Ancient Japanese Research Articles

Genetic legacy of ancient hunter-gatherer Jomon in Japanese populations.

The tripartite ancestral structure is a recently proposed model for the genetic origin of modern Japanese, comprising indigenous Jomon hunter-gatherers and two additional continental ancestors from Northeast Asia and East Asia. To investigate the impact of the tripartite structure on genetic and phenotypic variation today, we conducted biobank-scale analyses by merging Biobank Japan (BBJ; n = 171,287) with ancient Japanese and Eurasian genomes (n = 22). We demonstrate the applicability of the tripartite model to Japanese populations throughout the archipelago, with an extremely strong correlation between Jomon ancestry and genomic variation among individuals. We also find that the genetic legacy of Jomon ancestry underlies an elevated body mass index (BMI). Genome-wide association analysis with rigorous adjustments for geographical and ancestral substructures identifies 132 variants that are informative for predicting individual Jomon ancestry. This prediction model is validated using independent Japanese cohorts (Nagahama cohort, n = 2993; the second cohort of BBJ, n = 72,695). We further confirm the phenotypic association between Jomon ancestry and BMI using East Asian individuals from UK Biobank (n = 2286). Our extensive analysis of ancient and modern genomes, involving over 250,000 participants, provides valuable insights into the genetic legacy of ancient hunter-gatherers in contemporary populations.

変貌する出雲信仰 ― 古代ㆍ中世文芸における「出雲」 ―

変貌する出雲信仰 ― 古代ㆍ中世文芸における「出雲」 ―

日本の古代王朝物語と源氏物語の王権との関連性 ― 王権の｢聖｣と｢俗｣ ―

日本の古代王朝物語と源氏物語の王権との関連性 ― 王権の｢聖｣と｢俗｣ ―

Japanese poems as magical formulas: Unveiling the connection to female physiology

This paper explores the reinterpreted use of early Japanese short poems tanka (henceforth referred to as waka) as magical formulas, particularly examining Moto yori chiri ni majiwaru…, a pseudo-classical waka attributed to Izumi Shikibu (976–1031) (also to Ono no Komachi, a ninth-century court poetess) and Naniwazu ni saku ya…, a poem recorded in Kokin wakashū [Collection of Ancient and Modern Japanese Poems]. These examples, which are wellfounded in literature, illustrate how waka were repurposed for supernatural applications. The focus is on their practical role in female physiology, particularly as magical formulas to regulate menstrual cycles and ward off impurity caused by menstrual blood. The paper argues that these waka endured through their incorporation into talismans (gofu), and the study includes examples of talismans from the author’s private collection. Through this exploration, it sheds light on the dynamic interplay between waka, Buddhism, and ritualistic purity

Characterization and phylogenetic analysis of the ancient Japanese grape cultivar ‘Juraku’

Characterization and phylogenetic analysis of the ancient Japanese grape cultivar ‘Juraku’

魏志倭人傳과 古代日本資料에서의 表記字에 관한 小考

The purpose of this paper is to more clearly understand the phonology of Wajinden through comparison with ancient Korean and Japanese materials. The subjects of the study were 蘇 and 奴, which have different phonetic values from ancient Japanese materials among the phonetic transcriptions shown in the Wajinden. As for the research method, the phonetic values of 蘇 and 奴 shown in the Wajinden were examined through the estimated Old Chinese phonology, the Fanqie(反切) in a Rhyme Dictionary(韻書), the phonetic values by scholars, and the examples of ancient Korean and Japanese materials.
 As a conclusion of the study, it was found that 蘇 and 奴 shown in the Wajinden are the markers for the syllables of [sa] and [na]. In Wajinden, 蘇 is a notation for the syllable of [sa さ], and all of them were used as national names. In ancient Japanese sources, 蘇 represents the sound of [so ソ].
 As a result of the study of 蘇, first, the phonetic value of the estimated Old Chinese phonology was divided into [sa] and [so], and the phonetic value estimated through the Fanqie(反切) in a Rhyme Dictionary(韻書) was [so]. However, since the sound values shown in a Rhyme Dictionary(韻書) is in Middle-Old Chinese phonology, the authenticity is questionable. second, through the place names and names of people in Goguryeo and Baekje, the corresponding relationship of 蘇：斯：史：泗：所 is established, and it is read as [sa]. Considering these points, it can be said that 蘇 represents the sound value of [sa].
 In addition, there are 16 examples of the use of 奴, which can be found in Wajinden, and all refer to proper nouns such as the name of an official position or the name of a country. Among them, only one usage shows the sound value of [nu ぬ], and the remaining 15 usage examples show the sound value of [na な]. In ancient Japanese sources, the sound values of [nuヌ, noノ, doド] are indicated.
 As a result of consideration, first, as with 蘇, the estimated upper ancient sound of 奴 is divided into [nu] and [na], and the phonetic value estimated through the Fanqie(反切) in a Rhyme Dictionary(韻書) and Ōno's indication was [no], but the time of compilation of a Rhyme Dictionary(韻書) is Middle-Old Chinese phonology. second, the corresponding relationship between 奴=那=弩=內=儒 and 奴=那 can be confirmed through the geographical names and five tribes in the SamgukSagi. third, it was confirmed that 奴 represents the sound value of [na] in the name notation of Nihonsyoki. Through this fact, the sound value of 奴 can be read as [na].

The East Asian Cultural Sphere of Time in Japanese Music Books

Ancient Japanese music books have been quite effective in preserving the way the Chinese culture of time evolved dynamically abroad. Studying the relationship of music and dance with the times and festivals revealed in Japanese music books can help restore the context of the rituals and customs of music lost in its Chinese homeland. Japanese Gagaku has succeeded in passing down the seasonal quality of ancient Chinese banquet music which echoed the cycle of times, seasons and phenology and produced a seasonal regularity under which the music corresponded to the season. Some more symbolic Chinese music and dance were selected as the standard music for festivals such as the Double Third Festival, the Double Seventh Festival, and the Dragon Boat Festival. The many aspects of the Chinese culture of time that were accepted by Japan were threedimensional: they included not only the calendar, solar terms, festivals, and other points of time and knowledge of the seasons, but also cultural customs such as sacrificial ceremonies, music and dance, literary narratives, meat and drink, and sports and games. The culture of time that originated from the Han and Tang dynasties not only sustains East Asian countries’ identification with natural laws and time, but also shapes their societies’ shared aesthetic perception of nature, time, and life.

세키노 타다시의 한국 고적 조사에 대한 시각 검토 - 실증적 조사에 내포된 이데올로기적 기반

In association with the issue for establishing the Japanese Empire, the scientific discourse for objectifying the Japanese Annexation of Korea in the Pre-WWII era was one of the most important issues to the Japanese intellectuals. Japanese thinkers, anthropologists and historians discussed various scientific and historical reasons to the colonial origin of the Koreans. Sekino Tadashi was not a thinker who joined in the ideological debates for creating the colonial view of history in Korea. As a scientific person who was an ideal type of the intellectual that the modern Japan required, his research method was based on direct observations and positive proof of the objects. However, his basic perspective to the Korean race was parallel with the biased view point that the Japanese intellectuals in the Meiji Japan period shared. In this context, Sekino approached cultural heritage in Korea with hypotheses for proving elements of Chinese culture in Korean cultural relics and the ancient Japanese domination in the southern Korean peninsula that the colonial government wanted to prove, and further what the people in the Japanese Empire wanted to believe.BRSekino’s inductive methodology contributed to more powerful foundations than other thinkers for objectifying the Japanese colonial domination in Korea, as he succeeded in eliminating debates on his approach to Korean cultural relics. By adopting the basic guideline of Korean archaeology and art history established by Sekio, which masks the biased view on the colonial past with the name of the scientific objectivism, Japanese scholars in colony Korea could insist that they conducted their research with objective ways. In this context, for the Imperial Japan, Sekino was a more suitable man for rationalizing its dominance to Korea than ideologists who brought about controversial issues.

Tipping points of ancient Japanese Jomon trade networks from social network analyses of obsidian artifacts

The Jomon period of ancient Japan, characterized by hunting and gathering, lasted from 16,000 to 2,400 years cal BP. In this ∼13,000-year period, the geographical range of trade is known to have been extensive but may not have always been constant. We conducted obsidian social network analyses on a large dataset to explore the dynamics of trade networks and their tipping points during the Jomon period. This study clustered sites by geographical location and summarized obsidian artifacts in aggregate values by region to increase regional representativeness. This improved the readability and interpretability of the analysis results and decreased the distortion of results owing to a small sample of sites. The results showed that, for sites adjacent to one another, it is reasonable to group the total values by region and assess the regional representativeness of the findings. Framing the provenance and consumption areas as a bipartite graph and using network analyses among consumption areas revealed that the obsidian trade network expanded throughout the Kanto region in the middle Jomon period (5,500–4,500 years cal BP) but regionalized in the late Jomon period (4,500–3,200 years cal BP). These periods were extracted as tipping points in the Jomon trade network. The timing of these tipping points possibly occurred during a period of major climate change. Therefore, these tipping points of obsidian trade networks may have resulted from population decline and migration caused by shifting coastlines and living infrastructure owing to climate change.

Integration of origami and deployable concept in volumetric modular units

Modular building systems (MBS) and Origami are two emerging methods used in current construction practice. Origami is directly associated with the principles of the ancient Japanese art of paper folding, characterised by high morphological possibilities and ultimately creates foldable structures with tuneable mechanical properties. However, there is a lack of knowledge on the structural behaviour of origami for architectural engineering applications. MBS is a volumetric prefabricated construction technique enhancing productivity in construction. In this paper, a modular unit is designed which employs origami techniques. The roof and floor panels of the modular units formed with steel joists were substituted with origami sandwich panels, while corner posts were substituted with origami columns. The origami-like foldable system demonstrated superior efficiency in constructability, being highly compact during transportation and requiring few operations for the in-situ installation. The structural performances of the developed and foldable modular units were assessed through finite element analysis. It was found that, without increasing the self-weight of the system, the design of origami-like modular units can be tuned for high structural performances and various structural sizes, which can impact the usability of space and the aesthetics of architecture. While this is a preliminary study and physical testing is needed, the positive results open the possibility of exploring highly deployable modular structures of novel shapes that can be employed during post-disaster and emergencies (Covid-19).

"One Hundred Ancient Japanese Poems" (Translated from Japanese by Irma Ratiani, Intellect, 2019)

"One Hundred Ancient Japanese Poems" (Translated from Japanese by Irma Ratiani, Intellect, 2019)

Significance of Military Power in the Jindai Moji Text Hotsuma Tsutae—With a Focus on Susanoo and Yamato Takeru

The jindai moji (神代文字—“characters of the Age of the Gods”) are pseudocharacters (疑字: “giji”) created in the early modern period, which purport to be an ancient Japanese writing script. One of the most famous examples of literature written in the jindai moji is the epic poem Hotsuma Tsutae, which is regarded as an account of the development of medieval mythology in the early modern age. It includes tales of evil lords known as the hatare (rendered as 魔王 in Kanbun), who bring chaos to the land and are vanquished by a divine army led by gods. Ultranationalists in early modern Japan enthusiastically embraced these jindai moji writings. This article examines the significance of the divine battles in the early modern jindai moji literature.

Morphology, mating system and taxonomy of Volvox africanus (Volvocaceae, Chlorophyceae) from Thailand

BackgroundThe oogamous green algal genus Volvox exhibits extensive diversity in mating systems, including heterothallism and homothallism with unisexual (male and/or female) and/or bisexual spheroids. Although four mating systems have been recognized worldwide in strains identified as “Volvox africanus”, most of these strains are extinct. However, we previously rediscovered two types of the four mating systems (heterothallic, and homothallic with male and bisexual spheroids within a clone) from an ancient Japanese lake, Lake Biwa.ResultsHere, we obtained strains exhibiting the third mating system (homothallic with unisexual male and female spheroids within a clone) from a freshwater area of Kalasin Province, Thailand. When sexual reproduction was induced in the present Thai strains, both male and female unisexual spheroids developed to form smooth-walled zygotes within a clonal culture. Phylogenetic analyses of the internal transcribed spacer region-2 of nuclear ribosomal DNA sequences from all four mating systems, including the extinct strains, resolved the third mating system is basal or paraphyletic within the homothallic clade.ConclusionsThe present morphological and molecular data of the Thai strains indicate that they belong to the homothallic species V. africanus. The phylogenetic results suggested that third mating system (homothallic with separate male and female sexual spheroids) may represent an initial evolutionary stage of transition from heterothallism to homothallism within Volvox africanus. Further field collections in geologically stable intracontinental regions may be fruitful for studying diversity and taxonomy of the freshwater green algal genus Volvox.

СИНТАКТИКА И ПРАГМАТИКА ДРЕВНЕЯПОНСКИХ ГАДАНИЙ

The study is devoted to the meaning and the main types of divinatory practices in the Japanese antiquity. The main objects of the study are the texts written in 8th c., such as two mythological and historic annals, “Records of Ancient Matters” (“Kojiki”) and “The Chronicles of Japan” (“Nihon shoki”), an anthology of the ancient Japanese poetry “Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves” (“Man’yōshū”) and “Records of Customs and Lands” (“Fudoki”), the last one representing some kind of ancient gazetteers. Remarkably, the rites of divination in these annals are mentioned beginning from the earliest stage of the Japanese cosmological history. First of all, the rite is performed when the pair of ancestors is going to give birth to the world between Heaven and Earth; the next two episodes are also highly important in the cultural history of Japan, one being the story concerning Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess, who concealed herself for a time in the Rocky Celestial Cave, and the second is connected with the descent of her grandchild from Heaven to Earth in order to rule Japan. We are also going to introduce and analyze the (“Newly compiled record of turtle omens” (“Shinsen kisōki”). This text, compiled presumably in 9th c., contains some myths of Urabe, the guild of official diviners. From it, for example, we learn the mythical explanation of the fact that divination with a deer blade (scapulimancy) was officially rejected at the state level in favor of divination with the turtle shell (plastromancy). The main object of the paper is also to present some suggestions about the peculiarities of the Japanese type of communication with the gods during the rite of divination.

Inspired by surimono: Integrating photography and poetry to bring plants into focus

Societal Impact StatementPlants are our sources of oxygen, food, medicines, clothing, building materials and fuels. They are part of our history, our trade and our imaginations. Here, we investigate the potential for integration of photographs and poetry to bring plants to life and let them tell their stories, inspired by the ancient Japanese woodprint artform, surimono. The resulting ‘photo surimono’ open up new opportunities to engage with the natural world at the juxtaposition of the written and the visual, to combat the cognitive bias of plant blindness and to introduce more connected ways of thinking about plants, people and sustainability into educational programmes.

Tsukumogami

We are at the beginning of an artificial intelligence revolution that has the potential to shift our perspectives on several fronts, including on the moral worth of artificially intelligent objects. Such shifts might be especially poignant when considering research aiming to create AI systems empathetic to human needs for, among other contexts, application in healthcare. This comic uses the ancient Japanese folklore of Tsukumogami, tools that have acquired souls, to invite readers to meditate on their relationship between the inanimate object and the animate subject.

Ancient genomics reveals tripartite origins of Japanese populations.

Prehistoric Japan underwent rapid transformations in the past 3000 years, first from foraging to wet rice farming and then to state formation. A long-standing hypothesis posits that mainland Japanese populations derive dual ancestry from indigenous Jomon hunter-gatherer-fishers and succeeding Yayoi farmers. However, the genomic impact of agricultural migration and subsequent sociocultural changes remains unclear. We report 12 ancient Japanese genomes from pre- and postfarming periods. Our analysis finds that the Jomon maintained a small effective population size of ~1000 over several millennia, with a deep divergence from continental populations dated to 20,000 to 15,000 years ago, a period that saw the insularization of Japan through rising sea levels. Rice cultivation was introduced by people with Northeast Asian ancestry. Unexpectedly, we identify a later influx of East Asian ancestry during the imperial Kofun period. These three ancestral components continue to characterize present-day populations, supporting a tripartite model of Japanese genomic origins.

Ikebana: An Ancient Tradition of Contemporary Healing and Artful Practice

Dr. Ricardo Carrásco, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA, is an occupational therapy professor and ikebana artist. He provided the cover art for the Summer 2021 edition of The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy (OJOT). Ikebana is the ancient Japanese art of arranging flowers. “Kanta of the Wind, Sun and Moon” is an ikebana design made from blue and white Phalaenopsis orchids, chrysanthemum, bear grass, and heirloom driftwood. This gendaika, or freestyle design, is a haiku tribute to the wind, sun, and moon. Dr. Carrásco has been practicing occupational therapy and ikebana for more than 5 decades. As an occupational scientist and therapist, he has experience working in pediatric, academic, research, mental health, and wellness practice settings. Dr. Carrásco currently serves as headmaster of the Banmi Shofu Ryu school of ikebana. His story is shared from a sense of duty and obligation to preserve this ancient tradition of contemporary healing and artful practice.

Origami based ultraviolet C device for low cost portable disinfection- using a parametric approach to design

Microorganisms can be present in common equipment of practice, which spread Healthcare-associated infections (HALs), generating major health issues, not only in the hospital environment but outside as well. Especially in this impending crisis due to SARS CoV-19 virus, disinfection (in general) turns out to be of paramount importance and portable disinfection in particular. The rampant spread of the COVID 19 virus, has pushed thinkers to come up with unique disinfection solutions that can help curb the spread of the virus in other places other than the medical facilities. The article aims to establish a design of a portable ultraviolet c disinfectant device that is based on the core principles of origami- the ancient Japanese art of paper folding. Resorting to origami has helped to make the device ultra-portable, robust and can be easily manufactured in order to be commercially produced as an inexpensive alternative to the cost portable disinfection devices in the market.

Some contributions on the experience and therapy of depression published in the Italian journal Psicoterapia e Scienze Umane («Psychotherapy and the Human Sciences»)

The author reflects about a psychoanalytic interpretation of The Tale of Genji (Genji monogatari), considered by many to be the greatest novel of the ancient Japanese literature. It was composed by Murasaki Shikibu (about 1.000 A.D.), a lady-in-waiting for the Empress Akiko at the imperial court in Heian, now Kyoto. The tale is mostly full of poetical explorations about themes of love, affection, friendship, loyalty, into the social political Heian’s world and in conformity with Buddhist conviction in the vanity of the world. A comprehensive reading of the text including Murasaki’s life and her background, gives us the possibility to catch the human attempt to cure depression through narration. Kirsch et al. in 2002 studied all 47 randomized clinical trials (RCT) submitted by pharmaceutical companies to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval of the six most prescribed Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI) antidepressants. The mean difference between drug and placebo was less than 2 points on the 21-item (62-point) Hamilton Depression Scale (which is the version used in many of the these RTCs). This superiority to placebo, although statistically significant, was not clinically significant. Furthermore, 57% of the trials funded by the pharmaceutical industry failed to show a significant difference between drug and placebo. Most of these negative data were not published and were accessible only by gaining access, thanks to the Freedom of Information Act, to FDA documents. This research is discussed in light of the wider problem of the roles of medications and interpersonal relationship in psychiatric practice. The polarity of relatedness and self-definition («anaclitic» and «introjective»), fundamental to the development of psychoanalytic theory and consistent with a number of other approaches to personality theory, provides the basis for articulating aspects of personality development, variations in normal personality organization, the explanation of a wide-range of psychopathology, and aspects of the therapeutic process in both short and long-term treatments. The contributions of this fundamental polarity to these aspects of personality theory speak to the validity of this theoretical model and the importance of the fundamental polarity of relatedness and self-definition. The formulations and findings discussed in this paper indicate that there is much to be gained by going beyond the symptom focus of contemporary diagnostic nosology presented in DSM-III and DSM-IV, and seeking instead to identify underlying principles of personality organization. Empirical evidence shows that empirically supported treatments are helpful for many mental disorders. However, in most countries the great majority of people do not have access to psychological therapies. The English Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) program aims to improve the access to psychological therapies by training over 10,500 new therapists in empirically supported treatments and deploying them for the treatment of depression and anxiety disorders. IAPT treats over 560,000 patients per year, obtains clinical outcome data on 98.5% of them, and this information is in the public domain. Around half of these patients recover and about two thirds of them show benefits. The clinical and economic arguments on which IAPT is based are presented, along with details on the service model, how the program is implemented, and findings updated to July 2017. Limitations and future directions are discussed.