Revisionism about My Japanese Ancestry

Regarding my ancestors 20,000 years ago, they were passing through Central Asia as nomads.

10,000 years ago, they had settled throughout the Japanese archipelago and Korea.

4,000 years ago, another strain of my ancestors were being fended off by the Chinese.

2,000 years ago, they were slaving away at the behest of their Korean overlords who went on to become the royal and noble families.

700 years ago, the ruling class had reinvented their history, occluding contributions to the noble houses by Paekche culture from Korea when they were defeated by combined Chinese and Silla forces circa 500-600 BCE.

Since that time, the Paekche lineage was absorbed into the Japanese imperial family. Yet the Japanese mythological past was rewritten in the 1300s CE.

At that time, most Japanese were peasants, with a Polynesian ancestry in the south (Okinawa), Ainumushiri throughout Japan from Kyushu through Honshu and northwards to Hokkaido, and a growing number of immigrants from China and Korea.

After the 1300s, the official mythological history stated that the people of Japan were descended from gods, which in this case does not mean divine beings.

Rather, this revision of their mythological history might have occurred because it would be politically unwise to admit to Korea being their ancestral homeland. As well, admitting to the harsh acts the Japanese aristocracy did to Ryukuan and Ainu peoples would undo unification of Japanese as one nation, one people.

By stating that Japanese people are descended from gods, their mythological history tries to imitate the Korean mythology about their ruler being descended from a god. The purpose of this myth is to establish divine rule by royalty, which worked until the peasants revolted during repeated famines which affected Japan prior to the end of the feudal period in the 1850s CE.

Yet through it all, the ancient Japanese spirit is echoed in the saying "shigata ga nai", which means "It can't be helped". A similar saying is "shigata no nai" which means "it's inevitable".

Yet Japanese political activism has been empowered by going against "shigata no nai", by daring to do something to help save the environment, empower the people and do what is morally right.

Thus "shigata ga nai" is a setting sun kind of sentimentality which only ensures patriarchy's hold on the People through the State.


Reference:

Paekche and Japan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baekje
Korean lineage in Japanese aristocracy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kudara_no_Konikishi
Korean ruler descended from a god: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dangun
Shigata ga nai: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shikata_ga_nai