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To: blam
How quickly they forget:

THE SAMURAI AND THE AINU

Findings by American anthropologist C. Loring Brace, University of Michigan, will surely be controversial in race conscious Japan. The eye of the predicted storm will be the Ainu, a "racially different" group of some 18,000 people now living on the northern island of Hokkaido. Pure-blooded Ainu are easy to spot: they have lighter skin, more body hair, and higher-bridged noses than most Japanese. Most Japanese tend to look down on the Ainu.

Brace has studied the skeletons of about 1,100 Japanese, Ainu, and other Asian ethnic groups and has concluded that the revered samurai of Japan are actually descendants of the Ainu, not of the Yayoi from whom most modern Japanese are descended. In fact, Brace threw more fuel on the fire with:

"Dr. Brace said this interpretation also explains why the facial features of the Japanese ruling class are so often unlike those of typical modern Japanese. The Ainu-related samurai achieved such power and prestige in medieval Japan that they intermarried with royality and nobility, passing on Jomon-Ainu blood in the upper classes, while other Japanese were primarily descended from the Yoyoi." The reactions of Japanese scientists have been muted so. One Japanese anthropologist did say to Brace," I hope you are wrong."

The Ainu and their origin have always been rather mysterious, with some people claiming that the Ainu are really Caucasian or proto-Caucasian - in other words, "white." At present, Brace's study denies this interpretation.

2 posted on 02/02/2006 6:17:59 PM PST by blam
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To: blam
Since the Imperial Family are actually of Korean origin, the origins of the Samurai class are inconsequental.

On the other hand, there were numerous intermarriages over the years, and it's difficult to separate the Emperor and his folks from the Samurai and their folks.

The Ya-Yoi, or Chinese origin people, belong to neither group.

4 posted on 02/02/2006 6:20:59 PM PST by muawiyah (-)
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To: blam
Dang those Samurai.

Spoils of war(riors).
8 posted on 02/02/2006 6:29:48 PM PST by Syncro
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To: blam

Furthermore, to claim that the Japanese were a patrilinear society for 2000 yrs is farfetched. My recollection is that the Yamato people may have been a matrilinear society. There was an Empress Suiko, I believe.


11 posted on 02/02/2006 6:31:57 PM PST by maro
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To: blam
Ainu people:


17 posted on 02/02/2006 6:53:18 PM PST by spetznaz (Nuclear-tipped Ballistic Missiles: The Ultimate Phallic Symbol)
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To: blam
THICK-THIGHED AINU BUMP.

Your post makes a lot of sense to me. Ainu people are very muscular and were known as the best warriors on earth.

33 posted on 02/02/2006 8:04:39 PM PST by japaneseghost (()
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