Japanese emperial family came from Korea ?
Brouwer
A Korean friend tells me that the Japanese emperial family originated
from Korea.
Is there any form of evidence for this ?
Gilles Poitras
> A Korean friend tells me that the Japanese emperial family originated
> from Korea. Is there any form of evidence for this ?
As the imperial Family originated in before the writing was introduced into
Japan it is hard to tell.
Some of the old noble families are descended from Korean exiles and there
was much interaction between the Korean kingdoms and pre-Yamato and Yamato
Japan. The evidence is soptty at best. It is possible that the Yamato may
have been descended from invaders who brought horse warfare to Japan, but
then perhaps they are descended from Japanese who learned such methods of
warfare from Korea.
The contacts between Japan and Korea go back centures before the earliest
Japanese books were written and Japan even sent troops to Korea during this
time.
The first volume of the Cambridge History of Japan has a good coverage of
this era. Your local library may have it or can get it for you on
inter-library loan.
Given that there was such a conflict over the introduction of Buddhism into
Japan long after the Yamato rule was firmly established I feel that the
evidence for the Imperial family being Korean is not that strong.
--
Gilles Poitras
http://www.sirius.com/~cowpunk/
Gary Mathews
In an article, bro...@att.co.kr (Brouwer) writes:
>A Korean friend tells me that the Japanese emperial family
>originated from Korea.
>Is there any form of evidence for this ?
There are no convincing evidence to support such theory.
Also there's the problem of defining someone as Korean when the same group of
people might've lived on the contenent as well as on the islands of Japan?
For example, it's said that Wa people of ancient Japan lived both in
Japan(refer to in China's Wei Chronicle's Wajin section) and
in the Southern part of Korea(based on another Chinese chronicle.)
Therefore, if Wa people in Korea migrated to Japan then are they Japanese or Koreans?
Another problem with such theories is that there appears to
be a possible breakage from the original dynasty, that is,
another lineage assuming power from the previous ones.
Yu Mizuno's theory is that there were three dynasties.
He calls it old, meddle, and new dynasties.
In reference to Sujin, Nintoku, and Keitai, respectively.
All supposedly of a different lineage from others'.
[also others had proposed another possible breaks, Chuuai, Buretsu, and Tenmu.]
Many of the proponents of the so called, "Japanese imperial family
are Koreans," stems from the theory that Sujin emperor came from Korea.
Therefore any breaks in the subsequent imperial line tend to undermine such theory.
lupine
Brouwer wrote in message <34DD3FEA...@att.co.kr>...
>A Korean friend tells me that the Japanese emperial family originated
>from Korea.
>Is there any form of evidence for this ?
I believe that Japanese ancestors came from main land via Korean peninsula,
Tsushima island... This is what I learned in our history class back in
80's.
But the evidence? we can only assume some theories proposed by historians,
no?
I would believe the following theory:
What was necessary to rule the ancient Japan? Technology? great Charisma?
or advanced culture? Well I assume ruler had to be powerful and little
more advanced to have the islanders under his/her control, no?
So, I believe the emperor might came from main land where the more advanced
society had been formed, and he/she started to rule the ancient Japanese
(they may have been from main land China, Korea ,or pre-existed, or mixed of
these...I do not know!) who had been little behind from main land standard
back then...
Therefore:
If the Japanese society (or little tribe) had been formed after isolated
from main land, and the conqueror/ruler who was probably the ancestor of
Japanese emperor started bossing the islanders with the far advanced
technology back then; we might be able to say that Japanese emperor is from
Korea/China (main land)...
But in the long history of Japanese dynasty, there had been 2 emperors
existed, called "Nan-Boku-Cho-Jidai"; the emperor's genuine blood may have
been altered then.
Another evidence is the looks! Have you ever seen the photo of Showa
emperor?
When I saw his photo for the first time, I could hardly believe that he is
Japanese because of his looks...(maybe his eyes are not like my friends,
neighbor, or other people I know).
Japanese people are very unique, aren't they?
Please excuse my choppy English, I am not good at posting in English.
Thank you in advance.
Sean Holland
lupine <lup...@geocities.co.jp> wrote:
(snip)
>
> Japanese people are very unique, aren't they?
>
What does this mean?
(1) Please forgive the English lesson, but it does not make sense to
say that something is *very* unique. There are no degrees of uniqueness.
Something is either unique or it isn't.
(2) There is a fairly long history of people being exasperated by the
common claims of Japan and the Japanese being "unique". I teach Japanese
to high school students here in Canada. Many of my students are from
Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. They often comment on how much of the
"unique" Japanese culture they are learning about has its basis in their
own cultures. When I visited Korea, and especially when I went through
the national museum in Seoul, I was struck by the similarities between
the cultures.
Certainly Japan is a rich, varied and unique culture. However, claims
that Japan is somehow "more" unique than other cultures are misguided.
--
Sean
To e-mail me, take out the garbage.
Gilles Poitras
In article <6bq00t$3...@newsgate.so-net.or.jp>, "lupine"
<lup...@geocities.co.jp> wrote:
> What was necessary to rule the ancient Japan? Technology? great Charisma?
> or advanced culture? Well I assume ruler had to be powerful and little
> more advanced to have the islanders under his/her control, no?
The evidence these days seems to point to a combination of factors. These
incluide a powerful Japanese clan, who used immigrant clans from Korea,
some apparently exiled clans, to aid with technical problems of flood
control irrigation etc. Also there were extensive trade and political
relations with Korean kingdoms and even a small Japanese colony or
subserviant area in Korea. Trade with Korea was important for many reasons
including iron for weapon and tool making.
The evidence indicates strong Korean influence, and Chinese influence
filtered through Korea.
I refer you to the Yamato chapters of the Cambridge History of Japan for
more information.