Genetically, they are categorized into three separate, but related groups: Ainu, Ryukyuan and Mainland (Yamato). According to modern genetic analyses, they primarily have Northeast Asian, East Asian, and to a lesser extent, heterogeneous Jōmon ancestries.[6][7]
Glacier cover in Japan at the height of the last glaciation about 20,000 years ago with the land bridge now gone.
A common origin of Japanese has been proposed by a number of scholars since Arai Hakuseki first brought up the theory and Fujii Sadamoto (藤井 貞幹), also known as Teikan Tou[ja] (藤 貞幹), a pioneer of modern archaeology in Japan, also treated the issue in 1781.[13] After the end of World War II, Kotondo Hasebe[ja] (長谷部 言人) and Hisashi Suzuki [ ja] (鈴木 尚) claimed that the origin of Japanese people was not the newcomers in the Yayoi period (300 BCE – 300 CE) but the people in the Jōmon period.[6]
Following a population expansion in Neolithic times, these newcomers then found their way to the Japanese archipelago sometime during the Yayoi period. As a result, miscegenation was common in the island regions of Kyūshū, Shikoku, and Honshū, but did not prevail in the outlying islands of Okinawa and Hokkaidō, and the Ryukyuan and Ainu people continued to dominate there. Mark J. Hudson claimed that the main ethnic image of Japanese people was biologically and linguistically formed from 400 BCE to 1,200 CE.[6] Currently, the most well-regarded theory is that present-day Japanese are descendants of both the indigenous Jōmon people and the immigrant Yayoi people.
The main migration routes into Japan during the Jōmon and Yayoi period.
A study published in October 2009 by the National Museum of Nature and Scienceet al. concluded that the Minatogawa Man, who was found in Okinawa and was regarded as evidence that the Jōmon people were not a homogenous group and that these southern Jōmon came to Japan via a southern route and had a slender and more neo-Mongoloid face unlike the Northern Jōmon.[15] Hiroto Takamiya of Sapporo University suggested that the people of Kyushu immigrated to Okinawa between the 10th and 12th centuries CE.[16][17] Regardless, both Northern and Southern Jōmon were craniofacially different from modern Mainland Japanese and had European-like features[18] and a 'well-defined and less flat upper face' respectively.[19] But they still had hair and teeth morphology that was characteristic of East Asian peoples, especially Northern Jōmon.[18]
A 2011 study by Sean Lee and Toshikazu Hasegawa[20] reported that a common origin of Japonic languages had originated around 2,182 years before present.[21]
A 2015 study revealed that modern Japanese possess 2.2% West Eurasian ancestry, which likely originated from interactions with Silk Road traders around 1700 years ago.[22]
Phylogenetic tree of Ainu, Ryukyuan, Mainland Japanese, and other Asian ethnic groups. The Ainu and the Ryukyuan were clustered with 100% bootstrap probability, followed by the Mainland Japanese. The three populations in the Japanese archipelago clustered with the Korean with 100% bootstrap probability.
The modern Japanese cluster is said to be the most similar with the Korean one; in a haplotype-based study, the Japanese cluster was found to share 87–94% of its genetic components with the Korean cluster, compared with a Han Chinese result of only 0–8%, a distinct contrast. The genetic affinity to the Korean cluster was particularly strong among a cluster hailing from Shimane specifically and Honshu more broadly, but relatively less pronounced, albeit still overwhelming, in the Kyushu clusters. In any case, the study clarifies that "the estimate of ancestry profile cannot provide the definitive history of original migration, unless it will be further verified against historical evidence."[9]
Some studies suggest a genetic connection between Koreans and Southeast Asian populations. A 2017 study by Ulsan University analyzed a 7,700-year-old skull in Korea, finding evidence of genetic links to ancient populations, including those from Southeast Asia, such as Vietnamese people. This research highlights the complex migration patterns in East Asia's prehistory.[25]
Similarly, Japanese research conducted in 1999 proposed that the Yayoi people, an ancient population contributing to modern Japanese ancestry, may have migrated from the Yangtze River basin in southern China. This was supported by DNA analyses showing similarities between Yayoi remains in southwestern Japan and early Han Dynasty remains from China's Jiangsu Province.[26]
Other studies suggest that modern Koreans share closer genetic ties with Central Asian and Northern East Asian populations. A mitochondrial DNA analysis revealed a genetic affinity between Koreans and Mongolians, indicating a shared Central Asian ancestry. Additionally, genetic research suggests that while Koreans share some common ancestry with other East Asian populations, their genetic ties with the Chinese are relatively more distant.[27] Genome-wide studies further demonstrate that Koreans are genetically closest to Yamato Japanese and Manchu populations, reflecting shared ancestry and historical interactions, while genetic connections between Koreans and Southeast Asians are more limited.[28][29] According to a 2023 study, the Hondo Japanese are genetically intermediate between the Chinese/Korean and Ryukyuan clusters.[30]
A population genomic PCA graph, showing the substructure of Eastern Asian populations, including analyzed Japanese Jōmon samples. Japanese people's cluster (squares) is almost indistinguishable to the Korean people's cluster (circles), while the Jōmon samples are shifted towards the Siberian cluster in a more distinct position. (2020)The origins of the Jōmon and Yayoi people have often been a subject of dispute, and a recent Japanese publisher[32] has divided the potential routes of the people living on the Japanese archipelago as follows:
Aboriginals that have been living in Japan for more than 10,000 years. (Without geographic distinction, which means, the group of people living in islands from Hokkaido to Okinawa may all be considered to be Aboriginals in this case.)
Immigrants from the northern route (北方ルート in Japanese) including the people from the Korean peninsula, mainland China and Sakhalin Island.
A study in 2017 estimates the Jōmon ancestry in people from Tokyo at approximately 12%.[38]
In 2018, an independent research conducted by director Kenichi Shinoda [ja] (篠田 謙一) and his team at National Museum of Nature and Science was broadcast on NHK Science ZERO and it was discovered that the modern day Japanese are genetically extremely close to the modern day Koreans.[39] A genome study (Takahashi et al. 2019) shows that modern Japanese (Yamato) do not have much Jōmon ancestry at all. Nuclear genome analysis of Jōmon samples and modern Japanese samples show strong differences.[40] Various studies estimate the proportion of Jōmon ancestry in Japanese people at around 9–13%, with the remainder derived from later migrations from Asia including the Yayoi people.[38][41][42]
Ancestry profile of Japanese genetic clusters illustrating their genetic similarities to five mainland Asian populations.
Gyaneshwer Chaubey and George van Driem (2020) suggest that the Jōmon people were rather heterogeneous, and that there was also a pre-Yayoi migration during the Jōmon period, which may be linked to the arrival of the Japonic languages, meaning that Japonic is one of the Jōmon languages. This migration is suggested to have happened before 6000 BC, thus before the actual Yayoi migration.[44]
According to Alexander Vovin, the Yayoi were present in the central and southern parts of Korea before they were displaced and assimilated by arriving proto-Koreans.[49][50] A similar view was raised by Whitman (2012), further noting that the Yayoi are not closely related to the proto-Koreanic speakers and that Koreanic arrived later from Manchuria to Korea at around 300 BC and coexisted with the Japonic speakers. Both had influence on each other and a later founder effect diminished the internal variety of both language families.[51]
Jared Diamond, the author of Guns, Germs, and Steel, suggested that the Yayoi period in Japan was initiated by immigrants from the Korean peninsula. Citing research findings, he stated that Yayoi Japan likely received millions of immigrants from Korea. These immigrants, during the Yayoi transition, are believed to have overwhelmed the genetic contribution of the Jōmon people, whose population was estimated to be around 75,000 at that time.[52]
Recent full genome analyses by Boer et al. 2020 stated that the Jōmon did not show high affinities with Basal Asians like Hoabinhians or Tianyuan Man but are also diverged from mainland East Asians since the Paleolithic. They also have high affinities with coastal East Asians, including Austronesians and Siberians, suggesting admixture.[13][53] According to Gakuhari et al. (2020), these coastal East Asian affinities can be explained by shared ancestry rather than actual admixture.[54]
According to a 2020 study, Japanese exhibit high genetic similarities with Koreans and inherited their East Asian-related components during the Yayoi period. Koreans themselves can be modeled as having 62% ancestry related to Koreans, Japanese, Chinese, Austroasiatic-speaking groups and other minorities from Southeast Asia and the rest from Siberian-related groups. The genetic variation of modern Koreans is significantly shaped by the introduction of combined Vat Komnou and Nui Nap ancestries from Southern China after the Bronze Age.[55] Other studies also show this Southeast Asian contribution in proto-Koreans.[56][57][58][59]
According to a March 2021 study on genetic distance measurements from a large scale genetic study titled 'Genomic insights into the formation of human populations in East Asia', the modern "Japanese populations can be modelled as deriving from Korean (91%) and Jōmon (9%)."[60]
Ishiya et al. (2024) states that present Japanese and Koreans possess genetic components related to Ancient Northeast Asians (ANA), especially those from Mongolia and the Baikal region. Yayoi individuals were also closely related to Middle Neolithic individuals from Inner Mongolia, Miaozigou and the Haminmangha site, as well as early Neolithic individuals (Xiaojingshan and Boshan) from Shandong, China. They also have ancestry related to Papuans and Vanutuans which is found in Jōmon peoples but this might reflect a different diverged ancestry shared with other Asians. [61]
Tripartite ancestry theory
A September 2021 study published in the journal Science Advances proposed that the people of Japan bore genetic signatures from three ancient populations rather than just two as previously thought.[62]
Proposed tripartite styled genomic transitions in parallel with cultural transitions in pre- and protohistoric Japan. (2021)The study states that in addition to the previously discovered Jōmon and Yayoi strands, a new strand was hypothesized to have been introduced, most likely from the southern Korean peninsula, during the Yayoi-Kofun transition period, where there was strong cultural and political affinity with Korea and China.[62] According to the study, the genetic profile of the Japanese population was established in the Kofun period. It is said that the Kofun strand in modern-day Japanese was concentrated in specific regions such as Kinki, Hokuriku and Shikoku.[63] Over 70% of their genetic makeup can be attributed to the Kofun component, with 15-20% being attributed to Yayoi and the rest to the Jōmon component. However, the study's authors note that modern Japanese have slightly more East Asian ancestry than Kofun peoples.[62]
The same paper showed that the Yayoi have no excess affinities to populations with no cultural relations to rice farming such as those from the West Liao River basin in Northeast China, Baikal, and Northeast Siberia. No significant affinities to Yellow River populations were likewise found. The research also found that rice farming was introduced to Japan from the Shandong peninsula to the Liaodong Peninsula and finally to the Korean peninsula, where it was directly spread to Japan.[62]
Rui Wang (王瑞) and Chun-Chao Wang (汪群超) (2022) reiterated that Yayoi immigrants did not demographically replace the Jōmon. Instead, they co-existed and intermarried with indigenous Jōmon, which led the Yayoi to have 60% Jōmon ancestry. The rest was Northeast Asian. Jōmon admixture was decreased when ancestries related to the Northern Han Chinese (Yellow River ancestry) were introduced in the Kofun period.[64]
They later clarified in another paper (2023) that overall, modern Japanese cluster with the "Korean_Antu (Ando)" population, covering Koreans from Antu County, who share more genetic drift with Koreans, Han Chinese, Hmong-Mien and Tai-Kadai.[65]
Xiaoxi Liu (刘小晰) et. al (2024) stated that Jōmon admixture in contemporary Japanese people varies depending on region, with admixture being the highest in southern Japan, especially Okinawa (28.5%), followed by northeastern Japan (19%) and western Japan (12%). They also noted that the East Asian strand (labelled "Kofun") was dominant in western Japan while the Northeast Asian strand was dominant in northeastern Japan.[66] Interestingly, Liu's research indicates a diminished number for the Kofun strand which was originally thought to have been over 70% in the previous papers (2021–2022), down to at most 35%. The rest consists of the aforementioned Jōmon strand and the northeastern strand labelled as "Three Kingdoms Korea" in the study, depending on the region.[66]
According to Yamamoto et. al (2024), the Yamato, on average, have 66.4% East Asian ancestry, 21.2% Northeast Asian ancestry and 12.4% Jōmon ancestry. These admixture proportions are best representative of Mainland Yamato Japanese. Jōmon ancestry exhibits regional variation, ranging from 9.8% in Kinki to 26.1% in Okinawa, with some populations in Hokkaido having 31.6% Jōmon ancestry. The paper used "China_WLR_BA_o" and "China_HMMH_MN" (part of the ancient Liao civilization populations) as genetic markers to represent Northeast Asian ancestry for the first time.[67]
However recently, the tripartite ancestry theory is being met with criticism since its introduction in 2021. In essence, Japanese researchers claim that a tripartite theory is redundant as the genealogical difference between Yayoi and Kofun groups is not significant enough and that the temporal discrepancy of the periods is minuscule. Japanese linguists also state that the languages spoken during the periods are generally related to each another and that the speakers were most likely related.
According to Pere Gelabert in a 2022 paper, ancient Koreans of the Three Kingdoms period of Korea coded "Korea TK", bore close genetic similarity with Kofun period Japanese people. In particular, "Korea-TK_2" is closely related to "present-day Japanese, the ancient Kofun, and other ancient Japanese populations with Jomon ancestry" due to their higher Jōmon-like ancestry. "Korea-TK_2" can be modeled as having 66% ± 7% Bronze Age West Liao River-related ancestry and 34% ± 7% Jōmon-related ancestry. Or 32% Northeast Asian, 43% Han, and 25% Japan Jōmon. In terms of the Japanese Kofun population, they could be modeled as having 71% ± 10% "Korea-TK_2"-related ancestry and 29% ± 10% Late Bronze Age to Iron Age Yellow River-related ancestry.[56]
A study published in April 2024 by Hisashi Nakao (中尾 央), claims that the Kofun strand had much overlap with the previous Yayoi strand and that the two strands were genealogically closer than that of the Jōmon group.[68] Nakao stated that "[the results] suggest that the Jōmon people were rather different from the Yayoi and Kofun people in the facial height and the anterior–posterior length [...] indicating that temporal differences are not significant among the Yayoi and Kofun periods. [...] the large overlap in morphological variation between the Yayoi and Kofun people could be an important step in further research."[68] The research also boasts of using the largest Kofun samples to date.[68]
Genetic drift of the East Asian demographics. (2024)According to a study published in October 2024, the Doigahama Yayoi individual, who is representative of the Yayoi population, already possessed substantial East Asian ancestry. They are closely related to the succeeding Kofun population and modern Japanese and Koreans. Among ancient Koreans, they are the most related to the "Korean_Ando (Antu)" population. The study's authors note that Northeastern Siberian and East Asian ancestries were already admixed within ancient Koreans and thus, not introduced separately in the Yayoi and Kofun periods respectively. Instead, it is more likely that the peopling of Japan involved continuous migrations from the Korean peninsula until the Kofun period. However, the study noted that a significant genetic difference between Yayoi and Kofun populations is not completely ruled out.[69]
The lead researcher and professor at the University of Tokyo's Department of Biological Sciences, Jun Ohashi (大橋 順) spoke with Science Daily,[4] further explaining the new findings and criticizing the previous assumption. "Our results suggest that between the Yayoi and Kofun periods, the majority of immigrants to the Japanese archipelago originated primarily from the Korean peninsula," says Ohashi. "The results also mean the three-way admixture model, which posits that a Northeast Asian group migrated to the Japanese archipelago during the Yayoi period and an East Asian group during the Kofun period, is incorrect."[4]
A recent interview with the director of the National Museum of Nature and Science, Kenichi Shinoda [ja] (篠田 謙一) in December 2024 summarized the current consensus in regards to the genomic makeup of the modern Japanese. Shinoda stated that over 90% of the modern Japanese DNA derives from an ancient strand that originated at an area near the Liao River around 50,000 years ago, where it was then introduced to the Korean peninsula (which in turn mixed with the Southern Jōmon-like inhabitants) and 10,000 years later was introduced into the Japanese archipelago.[5] Shinoda also remarked that these migrations happened throughout the later Yayoi period and that the Japanese genes remained homogenous since then, stating that "the genetic makeup of the ancient Yayoi people and us (Yamato people) are almost identical".[5] The director did not mention "Kofun", but insisted on calling the later settlers as "Toraijin (Immigrants)" or more specifically "late-Yayoi period settlers", despite taking part in previous studies surrounding the strand and mentioning it at the time of its proposal.[70]
Linguist, author, and lecturer Makoto Mogi[ja] (茂木 誠) (2025) insisted that the immigrants with the "East Asian ancestry" were ethnically different from the Han Chinese having come from the north and being linguistically different.[71] According to Mogi, East Asian ancestry immigrants such as Empress Jingū's ancestor, Amenohiboko and other famous Kofun period immigrants, were most likely proto-Koreanic speakers due to the similarities in grammar with modern Korean,[Quotes 1][71] an argument made similar by fellow linguist Alexander Vovin.[72] Mogi posited that these proto-Koreanic speakers entered the peninsula by replacing or absorbing the pre-existing Peninsular Japonic speaking natives (Southern Jōmon-like inhabitants) before entering Japan,[71] an argument that aligns closely with the anthropological argument made by aforementioned Kenichi Shinoda (2024).[5]
The migration routes of proto-Japonic and proto-Koreanic speakers. (2022)A similar observation was made previously by Kazuo Miyamoto[ja] (宮本 一夫), a renowned linguist and emeritus professor at Kyushu University in 2022. Miyamoto noted that "Central Japanese was heavily influenced by Old Korean (possibly through Baekje) during the Kofun and Asuka periods, from the 4th to 7th centuries AD"[73] which supports Mogi and Vovin's assumptions. He linked the Yayoi period with the Mumun period of Korea and stated that the proto-Japonic language was spread during this time.[Quotes 2][73] He also remarked that the proto-Japonic of the Yayoi/Mumun period and proto-Koreanic that was introduced during Kofun/Asuka period stemmed from the same ancestral language, stating that "the homeland of both languages is the same based on archeological evidence, and they are kindred language families"[73] and that "Proto-Japonic and Proto-Koreanic split off from the Transeurasian languages in southern Manchuria"[73] positing that the Yayoi (proto-Japonic) and Kofun (proto-Koreanic) migrations were heavily related, a conclusion made similar to Hisashi Nakao (2024).
According to Makoto Takemitsu (2025), about 1.3 to 1.4 million migrants settled in Japan during the Kofun period, which made up 25% of the total population (5.5 to 5.6 million) of Japan in that period. They came from Korea, especially Goguryeo, Paekche, and Silla. Takemitsu is also skeptical of claims that their East Asian ancestry was related to the Han Chinese and argues that they were more likely to be Koreans of that period. He also claimed that the Kofun strand possess 25% of modern Japanese people at most and the majority of their genetic makeup derives from the Yayoi (Northeast Asian) ancestry. Takemitsu describes the Kofun migrations as a gradual process, where migrants settled in "village communities" that were ruled by powerful chiefs or clans. There, they married with locals of Jōmon and Northeast Asian ancestry and became part of a group that's later known as the "Japanese".[74]
In essence, the Tripartite ancestry theory is divided into two conclusions; one positing that the East Asian ancestry was introduced to Japan from Korea independent from the previous Yayoi and Jōmon influxes,[62] and the other positing that the East Asian ancestry was already part of the Korean people before being introduced to Japan during the Kofun period, hence claiming the existence of a separate "East Asian" genetic marker as redundant.[75] The theory, however, clearly lays the foundation for several points that are crucial to the anthropometric studies on the Japanese populations:
Japanese people, especially the Yamato people, possess certain amounts of the "East Asian" ancestry with the percentage fluctuating from 25%,[74] 35%,[66] 66.7%[67] to 80%,[69] depending on the study. This ancestry was shown in high frequencies among immigrants during the Kofun period (300–538 CE).
The "East Asian" ancestry is often associated with the ancient Yellow River farmers populations; a common ancestry found in East Asia that is shared by the modern day Han Chinese, Tibetans, Manchus, Mongolians, Vietnamese, Koreans, Japanese, etc, in varying degrees, which in turn is classified under the Ancient Northern East Asian (ANEA) cluster that formed around 20,000–26,000 BCE.[76] However, it is speculated that this variant of the ancestry is related to the proto-Koreanic speakers who entered Japan during the Kofun period which was assimilated by the proto-Japonic speakers of the Yayoi period based on archaeological and linguistical evidence.[51][73]
Western Yamato Japanese, on average, have more affinities with East Asian populations, reflective of Western Japan's historic role in facilitating cross-cultural exchange with continental East Asia. Jōmon affinities peak in Northern and Southern Yamato Japanese although Northeast Yamato Japanese also exhibit close affinities with Northeast Asian populations.[66][67]
Immigrants from the Kofun period align closely with the Three Kingdoms period of Korea, a turbulent period of constant wars and political unrest. Genetic markers have also indicated that the Kofun period individuals bear close resemblance with the Three Kingdoms period Koreans.[56] Also, majority of the Kofun period immigrants were from the Three Kingdoms, especially from Goguryeo, Paekche, and Silla.[74]
It is said that the Japanese remained homogenous since then as its modern population is almost identical to the immigrants of the Kofun period, genetically.[5]
Rajvir Yadav et al. (2000) stated the sitting height to stature ratios of different populations: South Indian (0.4922), female Indian (0.4974), Eastern Indian (0.4991), Southeastern African (0.5096), Central Indian (0.5173), US (0.5202), Western Indian (0.5243), German (0.5266) and Japanese (0.5452).[79]
Hirofumi Matsumura et al. (2001) and Hideo Matsumoto et al. (2009) said that the Japanese and Vietnamese people are regarded to be a mix of Northeast Asians and Southeast Asians. However, the amount of Northern genetics is higher in Japanese people compared to Vietnamese, who are closer to other Southeast Asians (Thai or Bamar people).[80][81]
Neville Moray (2005) said that, for Korean and Japanese pilots, sitting height is more than 54% of their stature, with about 46% of their stature from leg length. Moray said that, for Americans and most Europeans, sitting height is about 52% of their stature, with about 48% of their stature from leg length. Moray indicated that modifications in basic cockpit geometry are required to accommodate Japanese and Vietnamesepilots. Moray said that the Japanese have longer torsos and a higher shoulder point than the Vietnamese, but the Japanese have about similar arm lengths to the Vietnamese, so the control stick would have to be moved 8cm closer to the pilot for the Japanese and 7cm closer to the pilot for the Vietnamese. Moray said that, due to having shorter legs than Americans, rudder pedals must be moved closer to the pilot by 10cm for the Japanese and 12cm for the Vietnamese.[82]
Craniometry
According to Pietrusewsky, the group most similar to the Japanese cranial bones were the Koreans. Meanwhile, Chinese, Mongolians and Southeast Asians were distinguished from the Japanese. (2010)
Ann Kumar (1998) said that Michael Pietrusewsky (1992) said that, in a craniometric study, the cranial bones of Southeast Asians (Borneo, Vietnam, Sulu, Java, and Sulawesi etc.) are closer to Japanese, in that order, than Mongolian and Chinese populations are close to Japanese. In the craniometric study, Michael Pietrusewsky said that, even though Japanese peoplecluster with Mongolians, Chinese and Southeast Asians in the larger Asian cluster, the cranial bones of Japanese people are more closely aligned with several Mainland and Island Southeast Asian samples than with Mongolians and Chinese. However, Pietrusewsky also said, more research is needed on the similarity of the cranial bones between Japanese and Southeast Asians.[85][86]
In a 1994 craniometric study, Pietrusewsky found that the Japanese series, which was a series that spanned from the Yayoi period to modern times, formed a single branch with Korea. Later, Pietrusewsky (1999) found, however, significant differences between the Korean and Yayoi people in the East Asian cluster, indicating that the connection that Japanese have with Korea would not have derived from Yayoi people.[11]
However, in a follow-up study, Pietrusewsky (2010) stated that East Asians and Southeast Asians were markedly separated from each other. He found that the modern Japanese cranial series was the closest to Manchurians and Koreans. To some extent, they were also close to the inhabitants of Anyang, Atayal and Mongolians.[8] A common origin of Northeast Asians could be traced, with entry to the Japanese archipelago commencing at the start of the Yayoi period.[8]
Park Dae-kyoon et al. (2001) said that distance analysis based on thirty-nine non-metric cranial traits showed that Koreans are closer craniometrically to Kazakhs and Mongols than to the populations in China and Japan.[87]
Enfield (2011) sees phenotypic similarities between present Japanese populations and Dong Son populations from northern Vietnam and Neolithic populations from southern China. Based on dental analyses, they were Australo-Melanesians who heavily mixed with migrants related to ancient Chinese populations, affecting them genetically and phenotypically.[12]
Dudzik (2015) states that southern Japanese are morphologically the most similar to Jōmon and Ainu groups, as well as Yayoi groups. Conversely, northern Japanese are significantly more influenced by northeast Asian groups due to external migration from the north since the fifth century or earlier. This also affected subpopulations like Ainu, suggesting that 'parental population traits' were better preserved in the southernmost parts of the Japanese archipelago.[88]
According to Matsumura et al. (2019), Japanese belong to the wider "Northeast Asian" cluster, like modern Chinese, North and South Koreans, Mongolians and Far East Russians, including Siberians. They exhibit similar features such as relatively long flat faces and short heads, reflective of cold adaptation. However, the indigenous Jōmon hunter-gatherers exhibited similar features to prehistoric hunter-gatherers from Southeast Asia and southern China and Zhoukoudian remains from Beijing.[10]
According to Harrington (2020), Koreans and Japanese share similar cranial variation but Japanese are more likely to be dolichocephalic, have shorter cranial height and smaller facial features, especially in terms of their cheek height, nasal length, and facial width. However, both populations underwent brachycephalization as their societies modernized. Physical differences between modern Japanese and Koreans is also attributed to outside gene flow in Japanese but it can be explained by smaller sample sizes in the study, which didn't fully capture the variation within both populations.[89]
According to Watanabe et. al (2021), contemporary Kinki populations phenotypically differ the most from Jōmon people, especially Hokkaido Ainu. Other Japanese subpopulations were more intermediate although morphological similarities exist between Hokkaido Ainu and contemporary Tohoku populations.[90]
Several studies show quantifiable dimorphism in the cranium of Japanese people[91][92], similar to Thais, Indonesians, Filipinos and Malays.[92] Japanese skulls also share some similarities with Hispanics and Filipinos,[93] implied by the frequency of Hispanic skulls from southwestern United States being misclassified as Asian, particularly Japanese and Filipino.[93][92] However, Japanese craniums can be distinguished from Filipino craniums, with the former having higher upper facial height and shorter inferior malar lengths on average.[94] Nasal height and breadth were also greater and smaller than those found in Filipino craniums respectively although Thai craniums exhibited greater nasal height and breadth than those found in Japanese craniums.[92] Japanese craniums also greatly differ from populations like 'typical' Western Australians, with the latter having longer and taller skulls and narrower frontal bones. On average, they also have greater maximum cranial length and basion-nasion length and lower mastoid height.[95]
↑ Boer, Elisabeth de; Yang, Melinda A.; Kawagoe, Aileen; Barnes, Gina L. (2020). "Japan considered from the hypothesis of farmer/language spread". Evolutionary Human Sciences. 2 e13. doi:10.1017/ehs.2020.7. ISSN2513-843X. PMC10427481. PMID37588377. S2CID218926428. The term Yayoi has four uses, which can create much confusion. First, it is the designation of the period beginning with the introduction of rice agriculture around 1000 BC until the advent of the Mounded Tomb Culture in the third century AD. Yayoi is a period designation exclusive to Japan; it includes both farmers and hunter–gatherers and entails the agricultural transition in a time-transgressive and regionally disparate process. Second, 'Yayoi people' may refer to anyone living in the Japanese Islands in the Yayoi period, or third, Yayoi may refer specifically to admixed people (Mumun + Jōmon in varying in proportions and across great distances). Fourth, Yayoi may indicate acculturation: the adoption of (rice) agriculture (and other continental material culture) by Jōmon-lineage people in the Yayoi period. All of these conflicting aspects of Yayoi must be kept in mind and clearly defined in any discussion.
↑ Kim, Young Jin; Jin, Han Jun (2013). "Dissecting the genetic structure of Korean population using genome-wide SNP arrays". Genes Genom. 35 (3): 355–363. doi:10.1007/s13258-013-0082-8.
↑ Huang, Xiufeng; Xia, Zi-Yang; Bin, Xiaoyun; He, Guanglin; Guo, Jianxin; Lin, Chaowen; Yin, Lianfei; Zhao, Jing; Ma, Zhuofei; Ma, Fuwei; Li, Yingxiang; Hu, Rong; Wei, Lan-Hai; Wang, Chuan-Chao (2020). Genomic Insights into the Demographic History of Southern Chinese (Preprint). doi:10.1101/2020.11.08.373225.
↑ from the book, 2009, Japanese published by Heidansha. "日本人". マイペディア. 平凡社. Original sentence:旧石器時代または縄文時代以来、現在の北海道から琉球諸島までの地域に住んだ集団を祖先に持つ。シベリア、樺太、朝鮮半島などを経由する北方ルート、南西諸島などを経由する南方ルートなど複数の渡来経路が考えられる
↑ Tajima, Atsushi; Pan, I-Hung; Fucharoen, Goonnapa; Fucharoen, Supan; Matsuo, Masafumi; Tokunaga, Katsushi; Juji, Takeo; Hayami, Masanori; Omoto, Keiichi; Horai, Satoshi (January 2002). "Three major lineages of Asian Y chromosomes: implications for the peopling of east and southeast Asia". Human Genetics. 110 (1): 80–88. doi:10.1007/s00439-001-0651-9. PMID11810301.
↑ 弥生人DNAで迫る日本人の起源」[The origin of Japanese people approaching with Yayoi DNA]. ja:サイエンスZERO (Television production) (in Japanese). NHK. 23 December 2018.
↑ Mitsuru Sakitani (2009). 『DNA・考古・言語の学際研究が示す新・日本列島史』[New History of the Japanese Islands Shown by Interdisciplinary Studies on DNA, Archeology, and Language] (in Japanese). Bensei Publishing. ISBN978-4-585-05394-1.
↑ Janhunen, Juha (2010). "Reconstructing the Language Map of Prehistorical Northeast Asia". Studia Orientalia Electronica. 108: 281–304. there are strong indications that the neighbouring Baekje state (in the southwest) was predominantly Japonic-speaking until it was linguistically Koreanized.
↑ Vovin, Alexander (31 December 2013). "From Koguryǒ to T'amna: Slowly riding to the South with speakers of Proto-Korean". Korean Linguistics. 15 (2): 217–235. doi:10.1075/kl.15.2.03vov.
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[東アジア系先祖は] 漢民族とは明らかに違うと思います。中国南部にいたので全く違います。朝鮮語ていうか、韓国語とは文法がほぼ同じという状況であります。 [The East Asian ancestry immigrants] were clearly different from the Han Chinese. They're from the lower parts of China, so the two are completely different. The consensus is that the immigrants spoke a language with a grammar almost identical to the modern Korean language.
[...] the beginning of the Yayoi culture was heavily influenced by the Mumun culture of the southern Korean Peninsula, and some migrants from this region are thought to have moved into northern Kyushu. If Proto-Japonic spread to northern Kyushu from the southern Korean Peninsula at the beginning of the Yayoi culture with migrants, then we can assume that Proto-Japonic was spoken by the people of the Mumun culture. [...] Proto-Japonic languages are thought to have gradually replaced the local Jomon languages in these areas from the Late Yayoi to the beginning of the Kofun period, 2nd – 3rd centuries AD.
—Kazuo Miyamoto, The emergence of 'Transeurasian' language families in Northeast Asia as viewed from archaeological evidence
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