Chapter II. The Original And Surviving Races.
In the present population of Japan there are two distinct races, the Ainos and the Japanese. Of the former there is only a small number now remaining in the island of Yezo. There was also a remnant in the island of Saghalien, but in 1875, when a treaty was made with Russia ceding the Japanese claim to the southern half of Saghalien in exchange for the Kurile islands, permission was granted for all Japanese subjects who wished, to remove to the Japanese island of Yezo. Accordingly among other Japanese subjects seven hundred and fifty Ainos removed to the valley of the Ishikari, where they have continued to reside.
Aino Family
The Ainos are probably the original race, who in early times inhabited the Main island down to the Hakoné pass and possibly farther to the south. From Japanese history we learn that the military forces of the empire were constantly employed to suppress the disturbances caused by the barbarous people of the north. The necessity of this forcible repression, which frequently recurred, was a chief reason for the formation of a military class in the [pg 022] early history of Japan. One of the duties imposed on Yamato-dake by his imperial father (a.d. 71-130) was to chastise and subdue the Yemishi. This is the name by which the barbarous peoples of the north and east were known among the Japanese. According to Chamberlain[16] in his translation of Kojiki, the Chinese characters with which the Yemishi is written mean Prawn Barbarians, in allusion to the long beards which make their faces resemble a prawn's head. The hairy people now known as Ainos are almost certainly referred to. The origin of the term Aino is unknown. By the Japanese it is believed to be derived from inu, meaning a dog, and to have been bestowed on them in contempt. The name is not used by the Ainos themselves. In common with the inhabitants of the Kurile islands and the Japanese portion of Saghalien they call themselves Yezo.
The present characteristics of the Ainos have led many to doubt whether they are really the descendants of the hardy barbarians who so long withstood the military power of the Japanese. But the effect of centuries of repression and conquest must be taken into account. The Ainos have become the peaceable and inoffensive people which we now find them, by many generations of cruel and imperious restraint. That they should have become in this sequence of events a quiet and submissive people is not wonderful. The number of Ainos in the island of Yezo is given in 1880, which is the last census made of them, as 16,637[17]; and this number is believed [pg 023] to be gradually decreasing. Travellers who have visited them unite in testifying to their great amiability and docility. Physically they are a sturdy and well developed race. The characteristic which has been noticed in them more than any other is the abundant growth of hair. The men have a heavy and bushy head of hair and a full beard which is allowed to grow down to their chests. Other parts of the body are also covered with a growth which far surpasses that of the ordinary races. In the matter of food, clothing, houses and implements, they remain in the most primitive condition. In personal habits they are far less cleanly than their Japanese neighbors. Travellers[18] who have remained with them for many weeks assert that in all that time they never saw them wash either their persons or their clothes.
They practise few arts. The making of pottery even in its rudest forms is unknown. All vessels in use are obtained by barter from the Japanese. Occasionally an old-fashioned Japanese matchlock gun is found among them, but mainly their hunting is carried on with bows and arrows. Their fishing is conducted with the rude apparatus which their ancestors used. They have no written language, and even the pictorial writing, which has often been found among rude people, seems to be utterly unknown among them. Their religious ideas[19] are of the most vague and incoherent description. The objects of worship are chiefly inanimate objects such as rivers, rocks and mountains. They seem to have a [pg 024] certain fear of the spirit land. They do not readily talk about their deceased ancestors. Their places of burial are concealed, and foreigners rarely obtain access to them.
In their rude superstitions the bear seems to have a singular part. Whether their traditions concerning this animal had their origin in some earlier fear of the bear as a ferocious neighbor it is impossible to determine. In every community the men capture each spring a young cub which they bring home. They entrust it to a woman who feeds it on the milk from her breast. When it is too old to be further nursed in this way, it is confined in a bear cage provided for the purpose. Then in the autumn of the following year the grand bear festival is held. At an appointed signal the door of the cage is opened and the bear, which has been infuriated by hunger and teasing attacks, rushes out. The assembled hunters rush upon him with bows and arrows, clubs and knives, and after an exciting struggle despatch him. The carcass is cut in pieces and distributed among the families of the community, who feast upon it with great delight. Mingled with this rough and exciting scene is much saké drinking. This is one accomplishment which they have learned from the Japanese. The men are all confirmed saké drinkers, and both men and women persistent smokers. Of the meaning and object of this bear feast the Ainos themselves are ignorant. It goes back to a period beyond their present traditions. Whether it has in it an element of bear worship it is impossible to learn.
The remains of the Stone age which are found in the northern part of the Main island are usually attributed to the Ainos. These remains have been collected and studied both by native scholars and by foreigners. Among the most important of them have been the articles found in shell heaps uncovered in different parts of the empire. The first[20] to which foreign attention was drawn was that at Ōmori, near Tōkyō. Since then many others have been opened and many valuable finds have been reported. The shell heaps have evidently been used like kitchen-middens in Europe and elsewhere, as places for dumping the refuse of shell-fish used for food. These became places for the throwing of useless and broken articles used in the household, and thus have been the means of preserving many of the implements used in prehistoric times. The most significant discovery made in these shell heaps was that at Ōmori, of the bones of human beings artificially broken in such a way as to indicate that cannibalism had been prevalent at the time. Whether this can be assumed as sufficient proof of so grave a charge has been disputed. It is claimed[21] that in at least seven similar shell heaps no human bones and no evidences of cannibalism were found. If however the case is considered as sufficiently proved, it is clear from this as well as from many other circumstances that the Ainos of that early day were by no means the mild and gentle race which we now find [pg 026] them. It is interesting to note that Marco Polo[22] mentions cannibalism as one of the customs which were believed to exist in Japan in his day.
Besides the Ainos there is evidence of the existence of another savage tribe, which at an early date seems to have been found in many parts of the Main island, and at a later date in the island of Yezo and the Kurile islands on the north. They are the so-called pit-dwellers. In the very earliest writings of the Japanese we find references to them. They dug pits in the earth and built over them a roof, and used these pits or cellars as rooms in which to sleep. The Japanese conquerors in the central parts of the Main island had many conflicts with these pit-dwellers. And in the north and east they as well as the Ainos were encountered by the military forces of the empire. They were probably driven north by the more powerful Ainos and have almost disappeared. Abundant evidence[23] however is found in the island of Yezo of their previous existence. The Ainos in their traditions call them Koro-pok-guru,[24] or hole-men. Among the Japanese they are spoken of as Ko-bito, or dwarfs. There are said to be still [pg 027] in Yezo the remains of villages where these men lived in earlier times. In the Kurile islands, in the peninsula of Kamtschatka, and in the southern part of Saghalien remnants of this primitive people are met with.
Turning now to the Japanese race which extends from the Kurile islands on the north to the Ryūkyū islands on the south, we see at once that it is a mixed race containing widely different elements. Even after the many centuries during which the amalgamation has been going on, we recognize still the varying types to which the individuals tend. In the south more than in the north, and more among the ruling classes than in the laboring classes there are specimens of a delicate, refined appearance, face oval, eyes oblique, nose slightly Roman, and frame delicate but well proportioned. Then there is another type which has been recognized by all observers. It is found more in the north than the south and is much more common among the laboring population than among the higher classes. The face is broad and the cheek bones prominent. The nose is flat and the eyes are horizontal. The frame is robust and muscular, but not so well proportioned and regular as in the former type. These two types with many intervening links are found everywhere. The characteristics are perhaps more marked among the women than the men. Especially among the aristocracy the women have been less affected by weather and exposure and physical exertion than the men. In the regions about Kyōto and in the western portions of the Main island the prevalence [pg 028] of what may be called the aristocratic type is most marked. Even in the time of the Dutch trade with Japan, Kaempfer[25] refers to the women of Saga, on the south coast of the Inland sea, as “handsomer than in any other Asiatic country.” The northern regions, including the old provinces of Mutsu and Dewa, show a much larger element of the more robust type. The men are more muscular and of a darker complexion. Their faces are broader and flatter and their hair and beard more abundant. They show probably the influence of the admixture with the Aino race, which within historic times inhabited these provinces.
Dr. Baelz, a German scholar who has spent many years in Japan, has devoted much study to the races of Japan, and has made elaborate measurements both of living specimens and skeletons. His conclusions may be safely followed, as having been reached by adequate study and by personal investigation.[26] Mainly following him therefore we give briefly the results of the best thought in regard to the ethnography of the races now inhabiting the Japanese islands.
The Ainos of the present day are the descendants of the original occupants of northern and central portions of the Main island. Their share in the ancestry of the present Japanese people is not great, but still sensible, and has contributed to the personal peculiarities which are found in the inhabitants [pg 029] of these regions. They probably came originally from the continent by way of the Kurile islands, or by the island of Saghalien. They belong to the northern group of the Mongolians who inhabit the regions about Kamtschatka and adjacent parts of Siberia. They have left marks of their occupancy on the Main island as far south as the Hakoné pass, in the shell heaps, flint arrow-heads, and remains of primitive pottery which are still found. These marks indicate a low degree of civilization, and the persistence with which they withstood the Japanese conquerors, and the harshness and contempt with which they were always treated, have prevented them from mingling to any great extent with their conquerors or accepting their culture.
The twofold character of the Japanese race as it is seen at present can best be explained by two extensive migrations from the continent. The first of these migrations probably took place from Korea, whence they landed on the Main island in the province of Izumo. This will account for the mythological legends which in the early Japanese accounts cluster to so great an extent around Izumo. It will also explain why it was that when Jimmu Tennō came on his expedition from the island of Kyūshū, he found on the Main island inhabitants who in all essential particulars resembled his own forces, and with whom he formed alliances. This first migration seems to have belonged to a rougher and more barbarous tribe of the Mongolian race, and has given rise to the more robust and muscular element now found among the people.
The second migration may have come across by the same route and landed on the island of Kyūshū. They may have marched across the island or skirted around its southern cape and spread themselves out in the province of Hyūga, where in the Japanese accounts we first find them. This migration probably occurred long after the first, and came evidently from a more cultured tribe of the great Mongolian race. That they came from the same race is evident from their understanding the same language, and having habits and methods of government which were not a surprise to the new-comers, and in which they readily co-operated. On the contrary, the ruder tribes at the north of the Main island were spoken of as Yemishi,—that is, barbarians, and recognized from the first as different and inferior.
While the natural and easiest route to Japan would be by way of the peninsula of Korea, and by the narrow straits about 125 miles in width,—divided into two shorter parts by the island Tsushima lying about half-way between,—it is possible that this second migration may have taken place through Formosa and the Ryūkyū islands. This would perhaps account better for the Malay element which is claimed by many to be found in the population of the southern islands. This is attempted to be accounted for by the drifting of Malay castaways along the equatorial current upon the Ryūkyū islands, whence they spread to the southern islands of Japan. But the existence of this Malay element is denied by many observers who have visited the Ryūkyū islands and aver that among the islanders there is no [pg 031] evidence of the existence at any time of a Malay immigration, that the language is only slightly different from the Japanese, and in personal appearance they are as like to the Koreans and Chinese as the Japanese themselves.
Some of the most important measurements which Dr. Baelz has made of the Japanese races are here given, converted into English measures for more ready comprehension.
The average height of the males among the Japanese, as obtained by the measurements of skeletons verified by measurements of living specimens, is 5.02 feet, ranging from 4.76 feet to 5.44 feet. The average height of the females measured was 4.66 feet, ranging from 4.46 feet to 4.92 feet. Referring to the skulls measured by him he says that relatively they are large, as is always the case among people of small size.
The measurements of the Ainos by Dr. Scheube as given by Dr. Rein[27] are: average height of males 4.9 feet to 5.2 feet, and of females 4.8 feet to 5.0 feet, which do not differ very greatly from the measurements of the Japanese as given by Dr. Baelz.