Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1999 02:08:17 -0800 Reply-To: Hayao Miyazaki Discussion Group Sender: Hayao Miyazaki Discussion Group From: Ryoko Toyama Subject: Re: Ancient relations ---Joe Monson wrote: > > Since the Emishi were in northern Japan, is it possible they were related > to the Ainu? There have been academic debates on whether and how Emishi is related to Ainu. However, Miyazaki-San said "Emishi is different from Ainu" in interviews about MH, so at least in the MH, Emishi is not Ainu. Of course, Japanese, Ainu, and Emishi are all somehow related, but how they are related is the issue. There was a pre-hostoric period in Japan called Jomon era. People were maily lived on hunting and gathering. Then, people from China and Korea came to Japan with rice raming technology. The period after coming of rice is calle Yayoi. It is clear from bones and such that Jomon people and Yayoi people are two different people (they have different bone and facial structures). Today's Japanese are the descendants of Yayoi people (with some mixure of Jomon and other people). Miyazaki-San believes that Emishi were the descendants of Jomon people. (Where Ainu fits is still a matter of debate. Some say that Ainu are Jomon people (=real Japanese=Emishi), and some say that Ainu came from farther North.) Jomon culture, which is signified by the rope-like marks on their pottery, appears here and there in Mononoke Hime. Including the weird marks on Didarabocchi. Ryo -- Miyazaki ML: -- To unsubscribe, send "signoff nausicaa" to listserv@brownvm.brown.edu ----- Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1999 22:05:46 -0500 Reply-To: Hayao Miyazaki Discussion Group Sender: Hayao Miyazaki Discussion Group From: Marc Gregory Subject: Re: Ancient Relations ---Joe Monson wrote: > > Since the Emishi were in northern Japan, is it possible they were related > to the Ainu? This thread has sparked my interest in the Emishi, their origins and customs, so I did a quick Web search and found a couple of interesting URL's that I thought might be of interest. In particular the first one does help to explain some of the many talents attributed to Ashitaka as a rider and warrior. http://www.rain.org/~ssa/samurai.htm In addition Ryoko Toyama wrote: >Miyazaki-San believes that Emishi were the descendants of Jomon people. This URL tends to confirm Miyazaki's belief. It is about half way down the page. http://www.tradecompass.com/library/books/armyhb/JAPANCH1.03.html Enjoy. If I find any others I will post them. Cheers, Marc Gregory jmarcusg@tidalwave.net -- Miyazaki ML: -- To unsubscribe, send "signoff nausicaa" to listserv@brownvm.brown.edu ----- Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1999 22:30:28 -0800 Reply-To: Hayao Miyazaki Discussion Group Sender: Hayao Miyazaki Discussion Group From: Ryoko Toyama Subject: Re: Ancient relations ---Joe Monson wrote: > Since Miyazaki says there isn't a relation, where do the Emishi come from? > They aren't the Japanese, though they were probably eventually absorbed > into that culture. Does Miyazaki have any other references to the origins > of the Emishi? I thought that I explained this in my previous post, but my explanation was probably not good. I hope this time, I can make myself clear. Originally, Japan was inhabited by people with Jomon culture (let's call them Jomon people). They were basucally hunters and gatherers, though they did some agriculture. Later, people from China and Korea came to Japan with rice farming technologies with different culture (let's call them Yayoi people). This was about 2,000 years ago. Yayoi people eventually drove Jomon people up to North (it was difficult to grow rice in Northern land, so Yayoi people probably didn't bother them much), although some of the Jomon people were probably absorbed by Yayoi people (Jomon and Yayoi have different physical features, so we know that they were different people.) Japanese today are basically the descendants of Yayoi people, with some mixture of Jomon and other people who later immigrated to Japan. We know that the Northeast Japan was inhabitated by Jomon people long after most of Japan was took over by Yayoi people. And Miyazaki-San thinks (along with other scholars) that Emishi were the descendants of the Jomon people. Emishi did not grow rice. (Think like this: Emishi are Celts, and Yayoi are Saxons. Today's Japanese are today's British.) The point of arguments among scholars is more to do with where Ainu came from. Some say that Ainu and Emishi are the same (=Jomon people), others say that Ainu are yet different people who came from further north. Ryoko -- Miyazaki ML: -- To unsubscribe, send "signoff nausicaa" to listserv@brownvm.brown.edu ----- Date: Tue, 2 Feb 1999 22:15:20 -0800 Reply-To: Hayao Miyazaki Discussion Group Sender: Hayao Miyazaki Discussion Group From: Ryoko Toyama Subject: Re: Mononoke title screen ---Griffin Waldau wrote: > > Does anyone have any info on what piece of artwork or type of artwork > inspired the background on the title screen to Mononoke Hime? It looks > to be some sort of pottery or stone carving. It is generally believed that the artwork was inspired by pottery in Jomon Era (a pre-historic era in Japan.) Jomon, which means "rope mark", is characterized by its pottery, which have unique marks which are made by, or look like ropes. Jomon is one of the keywords in MH. Emishi (Ashitkata's people) are descendents of Jomon people (according to Miyazaki-San), and San is supposed to look a bit like Jomon people. Rope-like mark also appeared on Didarabocchi's body. To me, the artwork also looks a bit like South American, but I do not know if Miyazaki-San was influenced by it or not. Ryo -- Miyazaki ML: -- To unsubscribe, send "signoff nausicaa" to listserv@brownvm.brown.edu ----- Date: Sat, 11 Jul 1998 21:47:25 EDT Reply-To: Hayao Miyazaki Discussion Group Sender: Hayao Miyazaki Discussion Group From: Ryoko TOYAMA Subject: Re: Motives 2 [....] But instead of looking like her contemporaries (in Muromachi Era), San rather looks like a person from Jomon Era (the pre-agricultural era). Moro probably gave her that look because humans in Jomon era were those who knew how to co-exist with the forest better (or at least, less offensive to them) because they hadn't started agriculture (this is Miyazaki-San's belief). Emishi, Ashitaka's clan, is also defined as the people who kept the culture of Jomon Era. If you look carefully, Hii-Sama (the Oracle) wears the same kind of accessories as San. [....] Ryo ----- Date: Sun, 12 Jul 1998 09:22:59 EDT Reply-To: Hayao Miyazaki Discussion Group Sender: Hayao Miyazaki Discussion Group From: Ryoko TOYAMA Subject: Re: Motives 2 [....] [San being look like a Jomon person] [....] The word "Jomon" was mentioned in Miyazaki-San's project proposal, as "She (San)...looks like a certain clay figure from Jomon Era." (I think that he meant San's clay mask.) The red traiangles on San's face are tatoos. Pre-historic Japanese put tatoos on their faces (a Chinese history book says so). Tatoos were believed to protect oneself from evil spirits, as well as making oneself beautiful. [....] -----