Beginning in the Edo period, Kiuchi Ishitei, Arai Shiraishi, and others began to study the origins of the Japanese people, and the scientific method was officially introduced into the study during the shogunate period, and there are many opinions about who the ancestors of the Japanese were. Some people say xu fu, some people say it is Ainu, and according to the latest DNA screening results, it is very likely that the ancestors of the Japanese people came from two provinces in China.
Legend has it that in the Qin Dynasty, there was a famous alchemist Xu Fu, sent by Qin Shi Huang to take a group of virgin boys and girls to the sea to find the three immortal mountains of Penglai, Fang Zhi and Yingzhou, and later Xu Fu did discover the Immortal Island, but did not return by boat, but instead took people to take root there and multiply, and this island is today's Japan.
When modern historians give this statement, many people are noncommittal, but with the discovery of Xu Fu's tomb in Japan, and in connection with the long-term Japanese custom of worshipping Xu Fu, many Japanese people believe in this theory and claim to be the descendants of Xu Fu and other Chinese.
Although this doctrine sounds similar, after all, it lacks scientific arguments, so it is still not convincing, and in 1823, the Dutch doctor Stebel joined forces with his son to integrate the scientific method into the study of this aspect, and finally found that the Japanese were most likely descendants of the Ainu people.
Soon after, the American zoologist Morse discovered the remains of Japanese shell mounds, pioneering the two major directions of modern Japanese archaeology and anthropology, and was known as the founder of Japanese archaeology. After studying in the Four Directions of Europe, the famous Japanese scholar Hirai Goro finally came to a very different conclusion about Shi Debo, he believed that there were obvious differences in the race between the Ainu and the Black Dwarfs, and not all Japanese people originated from the Ainu.
Based on Hirai Goro's research, Japanese scholars have synthesized archaeological findings to divide the Japanese race in detail, which can be divided into native and Watanabe from the perspective of sequencing. From the perspective of ethnography, it can be divided into Jomon and Yayoi, which are combined into 4 factions: native Jomon, native Yayoi, Watanabe Jomon, watanabe Yayoi.
The so-called Watanabe people refer to those who moved into Japan later. As for the difference between jomon and Yayoi, it is also very well divided, appearing relatively early, and short, dark skin, deep eyebrows, incidentally with a large beard, thick lips is the Jomon, as for the Yayoi people are tall, delicate facial features, appeared later than the Jomon people.
According to people's inferences, the Watanabe rope people should be from Taiwan, Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean region, while the Watanabe Yayoi people should be from the eastern coast of China, the Korean Peninsula and Southeast Asia, anyway, it is inseparable from China.
Having said that, China is a vast land, and the ancestors of the Japanese originated in China, and from which province? This is also a question that people are struggling to ponder.
Finally, Cell Research, which was named the most internationally influential academic journal in China in 2021, gave us the answer, and the research team divided the Han population into 7 subgroups, namely the eastern, southern, western, northern, central, southeastern and lingnan regions.
Judging from the results of genetic investigation, the genes of the Japanese are basically the same as the genes of the people in the northern region of China, which means that the Japanese are likely to come from the northern provinces of China: Henan and Hebei.
The reason for this reasoning is that the researchers of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have ingeniously investigated the experience of alcohol metabolism, using this aspect to investigate, first ruling out the possibility of South Asia, Europe and Latin America, and then screening in southern China and northern China. The screening results show that the metabolic genes in the northern Chinese population are generally better than the metabolic genes in the southern part, and the two types of DNA gene chains are very similar to those in Japan. Therefore, this research has won the international confidence of many people, but many Japanese people have difficulty accepting, because they have always thought that they originated in Yunnan.
Around 1979, the Japanese scholar Kenzo Toritsu conducted a large number of investigations of ethnic minorities in Yunnan, including folklore, language, history, characteristics and beliefs, and the final result was that the Japanese were actually formed by the migration of ethnic minorities in Yunnan, China.
From the perspective of folklore, Yunnan people and Japanese people are very respectful of cherry blossoms, from the perspective of language, Yunnan ethnic minorities local language and Japanese have certain similarities, from a historical point of view, there are indeed some ethnic minorities in Yunnan areas have migrated, from the perspective of characteristics, some ethnic minorities in Yunnan, children will have birthmarks, after growing up this birthmark will gradually disappear, Japan also has this situation; from the perspective of faith, Yunnan people believe in the sun god, and regard it as a woman, The same is true in Japan.
It is precisely because Toritsu Kenzo is justified, so after 1979, many Japanese people have gone to Yunnan to find their relatives and ancestors, even today, this situation is still very common, but the latest report released by the Chinese Academy of Sciences has broken their illusions in this regard.
After reading the report, not only many Japanese people could not accept it, but even many Chinese said that they could not accept that the Japanese originated in China, after all, the Japanese had committed numerous crimes and aroused the hatred of countless Chinese people.
In fact, whether the ancestors of the Japanese people are from China or not, it will not have much impact on Sino-Japanese relations, as long as Japan refuses to admit the mistakes it has committed and does not have to act to show its apologies, it will be difficult for China and Japan to achieve real intimacy and common progress.