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.
[Illustration]
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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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
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.