日本人および日本文化の形成

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Until quite recently the origin of the Japanese could be traced back ten thousand years, even though mankind originated more than two million years ago. Now, though, the origin of the Japanese can be traced back some six hundred thousand years, while the origin of mankind can be traced more than five million years. However, the theory that it took more than four million years for mankind to find its way to the place now called the Japanese islands from some place in Africa is still very questionable. In this paper the author would like to examine the developemental process from Homo erectus Japanese to Homo sapiens Japanese. In the stage of Homo erectus, marriage did not change the residence form of either male or female. A clan had only two cottages-that is, one for the males and one for the females. In the stage of old Homo sapiens, a large family group had six cottages -a boys' cottage, a girls' cottage, an adult males' (husbands') cottage, an adult females' (wives') cottage, an old men's cottage, and an old women's cottage. Every village had four large families, which exchanged young women as brides. That is, the girls of large family A married boys of large family B, the girls of large family B married boys of large family C, and so on. The deity of the land was a boy shaman, a prototype of the original Japanese emperor. Then a village community which had ten nuclear families emerged. This stage was around the second inter-ice-period, 200,000-300,000 years ago. During the ice periods Japan was a part of the Asian continent, and the Sea of Japan was an inland sea. In the inter-ice-periods, however, because of the eruption of volcanoes, temperatures rose; also, the lands that surrounded the Japanese islands collapsed into the sea. In facing such catastrophes the primitive Japanese needed the great cooperation of the people, far beyond the narrow regionalism which had prevailed thus far. Now eleven villages exchanged brides with each other. A young married woman with eleven faces became a goddess, Kannon Bosatsu. Thus the primitive Japanese were able to adopt the attitude of the "generalized other." This was the beginning of the emergence of the Japanese and of Japanized culture in its strict sense.
東京女子大学の論文

日本人および日本文化の形成

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