DNA study reveals Japan's 1st inhabitants

Japan is perhaps best known for this giant metal Buddha statue originally built indoors.

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Let's see what the ancient written record says

Were the kami "ancestors" the first to arrive on the islands, followed by Shinto priest-shamans to deal with them? Were the "white" Ainu in Japan before the East Asian Japanese there today? Yes. Were the Ainu aliens from neighboring Russia? No. Or could the first inhabitants of Japan come from the Koreas, China, Mongolia, Taiwan, or Tibet? If only science had a means of looking at the DNA code and giving a reliable and replicable answer to these mysteries.

Genome study cracks the mystery of Japan's first inhabitants

Kami Shinto temple, Fushimi Inari shrine, Kyoto

Some of the earliest inhabitants of Japan came from the Korean peninsula, according to a new study that sheds more light on ancient immigration patterns to the archipelago.

• [This is in line with what the Koreans have always been saying about themselves, that they were the progenitors copied by Japan and China, not the other way around. Where did the Koreans come from?]

Japan may be an international travel hub for business and pleasure today, but the islands were relatively isolated until about 3,000 BC.

Its earliest inhabitants were the Jomon people, a collection of hunter-gatherer societies that lived an isolated life on the islands since 14,000 BC.

• [What about the mysterious "white" Ainu people, who look like a blend of Russian shamans and Asians?]

It wasn’t until the Yayoi and Kofun periods between 3,000 BC and 538 AD that immigration to the islands from continental Asia started.

More than 80 per cent of the genomes of modern Japanese people consist of ancestries related to East and Northeast Asia. How the Japanese population acquired these ancestries and what was the pattern of early immigrations that contributed to them has long been a matter of debate.

Science has its say

The new study, published in the Journal of Human Genetics, analyzed the genome of a person dating to the Yayoi period whose remains were uncovered at the Doigahama archaeological site in Yamaguchi prefecture.

Scientists from the University of Tokyo compared this individual’s genome with those of ancient and modern populations in east and northeast Asia. More:

• Genome study cracks the mystery of Japan's first inhabitants
• Archaeologists are too scared to open up the tomb of China's first emperor guarded by thousands of terracotta warriors Archaeologists are terrified to open the tomb of, in the Shaanxi province of China.
• VIDEO: Floating bridge thrills in Zhejiang, China
• The lost island of Atlantis may have been found 2 kms under the ocean
• MSN.com, 10/14/24; CC Liu, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The Story of Channa (Siddhartha's charioteer)

WQ edit of the Wikipedia entry "Channa (Buddhist)"

Prince Siddhartha and Channa see the Four Sights (salagram.net)

Channa (Sanskrit, Chandaka) was a royal servant of the Sakyans and head charioteer of Prince Siddhartha (who became Gautama Buddha). He became a monk and achieved sainthood, as described in the 78th verse of the Dhammapada.

Channa was a servant in the court of King Suddhodana (the Buddha's father) entrusted to attend to the needs of Siddhartha, who had been lavished and pampered in a series of purpose-built palaces in order to shield him from thoughts of pain, suffering, and renunciation. This was because of the prophecy of various ascetics and seers, particularly Asita, who predicted that Siddhartha would renounce the throne to become a spiritual leader if he were to contemplate human suffering.

Channa was the charioteer, pulled by the horse Kanthaka, when Siddhartha saw the Four Sights while meeting his subjects in the Sakyan capital of Kapilavastu. These famous rides prompted his decision to renounce the world.

During these expeditions, Channa explained to Siddhartha the sights of an elderly person, a sick person, a dead person whose funeral was being conducted and finally, an ascetic who had renounced the world for a spiritual life. Siddhartha, who had been secluded from such sights due to his life-long confinement in palaces, was taken aback. Siddhartha later entrusted Channa to accompany him as he escaped the kingdom to become an ascetic, while the palace guards were sleeping.

Initially protesting and refusing to accept his departure, Channa relented. He saddled Kanthaka [1] and guided Siddhartha out of the town aboard the horse to a forest at the edge of the Anoma River [2]. Channa returned to the palace with Siddhartha's royal finery, weapons, and hair to inform Suddhodana of his son's voluntary departure. Siddhartha compelled him to return after Channa refused to leave him.

When Siddhartha attained enlightenment and became the Buddha, he returned to Kapilavastu. Channa seized the opportunity to become a Buddhist monk, joining the Sangha. However, due to his having accompanied the Buddha on his renouncement, Ven. Channa behaved in an overbearing way toward the other monks. He frequently criticized the two chief disciples Sariputta and Moggallana.

In spite of the Buddha's advice and admonishments, Ven. Channa continued to abuse the other monks. So finally, prior to his passing way (parinirvana), the Buddha instructed Ananda to impose the "higher punishment" (brahmadanda) on Ven. Channa: the other monks were simply ignore him. After the Buddha's passing, Ven. Channa learned of the decree. Feeling remorse for his behavior, he fainted three times before asking and obtaining pardon. He eventually became an arahant.

References
1. http://www.rootinstitute.com/buddhism_shakyamuni_sorrow.html
2. www.watlaori.org/who%20is%20buddha.pdf
Ven. Weragoda Sarada Maha Thero (1993). Treasury of Truth: Illustrated Dhammapada.
Electronic copy - verse 78