Where did the modern Japanese come from? Semitic origin of the Japanese

(jap. 日本人 - Nihonjin, nipponjin) - representatives of the main population of Japan.

Word " Japanese" can be used as a neutral term to refer to all the inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago or as an ethnonym that refers to the cultural community - "Japanese ethnic group" (without the Ryukyus and Ainu) or the political - "Japanese nation" (together with the Ryukyus and Ainu).

Origin of the Japanese

The problem of the origin of the Japanese can be considered from three positions: racegenesis, ethnogenesis and nationogenesis.

Most Western scholars point out the inappropriateness of defining the Japanese as a race or group. However, Japanese scientists note the existence of " Japanese race» as a separate biological taxon. They also associate the formation of the Japanese ethnos and nation with him. Today, the concept of K. Khanihara, officially published by him in 1990, is generally recognized. According to her modern Japanese are descendants of the proto-Mongoloid community of the Jomon period, close to which there are peoples South- East Asia. Beginning in the 3rd century BC and ending in the 7th century, these proto-Mongoloids mixed with new-Mongoloid migrants from Manchuria, Korea, and China. As a result of mixing, a Japanese racial type arose, which became the basis for the formation of the Japanese ethnic group. Despite a large number of flaws in the theory of K. Hanihara, her position can be found both in scientific works and school textbooks.

If specialists are ready to give a certain set of concepts-answers to the question of racial genesis, then the problem of the ethnogenesis of the Japanese looks much more complicated for them. Most scholars believe that the Japanese as an ethnic group arose on the basis of the Yamato ethno-social group in the 6th-7th centuries, the basis of which was the state of Yamato in the Kinki region. However, a number of scholars argue that it is impossible to call the Yamatois Japanese, since they were only part of the ethnic map of Japan. For these scholars, "Japanese" is a political term that united the various ethnic groups of the Japanese archipelago at the end of the Edo period in the 19th century.

From the point of view of nation genesis, the Japanese emerged as a nation with the advent of the nation state - in response to aggressive actions nation states Western Europe and USA. The vested cultural communities of the Japanese islands, including the Ainu and the Ryukyuans, were united into a single political and social organism.

The difficulties that arise when searching for the origin of the Japanese are associated with the lack of an agreed and clear terminology for "race", "ethnos" or "nation". There is also no consensus among scholars as to which of these terms to designate the Japanese. However, today the word "Japanese" is used mainly in a neutral sense, to refer to the inhabitants of Japan, or as a synonym for the phrase "residents of Japan".

Language

It is native to the vast majority of the world's Japanese and official language in Japan. The graphic system of the language contains two alphabets (hiragana and katakana), as well as about 4 thousand borrowed Chinese. According to statistics from the Japanese Ministry of Education, 99% of the country's population is able to read and write Japanese.

The origin and classification of the language is still unclear. By the middle of the 20th century, it was believed that the Japanese language belongs to the group of Tungus-Altaic languages ​​​​and is related, in particular, to Korean. However modern researchers indicate the similarity of the main Japanese vocabulary with the vocabulary of the languages ​​of Southeast Asia. Generality of grammar with the languages ​​of the north and proximity basic vocabulary Japanese from the south of the Asian continent complicates the classification procedure. Therefore, it is customary to single out the Japanese language as an isolated one.

In addition to the Japanese language itself, there are Ainu and Ryukyu languages ​​in Japan. These languages ​​are considered by Japanese researchers as special ancient Japanese dialects, but a number of Western researchers define them as separate languages.

Culture and religion

It is believed that at the heart of modern Japanese culture lies the culture of the natives of the Japanese archipelago of the Jomon period. An integral and organic part of Japanese culture is the versatility of traditions that are now spreading all over the world - classical poetry, Japanese painting, the tea ceremony, martial arts, architecture, samurai, the art of building ornamental gardens, flower arranging (), assembling figures (origami), traditional Opera Noo, puppet show bunraku, city kabuki theater, japanese cuisine.

Oddly enough, it may seem that the formation of Japanese culture is a constant borrowing and "digestion" of foreign ideas. Traditionally, the main importers of world achievements were Korea, China, Spain, Portugal, Holland. Since the middle of the 19th century, the countries of Western Europe and the United States have acted as an "intellectual donor". Know-how adapted to the Japanese soil became the basis for the development of Japanese unique products and creations. Today among them are known Japanese electronics, manga and anime.

Religion plays an important role in the life of the Japanese. However, its functioning is different from that in the West. Combination is characteristic, that is, simultaneous belonging to two or more religious movements. The main religions in Japan are Shinto and Buddhism. About 1% of the population is Christian.

ethnic groups

Japanese (Yamatoytsy, Ryukyuytsy,) - ​​about 99%. The rest (Chinese, Koreans, Brazilians, Filipinos, others) - about 1%.

During the existence of the Japanese Empire (1867 - 1945), Koreans and Taiwanese were ranked among the "political" Japanese. Some of the Nivkhs who lived on Sakhalin also had Japanese citizenship. After the occupation of Sakhalin by the USSR, they were deported to Hokkaido as "Japanese".

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the number of Japanese living abroad is about 1 million. Most of them live in the USA. They are followed by Japanese communities in China, Brazil and the UK.

Nikkei

The term Nikkei (日系 - "Japanese") is used to refer to people who have Japanese roots, whose ancestors immigrated from Japan and live abroad.

The etymology of the name is close to the Russian word "Russian". The latter is the one who belongs to "Rus", but is not "Russian". A similar thing is observed in the name Nikei - a person has a close connection with Japan, but he is not actually a "Japanese". In general, the entire Japanese diaspora is called the Nikei period. The Japanese diaspora has a 140-year history. The first Japanese emigrants began to move to Hawaii in 1868. About 750,000 people migrated abroad before World War II. Another 250,000 moved abroad in the second half of the 20th century.

Japanese emigrants and their descendants retain a sense of community and do not break ties with the country of their ancestors. They play an important role in the societies that have adopted them. An example is the reign of Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000), who came from a family of Japanese immigrants.

INTRODUCTION

Japan is known as one of the most mysterious and exotic countries peace. Far and near, simple and mysterious, it captures our imagination with its exoticism. And a visit to this mysterious country will not dispel the prevailing myth. "I have visited fairy tale”, say people who have visited Japan.

Unquestioning obedience and submission is in the blood of this nation. Do not be alarmed when a Japanese woman who meets you at the threshold of her house falls to her knees, lays her on the floor in front of her and presses her forehead against them - this is how she expresses her respect. By the way, do not try to shake hands with the owner as a sign of greeting: this is not accepted here.

In the view of a European, the image of a “country rising sun". At the word "Japan" in the imagination vividly emerge beauty Japanese girls, virtuoso pas of karate masters, Fujiyama, cherry blossoms, ikebana, netsuke, Rock Garden, sake and the ancient imperial dynasty. The historical events of the past era are reminded by numerous architectural structures those times: castles, Buddhist temples of Kyoto, Nara, etc. All this will be Japan. Or an illusion about her. They do not part with the illusion, they saturate it. And in all this I tried to understand my work.

ETHNOGENESIS AND ETHNIC HISTORY OF THE JAPANESE

The questions of the ethnogenesis of the Japanese still cause controversy, giving rise to the most controversial hypotheses and theories, none of which is able to explain the totality of the facts accumulated by science.

In Soviet Japanese studies, it is believed that the most ancient basis of the population of Japan was the Ainu. Their economy was based on hunting, fishing, forest and coastal gathering. In Hokkaido, the Ainu were mixed with people who migrated there from east coast Asian mainland. On the islands of Kyushu and Shikoku and in the south of Honshu, the Ainu population mixed and assimilated with the Austronesian tribes.

In the middle of the first millennium BC, the so-called proto-Japanese tribes penetrated the Japanese islands through the Korea Strait from the south of the Korean Peninsula. With their arrival, domestic animals appeared on the islands - a horse, a cow, a sheep, and the emergence of a culture of irrigated rice also belongs to this period. The process of cultural development of newcomer tribes, their interaction with the local Austronesian-Ainu population took place until the 5th century BC. The main focus of the economy on Japanese islands finally became rice sowing.

By the VI-VII centuries. the island population adopted from Korea, as well as from China, elements of Chinese and Korean culture. In the 8th century the assimilation of the remnants of the Austronesian population in southern Kyushu was completed. At the same time, the process of settling the wooded north of the island of Honshu began. The local Ainu population of this island partly mixed with the newcomers, partly was pushed to the north.

Japan is currently one of the most homogeneous ethnic composition countries of the world, the basis of the nation (more than 99% of the population) are Japanese. The Ainu are now preserved only in Hokkaido, their number does not exceed 30 thousand. About 600 thousand Koreans live in Japan, who mainly moved there during the Second World War, and up to 40 thousand Chinese. Europeans and Americans among the permanent residents of the country are negligible.

social history Japanese

The first information about the Japanese is contained in Chinese sources dating back to the 1st century BC. BC e.- V in. n. e. In the 8th century Japanese chronicles appear, which are collections of myths and historical traditions. These are "Kojiki" ("Notes of Antiquity" - 712) and "Nihon seki", or "Nihongi" ("Annals of Japan" - 720).

ECONOMY OF JAPAN

AGRICULTURE. It is believed that the history of agriculture in Japan has more than 2 thousand years. The technique of cultivating rice and other grains, as well as a number of vegetable crops, was imported into the country from China through Korea. Since ancient times, rice, wheat, barley, millet, soybeans, radishes, and cucumbers have been grown in Japan.

The oldest peasant tools were made of wood or stone. When iron processing technology entered the country from abroad, agricultural productivity increased dramatically. Wetlands and mountain terraces freed from stones were involved in the agricultural turnover. And in the XVII century. the first books on cultivation methods appeared.

With the advent of cities, an outflow of people from rural areas began.

More than half of the crop was seized as taxes, so the peasants constantly lived on the verge of starvation. Peasant labor had to be intensified, primarily through the development of new lands and the use of fertilizers. During the Edo period, peasants received the right to sell part of the harvest on the market, which made it possible to give agricultural production a marketable character.

Before the Meiji Restoration (1868), about 80% of the country's population was employed in agriculture. Due to the extreme limitation of agricultural land, animal husbandry was relatively poorly developed. Rice remained the main agricultural crop, moreover, it was very labor intensive, which affected the formation of the national character.

After opening the country to international contacts, the Japanese showed great interest in European and American agricultural practices. However, the land situation in Japan differed significantly from that in Western countries, and therefore the transfer of foreign technology to Japanese soil did not work. As a result, rice growing remained the basis of agricultural production in Japan. For quite a long time, mechanization could not take root in the agricultural sector of Japan due to the diminutiveness of peasant allotments.

Only after the land reform of 1946, when significant tracts of fertile land were confiscated from the landowners and distributed among farmers at a low price, did agriculture begin to acquire modern features. The state supported the formation of agricultural cooperatives, which provided loans to peasant farms and the use of agricultural machinery, fertilizers, and new intensive technologies in the fields.

From the end of the 50s. the process of accelerated urbanization of the country began, accompanied by a massive outflow of workers from the countryside. Only the elderly and children remained on the farms. The cultivation of land near cities acquired a time-based character, when workers came to the village only during the next season - sowing, harvesting.

Thanks to the introduction of mechanization - tractors, cultivators, combines - the yield of rice in 25 years (from 1950 to 1975) increased from 9.5 million to 13 million metric tons. However, rice consumption (in terms of 1 person) has decreased over the years. The predominantly rice diet gave way to a more balanced meat and dairy, vegetable, and fruit diet, and the state had to solve the problem of overproduction of rice. Peasants began to pay money for their rice fields cultivated other crops.

Now Japan itself provides for its needs in rice by 102%, in potatoes - by 85%, in vegetables - by 86%, in fruits - by 47%, in meat - by 56%, in dairy products - by 72%, in wheat - by 7%. According to the situation in 1997, Japan's agricultural sector (including hunting, forestry and fishing) is 1.9% of the country's GNP (499.86 trillion yen).

Great importance in the life of the Japanese has the consumption of fish and other seafood. Sea fishing currently produces 6-7 million tons of seafood per year - the country is in fourth place in the world in terms of seafood catches. Japan has a large fishing fleet (more than 400,000 vessels with a total tonnage of 2.7 million tons registered), which fishes in all areas of the oceans. Up to 1/3 of the catch is provided by coastal waters, mainly around Hokkaido and Northern Honshu. Quite a significant amount of fish and shellfish is produced by their breeding in marine coastal waters (lagoons), as well as in freshwater reservoirs.

Mechanical engineering in Japan is a rather diverse structural formation, which retains a large role in the modernization of industries of mass export-oriented production (shipbuilding, automotive, some types of general engineering) and actively developing new science-intensive industries (aerospace, instrumentation, etc.) Main centers: Tokyo , Kadoma, Hadokate, Hiroshima, Kure, Fuchu, Yokoduka, etc.

Shipbuilding, which specializes in the construction of large-capacity tankers and dry cargo ships, experienced a deep crisis in the mid-70s due to a reduction in orders. The revival of the industry began in the late 80s (1995 - 44% of the global construction volume). Shipbuilding enterprises are located throughout the country. The main centers of shipbuilding are large port cities: Yokohama, Kobe, Nagasaki, as well as Maizura, Yokosuki, Sasebo.

MATERIAL CULTURE

Traces of ancient settlements on Japanese archipelago date back to the 10th millennium BC. The first "villages" consisted of dugouts with tree branch roofs supported by poles, known as "tate-ana jukyo" ("pit dwellings"). Approximately in the III millennium BC, the first buildings with a raised floor, covered with a gable roof, appeared. Such structures were built as dwellings for the leaders of the tribes and as storage facilities.

In the IV-VI centuries. AD in Japan, huge tombs of local rulers, called "kofun", were already erected. The length of the tomb of Emperor Nintoku is 486 meters, it is larger in area than any of the Egyptian pyramids.

the most ancient architectural monuments Japan are Shinto and Buddhist places of worship- Sanctuaries, temples, monasteries.

The prototype of Japanese religious architecture is the Shinto shrine Ise Jingu (Mie Prefecture), built in the 7th century. in the style of shimmei and dedicated to the goddess of the sun Amaterasu Omikami, the progenitor of the imperial dynasty. Its main building (honden) is elevated above the ground and has steps on the wide side leading inside. Two columns support the ridge of the roof, which is decorated on both ends with crossbeams intersecting above it. Ten short logs lie horizontally across the ridge of the roof, and the whole structure is surrounded by a verandah with railings. For centuries, every 20 years, a new one has been built next to the sanctuary, and copying it exactly, the deities move from the old sanctuary to the new one. So the "short-lived" type of architecture has come down to our days, the main character traits which are pillars dug into the ground and a thatched roof.

Temple buildings are almost devoid of color and decoration. All the beauty of these simple and practical buildings is created by solid unpainted wood.

The arrival of Buddhism in Japan influenced Shinto, and architecture Buddhist temples influenced the architecture of Shinto shrines. Buildings began to be painted in blue, red and other bright colors, metal and wooden carved decorations were used, and they began to attach to the main structure of the sanctuary. indoor spaces for worshipers and other utility rooms. Itsukushima Shrine was built on Inner Island Sea of ​​Japan near the city of Hiroshima. During high tide, it seems to float on the surface of the water. Not only the main buildings are combined into one whole, but also the boat pier, the stage for the performances of the Noh theater, and other buildings.

The use of wood as the main building material was determined by a number of reasons. Even today, Japan is one of the most densely forested countries in the world, and in the past there were even more forests. The procurement of materials and the construction of stone required much more effort than the use of wood. The choice of building material was also determined by the climate, with long hot and humid summers and rather short and dry winters. To make it easier to endure the heat, the rooms were made light and open, with a floor raised above the ground and a roof that had long overhangs that protected from the sun and frequent rains. The masonry did not allow for natural ventilation of the premises. The tree heats up less from the heat in summer, and cools less in winter, absorbs moisture better and, which is essential, better tolerates the shocks of earthquakes that occur every day on the Japanese islands. It also mattered that a wooden house could be dismantled and reassembled in a new place, which is very difficult in relation to a stone one.

Almost all Japanese buildings are combinations of rectangular elements. Circles appear only in the upper part of the structures of two-tiered pagodas. Thus, all buildings are combinations of support-beam structures with axial symmetry. In the construction of buildings, diagonals were practically not used to give rigidity, this was compensated by the use of durable wood - cypress, cedar.

Even now, the sheer scale of the ancient Buddhist temples amaze their visitors. The hall that houses the daibutsu ( great statue Buddha), at Todaiji Temple in Nara, completed in the 8th century, is the largest wooden structure in the world.

The features of Japanese architecture (the principle of horizontality, the fusion of architecture and the interior of buildings) manifested themselves most fully in residential buildings - both those that were built for the nobility and in the dwellings of the common people.

The cellular layout of the premises was widely used, where the smallest unit of space, which became the object of the architect's special creative efforts, was the CHASITSU - a room for a tea ceremony, which turned into a perfect expression of Japanese aesthetics.

An important aspect of traditional Japanese architecture is the relationship between the house and the surrounding space, in particular the garden. The Japanese did not consider the interior and exterior space as two separate parts, rather, both flowed into each other. In other words, there is no boundary where the interior space of the house ends and the exterior begins. A concrete expression of this concept is the veranda of the traditional Japanese house(engawa). It serves as a transit space on the way from the house to the garden. Its role is clearly reflected in the structural materials used: the interiors have floors covered with straw mats (tatami), outside - the earth and stones of the garden and paths, and the veranda is made of wooden, roughly processed beams, which are, as it were, an intermediate material between soft straw mats and hard uncut stones in the garden.

Most of the castles in Japan were built in the 16th century, during the internecine feudal wars. And although they were built as military bases, in peacetime castles were the basis for the formation of numerous cities. As a symbol of power, the castle was not only equipped main building tower type, but also turned into a true center of the arts. Architecture, sculpture, handicrafts, painting and horticulture contributed aesthetically to one whole. The castle, thus, often lost its military character, becoming a kind of political and spiritual center.

JAPANESE ART

The origins of Japanese art date back to the 4th millennium BC. But Japan made the most significant contribution to world culture in the Middle Ages. The period of feudalism, which began in the VI-VIII centuries. AD, dragged on in Japan until the middle of the nineteenth century,

Unlike other countries of the East, the Japanese architecture of the past is devoid of a craving for grandiosity, proportionate to a person, simple and graphic in its lines. Wood has been the main building material since ancient times. Light structures were erected from wood, the basis of which is the frame. Space was left between the house and the ground to isolate from the Humidity. The pillars on which the building rested helped it withstand tremors. Walls that did not have a reference value could be easily moved apart, replaced with stronger ones for cold weather, or removed, leaving the space of the house wide open to the green expanse of the garden. Instead of windows, white paper was stretched over the gratings of the walls, letting even soft light into the room. The wide eaves of the roof protected the walls from dampness and from the scorching sun. interior had sliding walls - partitions, thanks to which it was possible to create either one or several isolated rooms.

From V1-VII centuries. Buddhist temples began to be built in Japan.

The entry of Japan into the stage of mature feudalism at the end of the twelfth century. and the formation of a feudal hierarchy, with military power at the head, were marked by new trends in architecture. During the XIII-XVI centuries. the ceremonial style of shinden was replaced by a simpler and more intimate sein style, the hallmark of which was great utility. Buildings were divided into small rooms. Niches appeared in the rooms, where a picturesque scroll was placed, bookshelves were built into the walls. The floor was covered with mats. The construction of country residences, semi-palaces - semi-temples, similar to a small three-story Golden Temple (Kinkakuji, XIV century), so named because of the golden color of the roof and walls, began.

A peculiar type of Japanese art - the design of ornamental gardens of diverse styles - is closely related to the tasks of architecture of the 14th-15th centuries. It arose under the influence of the pantheistic teachings of the Buddhist sect Zen, which identified the Buddha with the entire universe.

Buddhist sculpture of the 5th-7th centuries, brought from the continent with the world of its new images, was intended for temples.

In the 8th c. with the enlargement of temples, the expansion of their interiors, the appearance of Buddhist plastic has changed, the number of statues has increased. A sculptural portrait is born. The search for poignant specificity is evident in the miniature relief scene "Buddha Nirvana" included in the pedestal of the pagoda of the Horyu-ji temple, which depicts the mourning of the Buddha by the monks.

Actually, the Japanese school of painting Yamato-e takes shape only in the 11th-19th centuries. Yamato-e painters painted screens, created illustrations for literary works on horizontal scrolls.

Interest in depicting action, battles, everyday scenes and individual characters is manifested in the 13th-14th centuries. in multi-meter scrolls of emaki painting. At the same time, portrait painting is developing. Solemnly and significantly cold, imperious face of the Kamakura ruler Minamoto Yoritomo in a portrait made by Fujiwara Takanobu (hotets of the 12th - early 13th centuries).

XV-XVII centuries - the time of intensive development of monochrome landscape painting with ink "suiboku" (on vertical and horizontal scrolls) and the addition of different art schools.

From XVII to ser. 19th century a more democratic woodcut, accessible to wide layers of urban people, was born - woodcuts. In the 17th century a democratic school of Ukiyo-e (that is, the art of the everyday world) was formed, to which most of the major masters of Japanese engraving belonged. Hisikawa Morunobu (1618 - 1694) is considered the founder of Japanese woodcuts. The plots of his engravings, still monochrome or hand-colored, attract with lively spontaneity. The technique and figurative content of engravings gradually become more complicated. They become more lyrical. To create a poetic and sincere emotional mood, Suzuki Harunobu (1725-1770) uses not only the rhythm of smooth ones. Flowing lines, but also a general conditional color, now silvery and chilly in the engraving "Coolness", then warm, golden brown in the engraving "Lovers play the same shimisen". An innovation in Japanese engraving was the female portraits of Kitagawa Utamoro (1753 - 1806).

19th century was the last, final stage in the development of Japanese woodcuts of the feudal period. The work of the greatest master of this time, Kapusik Hokusai (1760 - 1894), is already on the verge of the era of feudalism and modernity. Hokusai left a grandiose amount of work: greeting pictures, engravings on the themes of ancient legends and, most importantly, magnificent landscapes of their country.

The interaction of applied art in Japan with other types of art was unusually close. Bouquets were associated with a certain mood, season, had a symbolic character. Porcelain products, baskets woven from flexible bamboo, metal products, and lacquer were also widely used. Japanese craftsmen subtly took into account the decorative features of the material, the effects that it can give. Black lacquer was applied to the surface of wood, fabric or leather several times, then painted with bright red or gold paints, which made the items shine like a jewel.

The traditions of Japanese art continue to live in contemporary art, finding new incarnations.

Tea ceremony

The tea ceremony (chanoyu in Japanese) is one of the most original, unique arts. It has played a significant role in spiritual and social life for several centuries. Tyanoyu is a strictly painted ritual in which the tea master participates - the one who brews tea and pours it, and those who are present at the same time and then drink it. The first, writes N. T. Fedorenko, is a priest who performs a tea action, the second are participants in the action who join him. Everyone has their own style of behavior, covering both the posture when sitting, and all movements, and facial expressions, and speech patterns. Aesthetics of chanoyyu, its refined ritual obey the canons of Zen Buddhism. According to legend, opa originates from China since the time of the first patriarch of Buddhism, Bodhidharma.

One day, the legend says, while sitting in meditation, Bodhidharma felt that his eyes were closing and against his will he was falling asleep. Then, angry with himself, he tore out his eyelids and threw them on the ground. An unusual bush with succulent leaves soon grew in this place. Later, the disciples of Bodhidharma began to brew these leaves hot water The drink helped keep them awake.

In fact, the tea ceremony originated in China long before the advent of Buddhism. According to many sources, it was introduced by Lao Tzu. It is he who is somewhere in the 5th century. BC, legends testify, proposed a ritual with a cup of "golden elixir". This ritual flourished in China until the Mongol invasion. Later, the Chinese reduced the ceremony with the "golden elixir" to a simple brewing of dried leaves of the tea bush. (It was this method that came to pass.) The Japanese, who successfully escaped the Mongol conquest, continued to cultivate the art of tea drinking, supplementing it with special manipulations.

Since ancient times, the tea ceremony has been an indispensable attribute of the meetings of Japanese philosophers and artists. During tea drinking, wise speeches were made, poems were read, works of art were considered. At the same time, bouquets of flowers and special dishes for brewing a drink were carefully selected for each occasion. Gradually, this procedure captured other sections of society. In the XVI-XVII centuries. she became popular among the Japanese aristocracy, the samurai. The tea ceremony, as an art, has taken shape in a kind of system of relaxation from everyday worries. In its most classic form, it began to take place in tea houses (chashitsu).

Literary sources indicate that the first such house was built in 1473. Tea houses - chasitsu - looked like tiny poor huts of oriental sages, they were extremely modest both in appearance and in interior decoration. The unpretentiousness of the situation created a higher sense of beauty, the meaning of which should be comprehended through a philosophical understanding of reality. Only a scroll with a philosophical saying, a painting by an old artist and a bouquet of flowers were allowed as decorations. The device of chashitsu and the procedure for drinking tea were developed by the famous masters chanoyu Joo (1503-1555) and Senno Soeki (1521-1591), who became famous under the name of Rikyu.

All famous chanoi masters, Rikyu in particular, were adherents of Zen Buddhism. The procedure of the tea ceremony and the arrangement of chashitsu reflected the basic ideas of Zen. The size of the tea room (sukiya) is approximately eight square meters. According to the sutras, eighty-four thousand disciples of the Buddha could once fit in a room of this size. This allegory is based on the theory of Buddhism, which denies the presence of truly "enlightened" body weight and volume. The creators of the chashitsu, apparently, intended to arouse Buddhist associations by the very fact of being in a cramped closet. Such associations were intensified by the semi-darkness, which was created by the weak light from a small window just under the ceiling and the reflection of light from the walls, finished with dark gray clay. All this gave the guests a feeling of pleasant solitude in the shade.

For complete enjoyment, says the writer D. Tanizaki (1886-1965), the Japanese need "some twilight, the utmost purity and such silence that the ear can distinguish even mosquito singing" . The Japanese are always, says Junichiro Tanizaki, seeking shade. “Our living rooms,” he explains, “are arranged so that the sun's rays penetrate them with difficulty. Not content with this, we further remove the rays of the sun from ourselves by attaching special awnings or long verandas in front of the living rooms. We let the reflected light from the garden into the room ... trying to let the weak daylight only stealthily penetrate us ... We prefer this ... twilight to all decorations - you will never get tired of admiring it. The interior equipment of classic chashitsu fully complied with aesthetic canons and national character Japanese, striving to achieve inner harmony. Preparation for such a mood began even on the way to tyasitsu.

Since Rikyu times, the tea house has been surrounded by a small garden. The garden, according to the "master of tea", should contribute to the growth of a special mood, without which the ceremony would be meaningless. Entering the path lined with large stones leading to the chasitsu marks the beginning of the first stage of meditation: the one who enters leaves at this moment all his worldly worries and concentrates on the anticipation of the ceremony that awaits him. As you move towards the chasitsu, concentration intensifies, and meditation enters the second phase. This is facilitated by an old lantern, which weakly illuminates the path in the evening and at night, a stone-well (tsukubai), which stores water in a hollowed out recess for washing hands and rinsing the mouth, a low, 90 cm high door through which they pass, kneeling in the opening . At the entrance, the guests make a bow and sit down in Japanese on the mats. The owner comes out to meet, in turn, bowing low to the guests. Melodious sounds of rushing water are heard. The third stage of meditation begins. A certain mood is created by the dishes themselves. It is surprisingly simple: cups, a copper kettle, a bamboo stirrer, a tea storage box, etc. All this has a touch of time, but everything is immaculately clean. The Japanese like dullness. “Europeans,” writes Tanizaki, “use tableware made of silver, steel or nickel, polish it to a dazzling shine, but we cannot stand such a shine. We also use silver items... but we never polish them to a shine. On the contrary, we rejoice when this brilliance comes off the surface of objects, when they acquire a touch of prescription, when they darken with time ... We ... love things that bear traces of human flesh, oil soot, weathering and rain swelling. The most primitive teapot, a wooden spoon for pouring tea, a rough ceramic cup - all this has a bewitching effect on the ceremony participants.

Tea is brewed special - green in powder. Boiling water in the classic chashitsu is carried out on sakura charcoal. The tea leaves are shaken in a cup with a bamboo brush, a rather thick foamy liquid is obtained. In the XVI century. came up to a hundred different rules of this procedure, which are still in force today. The rules apply to arranging flowers, boiling water, brewing tea, pouring a drink, etc. All the rules are intended to evoke a sense of naturalness or a sense of the art of tea and o yu without artificiality. When Rikyu was asked how he achieved his mastery, he replied: “Very simple. Boil water, brew tea, achieve the desired taste. Don't forget about the flowers, they should look alive. Keep cool in summer, keep cool in winter

RELIGION

Buddhism.

This religion entered Japan in the 6th century, when Buddhist monks began to arrive on the Japanese islands. Buddhist scriptures written in Chinese were the first to appear in Japan. The traditional forms of Japaneseized Buddhism survived the centuries. In order to understand the regulatory influence of Buddhism on the behavior of the Japanese, one must proceed from the consideration of its basic classical provisions.

It is generally accepted that the founder of Buddhism is the Buddha

The main thing in Buddhism is the departure from worldly reality. Buddhism preaches renunciation of passions, proclaims the futility of worldly worries, and calls for peace of mind.

A Buddhist, as follows from the canons, should flee from samsara (the material, sensual world) in order to move into the world of nirvana. According to the teachings of the Buddha, samsara is an illusory world, and nirvana is the real world. Reality, as follows from the tenets of Buddhism, is the movement of specific particles - dharmas. Everything in the world is formed from a combination of dharmas. Buddhist scholastics count from 70 to 100 varieties of dharmas. Life, according to Buddhism, is a chain of endless rebirths. In order to ensure a “good rebirth”, not to be reborn, say, into a snake or an insect, a person must comply with the precepts of Buddhism. The idea of ​​a person's place in the world is set forth in numerous messages of the Buddha. Their essence is clearly seen in the Buddha's address to his disciples before his death.

In early Buddhism, the emphasis was not on worldview issues, but on the norms of human behavior. These norms did not deny what was contained in the tried and tested codes of life acceptable to the people. As a result, Buddhism quickly won numerous adherents. His victorious march from India to South and East Asia began in the 3rd century. BC e. At the turn of the new era, Buddhism spread in China, in the 4th century in Korea, and in the 6th-7th centuries. established in Japan.

Confucianism.

Usually, Confucianism is understood as a religious and philosophical system that arose in China 2500 years ago. During the victorious spread of this system across various countries Asia in the Chinese language there was no separate word for the concept of "religion": the hieroglyph jiao (in Japanese kyo) used in such cases in translation meant both religion and teaching. It was in this understanding that Confucianism was perceived by the Japanese.

The creator of the named system Confucius (551-479 BC) Gradually temples of Confucius were erected throughout China.

Confucianism was engaged in the moral teaching of people, especially young people. “Young people,” Confucius instructed, “should show respect for their parents at home, and outside it - respect for their elders, take their work seriously and honestly, love the people without limit and draw close to philanthropic people. If, after doing all this, they have strength left, they can be spent on reading books.

According to the teachings of Confucius, society is divided into "noble men" and "insignificant people." The first act as a standard of excellence, they have five virtues - humanity (jen), a sense of duty (yi), courtesy, delicacy (li), intelligence, knowledge (zh yi), fidelity (xin). Adjacent to all this is the virtue of filial piety.

CONCLUSION

Very little is known about Japan so far. The remarkable masters of Japanese art culture, unfortunately, are not well known in our country. This country is quite deservedly proud of the magnificent artist Katsushika Hokusan (1760-1849), the 17th century poet Matsuo Basho, who owns high examples of the haiku genre. The founder of the modern literary language Ftabitei Shimei (XIX century), the finest lyric poet Issa Kabayashi (1763-1827), film director Akuro-Kurasawa. Prose writers Yasanuri Kawabati, Kobo Abe, Kenzaburo Oe and many others. The first anthology of Japanese poetry, the Man'yoshu, was compiled in 759. The physicists Nishijima and Yukawa are well known in the world of science.

The culture of Japan is very interesting and unusual, but little studied. It seems that more efforts should be made to study not only culture, but also Japan as a whole.

USED ​​BOOKS:

1. Andreevskaya N. Japan. How the Japanese live. M., 1924.

2. Anuchin D. N. Japan and the Japanese. M., 1907.

3. Arutyunov S. A. New American literature on the ethnography of the Japanese. - "Soviet ethnography". 1973, no. 6.

4. Arutyunov S. A. Modern life of the Japanese. M., 1968.

5. Bulgakova E. I. Japan and the Japanese. M., 1898.

6. Voitolovsky L. N. The Japanese. Pg.-M., 1924

7. Goro Honey. Story Japanese people(translated from Japanese). M., 1957.

8. Navlitskaya G. Tea ceremony-worship. - "Asia and Africa today." 1979, No. 3

9. Pozdpeev D. Japan. Country, population, history, politics. M., 1925.

10. Simonov K. Japan 46. M., 1977.

11. Fedorov M. Japan and the Japanese. Country, religious, state, public and domestic life of the Japanese. SPb., 1905.

Orenburg State Pedagogical University

REPORT

P O E T N O L O G I I

ON THE TOPIC: PEOPLES OF JAPAN

Completed by: 1st year student 102g

Faculty of History

Dergunova Maria Alexandrovna

Checked by: Evgeniev A.A.

Orenburg 2010

WORK PLAN:

1. Introduction.

2. Ethnogenesis and ethnic history.

3. Economy. material culture.

4. Spiritual culture.

// M.: Publishing House of Eastern Literature, 1958. 183 p.

Chapter VII.

Questions of ethnogenesis.

Questions related to ethnogenesis, i.e. with the clarification of the origin of a particular people, the degree of its relationship with other peoples, the processes of its formation, which led to the formation of the people in its present form, are the most controversial and intractable. The problem of the ethnogenesis of the Japanese is no exception. This is evidenced by the history of staging, consideration and state of the art this problem. Despite almost a century of development of a complex of the most important questions concerning the ethnogenesis of the Japanese both in Japan itself and outside it, they still have not received a satisfactory solution.

The reasons lie in the complexity of the science of ethnogenesis, which requires for its successful development the coordinated and combined interaction of some related sciences (archaeology, anthropology, linguistics, etc.), carried out on the basis of clear methodological guidelines. Japanese historical science is just characterized by insufficient connection between related branches of science and the extreme weakness of methodology, expressed primarily in the almost complete absence of a wide coverage of historical events, combined with a deep and consistently materialistic comprehension of them. All these reasons significantly delayed the development of the science of ethnogenesis. In some cases, the subordination of the interests of science about the origin of the Japanese people to the interests of reactionary political propaganda, saturated with various fascist theories about the exclusivity of the Japanese race and the leading role of the Japanese racial element in the formation of nationalities, turned out to be especially pernicious. Far East and their cultures, as well as the outdated canons of official Japanese historical science, such as the "theory" about Jimmu ("about the divinity of the origin of the state, the emperor and the entire Japanese people"). The influence of Japanese reactionary ideology, which had a particularly strong effect on ethnogenetic theories, deepened the crisis in this field of science.

Most of the controversy was caused by the attitude of modern Japanese to the Neolithic population of the archipelago (carriers of the Jomon culture). Since ancient times, since the discovery of Stone Age monuments, it has become clear that the way of life ancient population Japan was not the same as in later times. From here it was not very far from guessing that the people themselves were different from modern Japanese. This conjecture later, with the discovery of Neolithic skeletons, turned into certainty. The search for the roots of the origin of the Japanese people was carried out in various ways: they brought together individual languages, analyzed ancient myths, and looked for ethnographic analogies. Some scientists, led by the greatest scientist of medieval Japan, Motoori Norinaga (18th century), defended the theory of the "heavenly" origin of the Japanese, which until the recent past was orthodox; others, like Fujii Teikan (18th century) or Hayashi Ryuka (17th century), indicated: one - on common origin Japanese and Koreans, the other - on South China as a possible ancestral home of the Japanese. These were, perhaps, the most important achievements of Japanese feudal science in the development of the question of the origin of the Japanese. Their views rested on a more scientific basis than the "theories" of the vulgar migrationists of the 19th and 20th centuries who led the Japanese out of Babylon (Kempfer), out of Judea (Oyabe), out of Greece (Kimura) (Nishioka and Schenck, 1937).

The question of the origin of the Japanese and their connection with the most ancient inhabitants of the islands arose most acutely in bourgeois Japan. Already at the end of the XIX century. Two points of view on this issue took shape: according to the first, the Korobokkuru tribe was recognized as the Neolithic population of Japan, according to the second, the Ainu.

Morse, who excavated the first shell mound in Japan in 1878, found distinct traces of cannibalism. And since, in his opinion, neither the Ainu nor the Japanese were ever cannibals, he considered the Neolithic population of Japan to be a certain tribe that was not related to either the Ainu or the Japanese. This view was developed by Tsuboi, who argued that such a population was the dwarf tribe of korobokkuru ("people living under the leaves of the butterbur"), which is mentioned in Ainu legends. The Tsuboi school found signs in these legends that made it possible to bring the korobokkura closer to the Eskimos (Tsuboi, 1902). However, the korobokkuru theory (but by no means the Eskimo theory) soon lost its supporters due to its very weak scientific validity. It was supplanted by the Ainu theory, which appeared simultaneously with the korobokkuru theory.

The founder of the Ainu theory was Koganei, who, based on the measurement of the Neolithic skeletons and the skeletons of modern Ainu, concluded that they were significantly similar. Developing his thought, he came to the conclusion that it was the ancestors of the Ainu who inhabited all of Japan in the Stone Age. He found confirmation of this position in the Ainu legends, which reported on the former power of the Ainu, who lived in dugouts throughout Japan and used earthenware (Koganei, 1903). The Ainu theory of the origin of the Japanese was much more supported scientific facts and therefore found many supporters. Her achievements were summarized in his work by Munro, who spoke of the existence of a close relationship between the people of the Stone Age of Japan and the modern Ainu (Munro, 1911, pp. 671-673; Anuchin, 1904). Some scientists tried to link the conclusions reached by the supporters of the Ainu theory with the data of ancient Japanese written sources, toponymy, with Ainu legends and folklore, as well as with the main provisions of the korobokkuru theory. Bachelor stated that the Ainu and the Korobokkuru were one and the same tribe, Jochelson expressed the belief that the Korobokkuru were the ancestors of the Ainu. Takahashi identified the Ainu with the ebisu and tsuchigumo, the peoples mentioned in Japanese chronicles.

Along with the theory of the Ainu origin of the Japanese, there were other theories that linked the origin of the Japanese with the Malayo-Mongolian race (Ranke), with a special Asian race (Schrenk), with the Indo-Europeans (Anuchin), with the Manchus (Schmidt, Radlov, Shirokogorov), with the Fishes (Middendorf , Belts), with the Jews (McLeed), with the Mongols (Chamberlain), with the North American Indians (Brand), with the Huns (Taguti), with the Malays (Denitz, Horioka), etc. (Nishioka and Schenck, 1937; Roschinin 1929 ; Bogaevsky, 1932).

However, the Ainu theory came to a standstill. On the one hand, the recognition of the Ainu as the only Neolithic inhabitants of the islands and the ancestors of the Japanese was only a partial resolution of the issue, since the past of the Ainu themselves is their origin, place among other peoples the globe, their ancestral home - remained completely incomprehensible. On the other hand, a more thorough anthropological study of the Neolithic skeletons and the skeletons of the modern Ainu and Japanese destroyed the established position of direct succession between the modern Ainu and the population of Japan in the Stone Age, although the existence of some features common to the Ainu and the Neolithic man of Japan was recognized. It became obvious that the question of the origin of the Japanese cannot be reduced to the establishment of individual features of similarity with other peoples and that the population of the Stone Age of Japan was racially different from all existing peoples, and the Japanese people were formed as a result of the interaction of several racial groups. The Ainu theory of the origin of the Japanese ceased to exist and developed into the Ainu problem - the problem of the origin of the Ainu, still unresolved (Sternberg, 1929).

When the failure of the Ainu theory was revealed, several new hypotheses about the origin of the Japanese arose. Torii suggested the existence of ancient japan two cultural areas: the Neolithic Ainu in the north and the Eneolithic in the south. The racial composition of the Eneolithic area is complex: they are immigrants from Korea with Chinese culture, the peoples of Indo-China and Indonesia (Torii, 1917; 1925).

The old theories of Belz and others came to life. At the same time, attempts were made to restore the Ainu theory in an updated form.

We are referring to Matsumoto's Pan-Nine theory. He believed that three large racial groups: Caucasoids, Australoids and Ainu were not

when they inhabited Asia. Subsequently, as a result of pressure from the Mongols, the Caucasoids went to the west, and the Ainu - to the east, in particular to Japan. These Ainu were the Neolithic inhabitants of Japan (Jomon culture). Based on the study of bone material, Matsumoto identified four paleoanthropological types among the ancient population of Japan: Aoshima, Miyato, Tsukumo, Okayama. The first three types are named after the shell mounds where they were first recorded. The Aoshima type is characterized by relatively high growth (158-163 cm), dolicho- or mesocephalic and underdeveloped chin protrusion. It is very close to modern Ainu with Kuril Islands or from Sakhalin. The Miyato type is short (152 cm), it was distributed throughout Japan at the end of the Neolithic. In the north-east of Japan, it mixed with the Aoshima type, and to this day the Ainu from Hokkaido bear traces of a mixture of these two types. The Tsukumo type is very tall (about 170 cm), with a tendency to brachiocephaly and with a strongly developed chin protrusion. This type appeared in the Late Neolithic (Horinouchi), but is not found in northeastern Japan. The confusion of this type with the Miyato type is also manifested in modern Japanese of the "Mongoloid" type. The Okayama type appeared at the beginning of the Iron Age. These four types of ancient population, along with the modern Ainu, represented Matsumoto's "Panain" (Matsumoto, 1921).

Okayama type deserves special attention: it is included both among the four paleoanthropological types and among the modern anthropological types of Japan (Ichikawa, Chikuzen, Satsuma, Okayama). The Ichikawa type, represented by individuals with a short body and a medium head, is characteristic of Northeast Japan; the Chikuzen type, with a longer body and a long head, is present in southern Kyushu; the Satsuma type, with a short body and a long head, found in Shikoku and southern Kyushu; Mongoloid type Okayama - in the southwest of Honshu. Comprehensive anthropological surveys of paleoanthropological remains and skeletons modern population showed an approximate correspondence between the closest territorially paleoanthropological and anthropological types (Hulse, 1943).

Four paleoanthropological types of the ancient population of the islands are generally recognized by most modern scientists, however, each scientist puts his own specific content into these abstract types. Matsumoto's Panayin theory, first put forward in 1919, is overly schematic. Subsequent studies, and especially a massive anthropometric survey of the Ainu of Hokkaido and Sakhalin, the Orochs and Gilyaks of Sakhalin, Koreans and Japanese, partially confirmed the conclusions of the supporters of the Ainu theory regarding the existence of connections between the Ainu and the Neolithic population of the islands, but refuted the opinion that the ancient population of the islands consisted of only "purebred" Ainu. It has been established that modern Japanese living in the mountains are closer to modern Ainu than the most ancient population of Japan, and this Neolithic population itself does not show a very close relationship with the Tungus tribes, that both Neolithic people and modern Japanese in some areas show great proximity to modern ainam.

Kiyono adheres to the opposite point of view about the origin of the Japanese. The largest anthropologist who personally participated in the excavations and study of the most important burials, Kiyono is an ardent supporter of the so-called theory of the "Japanese Neolithic". He argues that the Neolithic population of Japan is the proto-Japanese, who differ from modern Japanese only in the absence of Korean blood (Kiyono, 1949). However, many authors rightly point out the arbitrariness of the dating of some skeletons and the lack of uniform comparable data for all the skeletons studied by Kiyono. The data cited by Kiyono do not allow us to agree with his theses about the sharp difference between the anthropological types of the Japanese and their neighbors on the mainland, about the complete absence of connection with the Ainu type, about the especially strong influence of the Korean type (Imamura and Ikeda, 1949).

The presence of numerous and contradictory theories about the origin of the Japanese and the nature of the ancient population, based on incomplete and often biased material, as well as the lack of materialistic methodology among bourgeois archaeologists, led to the emergence of eclectic theories, of which we will note one.

In his recently published monograph, Groot admits that the population of the Japanese islands was different in its ethnic composition in different eras. The first inhabitants, in his opinion, belonged to three ethnic groups, which, being at the Mesolithic level of development, were forced out of the mainland to the islands Pacific Ocean carriers of a higher, Neolithic culture. Two of

of these groups of southern, Indo-Chinese origin - the carriers of the Baxon and Hoabin cultures - arrived in Japan from the south, and the third, the Mongol-Siberian group - from the north. At the beginning of the early Jomon, a new group of migrants of Siberian origin arrived in Japan, which, according to Groot, consisted of tribes from the north of Siberia (the bone industry of the “Shigir” type). The tribes of southern Siberia (flat-bottomed ceramics of the "Angar" type with large handles) determined the appearance of the Middle Jomon culture. And finally new wave settlers of Chinese-Korean origin reached Japan at the end of the Neolithic (final Jomon) (Groot, 1951, pp. 25-31, 40-42, 54-56, 79-82).

The desire to explain every change in culture or even just in the forms of tools or in ceramics by the appearance of new ethnic groups, and to determine the nature of these groups and their racial affiliation on the basis of random similarities between separate groups of objects taken in isolation, while ignoring what does not fit into scheme, the complete absence of attempts to critically involve more extensive material to substantiate his far-reaching conclusions - these are the characteristic features of Groot's ethnogenetic scheme and many constructions similar to it.

It is impossible, and indeed unnecessary, to enumerate all theories concerning the determination of the racial identity of the population of Japan during the Stone Age and the early metal period and the origin of the Japanese. Most of them are related to one of the above theories. Modern Japanese historical science recognizes only a few of the many theories, one of which is quite widely used in scientific circles. This is Matsumoto's Pan-Nine theory with some additions.

Representatives official science favor the other two theories. One of them is Beltz's hypothesis, put forward by him at the beginning of the 20th century. Belz believed that the Ainu, Manchus, Koreans, Mongols and Malays participated in the formation of the Japanese people. Another theory found its expression in the pages of World History (Sekai Rekishi Taikei, XII), which says: “Mainly Ainu, Tungus, Indonesians, Negritos, Indo-Chinese, and in the end, Korean and Chinese tribes, mixed in different proportions, spread over the islands and as a result of contact, conquest, mixing of blood, assimilation, finally created a single people known as the Japanese.

There are signs that the Ainu appeared on the islands before other tribes. Moving from Western Asia to the east through Siberia, they settled on the Japanese islands three to four thousand years ago. Somewhat later, one might think, the tribes that are called Tungus, over a fairly long time, gradually migrated across the sea either through the Tatar Strait, or through the Korean Peninsula, or from some other point on the coast. The Ainu, the original inhabitants, were driven northward, which confirms the spread of finds of Jōmon and Yayoi pottery. Scientists believe that the migration of the "Tungus" tribes, no matter how many times it happened, was concentrated in the Izumo region and that the tribes that, judging by the Kojiki and Nihongi, suddenly moved to Kyushu, may have been the Tenson tribes.

In any case, the tribes called "Tungus" can be considered proto-Japanese. It was these tribes who brought agriculture and the Yayoi-type culture, while the Ainu, those original inhabitants of Stone Age Japan, left behind the Jomon-type culture. On the one hand, the native Indochinese tribes, who experienced in ancient China pressure from the growing Chinese tribes were pushed south. It can be thought that they, already familiar with agriculture (these tribes probably brought rice culture with them) and bronze culture, moved to Kyushu. Scholars believe that they may have formed the so-called state of Yamatai, which is mentioned in the Woren section of Weizhi. There is a hypothesis that the Indochinese tribes used bronze bells. On the other hand, it is possible that Indonesians from the southern regions migrated to Satsuma. Did the Kumaso and Hayato and other tribes that existed before the Heian era belong to them? Further, was the migration of Negroids from the south quite powerful? From II-I centuries. BC e. began the migration of Chinese tribes, which continued into historical era. It flourished especially around the 5th century. n. e. (Nishioka, 1936, pp. 111, 112).

Despite the fact that many important questions of the ethnogenesis of the Japanese have not yet been developed, we can in general terms to recreate the picture of the settlement of Japan and the formation of the Japanese people, using the archaeological and anthropological material available to us, published abroad, and the work of Soviet scientists on the ethnogenesis of the Far East (Okladnikov, 1946, 1954; Cheboksarov, 1947, 1949; Levin and Cheboksarov, 1951) .

The bulk of the original population of the islands arrived in Japan from the south. This is evidenced by the entire complex of archaeological finds (chopper-shaped tools, axes made of split pebbles, etc.). The complete absence of skeletons dating back to this time does not allow us to determine the ethnicity of these settlers, or rather, its very likely Ainoid character. But it is possible that, along with the Ainoids, other southern ethnic groups, such as the Indochinese, also arrived in Japan at that time, but there is no convincing evidence for this. A rather distinct difference in the nature and form of the Early Neolithic implements and pottery from the North and from Central Japan involuntarily raises the assumption, did not some northern tribes penetrate simultaneously with the southern ethnic elements, which, like the southern ones, were at the “Mesolithic” stage of development?

The earliest paleoanthropological type of Japan, established on the basis of finds of human bone remains, belongs to the early Jomon period, the Aoshima type, which reveals clearly southern features that allow it to be associated with the ancestors of modern Ainu. However, the time and conditions for the appearance of this type remain unclear. Perhaps we are dealing here with the appearance from outside of new anthropological types - the Ainoids, or perhaps it was formed on the spot on the basis of ethnic groups that had arrived earlier, or even completely corresponded to one of them. Archaeological materials do not confirm a sharp change in cultural and, therefore, racial composition population.

In the Late Neolithic, i.e. in the late Jomon, the Eastern Mongoloids, who arrived on the islands from the west, penetrated into Japan, and at the end of the Jomon (at the end of the Neolithic), the southern Mongoloids who arrived from the south. Eastern Mongoloids are represented in Japan by the paleoanthropological Miyato type, and southern Mongoloids by the Tsukumo type. The Mongoloids made polished tetrahedral axes and knew how to mine and process metal. Particularly significant for the creation of the physical type and cultural image of the population of ancient Japan was the migration of the Eastern Mongoloids, who took an active part in the creation of the so-called Yayoi culture.

Already at the beginning of the early Iron Age, a new wave of settlers of Sino-Korean origin (the Okayama type) appeared.

This is a schematic and in many ways still unclear picture of the settlement of the archipelago. When evaluating the role of a particular migration in creating the cultural and anthropological image of the population as a whole or at a certain stage ancient history Japan needs to remember the following. Both archaeological and anthropological data indicate that the course of development of the material culture of the inhabitants of the islands and the process of the formation of their anthropological racial type were slow and gradual. The migration to the islands apparently took place in small waves, and was also slow and fairly constant. That is why it is especially difficult to determine the racial character of a particular group of migrants. Specificity in culture was outlined early, so that even relatively large groups of immigrants quickly assimilated. The largest and most important factor that influenced the formation of the modern, very complex anthropological type of the Japanese was, of course, the migration of the Mongoloids.

As you know, out of the 12 Jewish tribes indicated in the Bible, today only two openly declare their Jewish origin - the Jews and the Israelites. Ten tribes are considered lost. Many researchers are trying to shed light on this issue. In particular, M. Bass writes that in the 3rd century AD. Yuzuki-O (in Japanese "O" - "king") arrived in Japan, accompanied by 3600 warriors. According to [ Bass, 2008], they were Jews, since in Japanese "yuzu" means "Jew". Under Emperor Yurnaku, a new group of "yuzu" arrived in Japan, who called themselves "Izrai". ancient legend tribe "Izray" tells about their leader Kawa-Katsu, who was rescued from the water as a baby, then brought up in royal palace, became the head and certainly freed his people "Izrai" from bondage (a complete analogy to the legend of the Jewish Moses). Near Kyoto there is the village of Uzumasa and a temple named Uzumasa-Deri (Japanese for "Deri" - "David"). In this temple, in September of each year, the "Feast of the Lamb" is held, on which all the sins of the people are laid.

In 1934, in the Harbin newspaper "Jewish Life" dated February 21, an article was published about the book of the Japanese Bishop Zudi Nakada. In it, Nakada says that the Japanese are of Semitic origin. Semites, according to the bishop, include not only Jews and Arabs, but also yellow ones - Japanese, Chinese, etc.

This point of view is shared by the Israeli researcher Yosef Eidslberg, who is searching for the “disappeared” ten tribes of Israel. First of all, he points to the fact that the Japanese themselves do not know where and when they came to the islands. And in the "Nihongi" - the annals of the Japanese people from the creation of the world to the end of the 7th century AD. there are many coincidences with the history of the Jewish people from the time of the Exodus from Egypt to the split of the Kingdom of Israel and Judah into two states. The Jewish king Shaul is called Shui in the Nihongi. It is said about Shui that he was of enormous growth and died in battle from an arrow that hit him in the heart. The same is said about Shaul in Jewish sources. According to the Nihongi, Shui is buried in an area named Anato . And according to the Bible, Shaul is buried in a place called Anatot.

In the Japanese temple there is a Holy of Holies called "hundan" - the Palace of the Book, but the Japanese do not know what kind of book. In the process of worship, the main Japanese priest puts on a white robe with “tsui” tassels at the ends of the sleeves, reminiscent of the Jewish “tzitzit” tassels at the ends of the Jewish prayer veil. The coincidence of many words in Hebrew and Japanese is noticed. For example, "mistake" - Heb. "Mishge, Jap. "Mishigi"; "assembly" - Heb. "Knesset", Jap. "Knessi"; "mountain" - Heb. "har", Jap. "haro"; "difficulty" - Jap. "kosh", Heb. "cats". In addition, there is another parallel: the Japanese celebrate the Black Day holiday annually on the fifteenth day of the eighth month. Japanese historical chronicles did not record the meaning of this date. Yosef Eidelberg offers the following explanation: on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, proclaimed the establishment of the kingdom of Israel [ Gelman, 1997].

Opponents answer Jewish researchers that in Japanese "mistake" - MATIGAI, KANTIGAI , OMOITIGAI , TIGAI , AYAMARI . The word "mishigi" does not exist in Japanese at all. "Mountain" in Japanese - YAMA, and HARO is from Chinese or NAMI - "waves" or "wave". Collection in Japanese - KAIGI, MENKAI, SHU:KAI. "Difficulty" in Japanese is KONNAN. These are all Chinese.

On August 15, the Japanese do not celebrate "Black Day", but the rite of honoring ancestors -, Jap. Urabon, he Bon, or Oh-bon. This is a day of commemoration of the dead and gratitude to living parents. It is associated with visiting family graves. Instructions on the rite of Urabon are contained in the "Sutra on Ullamban", Jap. "Bussetsu urabon-kyo:", Chinese. Fosho Wulanpen-ching. The first annalistic report about its reading in all the temples of Japan dates back to 659. The Urabon rite itself was first performed even earlier - in 606 (or even in 552) [ Nihon, 1997, pp. 99, 183].

According to the teachings of the Buddha, the fate of the deceased is determined by the law of retribution: happiness goes for good deeds, and grief for bad deeds. There are six possible paths of rebirth in total. The three bad paths are “underground dungeons” (Buddhist “hell”), the worlds of “hungry spirits” and “cattle” (animals), and the three good paths are “ asura » (demons), celestials ( gods ) And of people . The Sanskrit word "ullambana" in the title of the sutra is not entirely clear. Some interpret it as “hanging upside down”, “addiction”, “torment”, denoting the suffering of people who, after death, were reborn in the world of “hungry ghosts”, Jap. gaki, Skt. preta.

In ancient Indian sources, pretas are the spirits of the dead, staying in the earthly world for some time after death. In relation to them, a rite is described in the Rig Veda (Skt. pitara) [ Rigveda, pp. 129-134, hymns X-14-X-16], as well as a similar ritual in the ancient Iranian tradition [ Fravardin Yasht]. In India, the Buddhist community adopted the rite associated with preta. But there are opinions that the title of the sutra does not go back to the Sanskrit ullambana, but to the Pali ullumpana - "help", "salvation". Since the Sanskrit original of the Chinese "Ullamban Sutra" is unknown, it is possible to assume that in China the word– "ulanpen" was a Pali term, not a Sanskrit one [Ashikaga, 1951, p. 71 – 75 ].

According to the Japanese ceremonial expert Murase Yukihiro (1748-1818), the combination of three characters, which is usually considered to be a recording of a foreign word, is actually the Chinese name for a bamboo basket for offering food to the spirits on Zhong-yuan day, Yap. Chu: gen . This holiday falls on the fourteenth day of the seventh month after lunar calendar, he combined the features of the ancient Chinese sacrifice to the ancestors and the Buddhist rite associated with "hungry ghosts". Most likely, in Japan in the 7th century, the mainland way of honoring ancestors was adopted, which was no longer only Buddhist or "purely Chinese" in its content.

The Japanese have a legend that the sky sent bread (motsy) to the people in the form of rain, but this gift stopped because of sins, which is reminiscent of the fall of manna in the desert. Japan has long been known as the country of "Mizuho" or "sunrise", which is identical to the Jewish "mizraho" - "sunrise, rebirth." Making "emogi-motsi" (glutinous rice dough and wild cabbage leaves) is reminiscent of the Jewish custom of eating unleavened bread (matzah) with bitter herbs. The Japanese usually bring their newborn babies to the temple, and so did the Jews. The Japanese, like the Jews, wash their hands before prayer. Japanese kimonos resemble Jewish long clothes. The tombs of the Japanese resemble the tombs of the ancient Jews. They knock out a hole in the rock, where they put the deceased, then wall it up and paint it white. The Japanese, like the ancient Jews once, slaughter a calf and smear the jambs of their doors with blood.

Japanese Bishop Deuji Nakada, in his recent book, claims that the Japanese are of Semitic origin, as are the Chinese, Mongols, Malays, Manchus, and American Indians. He says that the Japanese people were once called Sumerians (Sumers), which in Japanese means “venerable”, “noble”. In addition, the Bible mentions another people - the Hittites (Gen. 10:16), who are considered the successors of the Sumerian race. In particular, Abraham bought land from them for the burial of his wife Sarah (Gen. 23). The Hittites called their temple "Comano". Now in Japan there are two ancient temples "Kumano" (while "u" and "o" sound the same in Japanese) in Ketu and Izumo. In these temples are ancient idols. Dr. Size finds great similarities in appearance and the physical structure of the Hittites and the Japanese.

Recall that the Hittites were not Semites, but Indo-Europeans. And the language of the Hittites belongs to Indo-European family. The Japanese, as we said above, were formed from a mixture of the Indo-Europeans of the Ainu and the paleoanthropes of the Chinese and Japanese. The Japanese bishop correlates the latter with the children of Sima, that is, with the Semites. And Jewish scholars who develop the ideas of the Japanese bishop note with pleasure that he "talks about the anthropological connection, then he mentions the historical connection, proving that Israeli blood flows in the veins of the Japanese."

The bishop recalls the wealthy American Jewish banker Shife, who, along with other Jewish bankers, covered the financial needs of Japan during the war with Russia, when Minister Hakahashi asked him to public loan. Note that Einstein, while in Japan, said that Japan was to be the leading nation in the near future. And, explaining the essence of the Apocalypse, the bishop claims that the liberator will come from the land of the sunrise, and his first mission will be intercession for the Jews, the other is the destruction of the children of the Antichrist: battles will take place in Palestine, in Armageddon, and all nations will take part in them; the decisive role will be played by the people from the East (Is. 46:11; 41:1-7).

Nakada, referring to the interpretation of the Bible, argues that the mission of the Japanese people should be to protect the Jewish people. And he also cites a chapter from Holy Scripture: “Thus says the Lord of Hosts: Behold, I will save my people from the land of the East and from the land of the setting of the Sun, and I will bring them, and they will live in Jerusalem, and they will be my people, and I will be their God in truth and righteousness” (Zech. 8:7-8). On this basis, the bishop claims that the Jews from Japan will rush to Palestine.

There are different ways to relate to this approach of the Jews to the Japanese question. It can be noted that on the maps China is indicated - "Cinae", that is, Sinai. Recall that on Mount Sinai, the Hebrew Moses received the tablets from the ancient Russian Perun. In addition, the Chinese language, the basis of Japanese, belongs to the Sino-Caucasian family of languages, which demonstrates its connection with the current region of Jewish settlement and with their languages. But there are several circumstances that must be cited in support of their version. Firstly, the Japanese, the Mongoloid part of them, do not come from neoanthropes - a modern human species (homo sapience sapience), but from paleoanthropes - a species of homo sapience (in Europe - Neanderthals). Secondly, this species - paleoanthropes - on Earth really has 12 genetic lines along the Y-chromosome (while the Indo-Europeans account for other 3 lines).

Thirdly, if we talk about the biblical Apocalypse, then clarity should be made. Apocalypse is next. As it is written in the Bible, at the end of the Christian era, Christians will occupy the entire Earth, as a result of their reign, humanity will be mired in depravity, perversion and venality. The Antichrist will rise up against Christ (Greek: “Gold”) and try to restore order on Earth. But the returned Christ will put 144,000 Jews on their foreheads with a seal that protects them, and destroy the rest of humanity. The earth will be knee-deep in blood. The Jewish woman Vanga spoke about such a doomsday before her death. She, in particular, said that India would subject Russia to a nuclear attack, after which the remaining Russians would be destroyed by chemical weapons. And after that, according to Vanga, an era of beautiful life will come on Earth - in which only Mongoloids will remain.

Recall that “Ain” is translated as “noble person”, perhaps in ancient times this was the designation of the king or the first, highest person in a community or state. So, in particular, in German, whose share is largely occupied by Turkisms and Semitisms of Central Asian origin, is consonant both in pronunciation and in meaning the word - the numeral ein (eine, ein), einer, eins (when counting) - “one”. It. aio means "teacher, mentor", the same meaning has lat. ain" and aisne, as well as Aius - "talking broadcaster" (a mysterious voice, according to legend, in 390 BC warned the Romans about the attack of the Gauls). But "ain" in gematria is also translated as "eye", cf. eye – English eye, German Auge, French il, Spanish ojo.

In this regard, we note one more aspect. It is believed that the Semites - Arabs formed in the eastern part Arabian Peninsula, and, moreover, their first state was supposedly laid down already in the 4th century. These are false "historical" data, because, firstly, in that Arabia, which we now know by this name, there are no rivers, and the development of a numerous people is impossible. And, secondly, the Arabs appeared only after the arrival of the prophet Muhammad (7th century). Thirdly, anthropological and linguistic data establish the homeland of Jews and Arabs (they differ: Jews descended from a Jewess, and Arabs from a non-Jewish woman) regions of South India and, possibly, Southeast Asia.

The founder of the Danishmendid dynasty (1071 - 1174, Sivas, Turkey) Ahmad, nicknamed Danishmend Gazi, was a Turk by origin. His father Ali ibn Murab belonged to the noble Turkmen beks of Khorezm. In the middle of the 11th century, together with many compatriots, he moved to the west and chose some of the regions of Azerbaijan as the place of his nomads. Ahmad's mother was an Arab, the daughter of a local emir. Ahmad created the Sivas Emirate, which reached the pinnacle of its power under the son of the founder of the dynasty, Malik Ghazi. In 1100, Malik managed to defeat and capture one of the leaders of the first crusade, Bohemond of Antioch. Byzantine emperor John II Komnenos twice, in 1132 and 1139. (already after the death of Malik Gazi), made campaigns against the Danishmendids, but both of them ended in defeat. The youngest son of Malik Ghazi was Ain ad-din, the emir of a state centered in Malatya.

In the places of passage of the Turkestan-Siberian highway, which connected Central Asia with Siberia, the place Aina-Bulak in Kazakhstan is known. In 1913, the magazine "Aina" (Mirror) was published in Samarkand. At the beginning of the 20th century Baghdad Railway reached in the north to the village of Ras al-Ain. At Ain Jalut, west of the Jordan, on September 3, 1260, a historic battle took place between the Egyptians and the Mongols. Ain Ubag in Arabia - a city on northern border tribe of Judah, the Islamic University in Cairo is called Ain Shams. Ain Karim is the birthplace of John the Baptist. Ain-Um-Ed-Jeraj - the source of the Arabs. The village of Ain-Zala (Iraq), the village of Ain-Kafa, the source of Ain-Eskali in the Wadi Rocks valley. 6 versts northwest of Jericho is the source of Ain-Duk, and next to it is a fortress, which, according to Flavius, was called Dagon. Another source, Ain Sitti Mariam, is located at the foot of the Western Hill of the Kidron Valley. The town of al-Aina is located in the oasis of al-Buraimi.

Japan - "Land of the Rising Sun", the birthplace of samurai, geishas, ​​martial arts and cherry blossoms; Island state, which, having no natural resources and regularly suffering from earthquakes, occupies a leading position in the ratings of economically developed countries. Products made in Japan can be seen anywhere in the world, and technologies and developments invented or improved by Japanese scientists are happily adopted by both scientists and manufacturers in all countries of the world. What is the secret of the Japanese? Thanks to what features of the Japanese mentality did the citizens of the Land of the Rising Sun achieve technological superiority in the world and deserve the glory of the smartest nation?

National character traits of the Japanese

Of course, there are no two absolutely identical nations, and the mentalities of different peoples differ from each other. However, the psychology of the Japanese differs from the psychology of other nations much more than that of Russians, Chinese and any other people. Among the most significant indicators that distinguish the Japanese nation from the background of other peoples, one can name high duration life of the Japanese people, the very low number of violent crimes committed in this country, and the fact that more than 98% of Japanese citizens are ethnic Japanese. On this moment Japan is the only state in a world that formally has the title of Empire, and one of the few countries whose nations have managed to save many age-old traditions while reaching unprecedented heights in technological and economic development.

All the reasons and a high standard of living, and scientific achievements citizens of the Land of the Rising Sun become clear if you get to know the national characteristics of the character of the Japanese. The most striking nationwide features of the Japanese are:



Values ​​and psychology of the Japanese


The main difference between the Japanese mentality and the European one lies in the attitude towards European culture, individualism is inherent, and Japanese - collectivism . The Japanese are strongly attached to different social groups - the family, the work team, the party, etc., and each member of the group knows his place in the hierarchy and is ready to obey his superiors. Obedience and humility towards elders are largely inherent in every Japanese, therefore, for the representatives of this nation, the authority of a father, boss, and any other "powerful person" (policeman, teacher, politician, etc.) is unshakable by default.

It was the collectivism of the Japanese and the resulting need to make life in the team as comfortable as possible for all its members that served as the reasons for the formation strict Japanese etiquette and Japanese courtesy . In Japanese, there are 3 "politeness styles": colloquial, neutral-polite and very polite (keigo): conversational style is used when talking with younger family members, neutral-polite - with equal positions in society and with strangers, keigo - with senior in position in society and the elderly. Politeness and following etiquette for the Japanese means much more than for Europeans - for example, it is unacceptable for residents of the Land of the Rising Sun to communicate with the boss even outside of work, to emotionally sort things out with someone in front of other people, and also to say "no" by directly refusing someone's request.


On becoming national characteristics the Japanese had a great influence. The values ​​and prescriptions of these religious teachings are so closely woven into culture and life that they have become an integral part of the worldview of the Japanese. Therefore, every Japanese strives to develop in himself such traits of character, as restraint, patience and self-control the virtues of Buddhism. Also, the influence of Buddhist philosophy can be traced in life rules, which all Japanese adhere to:

  • One should always strive to comply with the laws of the country and the rules prescribed in a particular society.
  • You must always come to terms with the situation and put up with unpleasant circumstances, and not rebel
  • It is necessary to limit oneself in entertainment and strive to work more for the good of the nation
  • You have only yourself to blame for all your personal troubles.


The Japanese follow the rules of etiquette and traditions not only in society, but also at home, in the circle of their closest ones. Cleanliness and order always reign in the houses of the Japanese, and the furnishings in the housing of the majority of the inhabitants of this country are made in the style of minimalism - the Japanese love beauty and aesthetics, but do not like frills and ostentatious pretentiousness. In communication, even with the closest relatives, citizens of the Land of the Rising Sun observe courtesy, and only small children are forgiven for deviation from the rules of etiquette.

In most Japanese families, the husband is the main earner of finances, but at the same time, women manage the family budget. Married couples in Japan rarely spend evenings together, as men prefer to relax after work with friends in entertainment venues, and women at this time are engaged in the house and. Only in recent decades have become the norm family walks on weekends, and earlier even on weekends, men sought to spend time separately from their wives, since in the Japanese patriarchal society it was believed that communication with a spouse was burdensome and uninteresting for a man.