the supposed traditional Yayoi period. It appears that Japan was probably the terminus for a great many incoming migrating lineages. Looking at the branches of the M7 twig, you can see Japan’s M7a alongside with China, Korea or Island SEA. Haplogroups B5, B6 could be indicative of Austronesian migrations that brought neolithic culture and perhaps megalithic culture (dolmens, jar burials) although the latter are generally thought to have come from Korea because of Kyushu’s proximity (Tracing the Austronesian footprint…http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/content/19/10/1737.full). (Possible source of other mtDNA hg lineages: F1b (frequent in Central Asians and Mongols, Koreans) and hgs A http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/content/19/10/1737/F4.large.jpg and B http://wapedia.mobi/en/Haplogroup_B_(mtDNA)).
Blood immunoglobin marker studies show prevalent in Japanese populations are the Caucasoid Gm ag and axggenes northern genes Eurasian/Caucasian “Northern Mongoloid” Gm ab3st components as well as “Southern Mongoloid” afb1b3 genes http://www.geocities.jp/ikoh12/kennkyuuno_to/gm_genes_by_hideo_matsumoto.html.
Given the high northern gene markers, we can surmise there may also have been South Siberian lineages coming to Japan from the late Yayoi period through the Kofun periods although the high Northern Mongoloid marker showing can be most probably attributed to Baikal-Buryat migrations. Iranian and Uralian populations may have contributed some of the northern Caucasoid genes. Studies show the Mongoloid F1b gene is more frequent in Central Asians and Mongols, Koreans, and Japanese. Gaya/Kofun period horse/weapon tomb artefacts have similarities to those of the Ordos Culture http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordos_culture (which is possibly related to the Xiongnu culture) – who are thought to have genetic descendants in the Daurs http://www.ethnic-china.com/Daur/daurintro.htm of Inner Mongoli a (carriers of O2b Y-DNA) http://www.ethnic-china.com/Daur/daurintro.htm. (who also possibly synomymous with or have affinities to the Manchurians who were also 02b carriers-and the Qidan ancestors of Daurs http://china.org.cn/english/2001/Aug/16896.htm).
Re your question about the Ezo (Emishi) and the Jomon, the Emishi website has a number of persuasive theories: Who were the Emishi http://emishi-ezo.net/WhoEmishi.htm / see also Emishi, Kofun Culture and the Expansion of Yamato http://emishi-ezo.net/emishi_kofun.html / Jomon Culture and the Emishi http://emishi-ezo.net/jomon.html
Modern day Koreans and japanese share O2b Korean genes. O2b is shared by 72 percent among modern day japanese.
So…this would mean that the modern day Japanese are descendents from the Han Chinese.
Also, there is a legend popular in China and Japan about Xu Fu, who came to Japan searching for the elixir of life. He brought with him 500 boys and 500 girls, and the legend concluded that he settled in Japan & became the first emperor of Japan. (Coincidentally, those 500 boys and 500 girls would be the ancestors of the modern day Japanese)
I’m sorry but that is a legend. And again, if there were actually 500 girls and boys going to Japan, the Chinese people must have noticed about the settlement. The two countries’ must have had a real close bond with each other since the Japanese people (from the legend) must have originally come XU FU people. Ironically, both did not have a great relationship and funny thing is that the Japanese people actually ADOPTED things from China and Korea back then. If your legend is true, why would they adopt the techniques? They have the culture and the technology already.