著者

肥後 和男

出版者

日本文化人類学会

雑誌

民族學研究 (ISSN:00215023)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.14, no.2, pp.108-115, 1949

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That the present Japanese have a physique resembling the Koreans more than the Ainu shows that their ancestors were nearer to the Koreans than to the Ezo (ancestors of the Ainu). The same may be argued with reference to language and mythology. Therefore, it seems reasonable to believe that the forefathers of the modern Japanese people may have come from the Korean area. However, the period of this movement is not clear. The Wei (Wa) of the ancient records of China were the ancestors of the Japanese. According to these records, they had already built many small states by the 1st century A. D. They practiced agriculture and had communications with China. The forefathers of the Imperial Family seem to have unified those small states under its rule toward the end of the 2nd and the beginning of the 3rd century. Their point of origin is still unknown. The opinion of some scholars that they were of the same stock as the horse-riding tribes who established dynasties in Manchuria and Korea in the 3rd century has not been verified. If Chinese records can be trusted, the Yamato (Yeh-ma-tai) kingdom seems to have been already in existence about the end of the 1st century. The erection of great tomb mounds for the burial of the kings at the beginning of the 3rd century A. D. seems to have followed the unification of the small Wa states under the Yamato dynasty.