For a long time, there has been a legend in both China and Japan that Xu Fu took a group of boys and girls to the east, and finally arrived in Japan and became the ancestor of the Japanese. But because this matter is too old, for a long time there was no way to be true or falsified.
It was not until the development of modern DNA testing technology that the mystery under the legend was gradually revealed.
What are the results of a DNA test?
The results of the DNA test are out, and the Japanese don't want to believe it
In the 90s of the 20th century, some Japanese scientists did a DNA test driven by curiosity to find an answer to the question of "whether Xu Fu is the ancestor of the Japanese".
The Japanese are far more concerned about the results of DNA tests than the Chinese.
Because in Japanese legend, it was Xu Fu and the 500 boys and girls he led to become the founder of Japan, and Xu Fu himself is considered to be the first emperor of Japan, Emperor Jimmu.
The Japanese have long believed in this legend, as there is too much evidence that Xu Fu ever arrived in Japan, both in China and in Japan.
In the city of Shingu in Japan, there are two famous attractions, namely the Seo Futsuka and the Seo Fu Temple, and there is also a traditional annual festival that has been passed down for a long time, that is, the sacrifice ceremony of the Seofuku.
The two official Chinese history books that were closely related to the Qin and Han dynasties, the "Records of the Historian" and the "Book of Han", both recorded the crossing of the sea by Xu Fu, so the Japanese have always believed that Xu Fu crossed the sea with 500 boys and girls and became the ancestor of Japan.
However, the results of the DNA test disappointed them: the genetic similarity between modern Japanese and Han Chinese in northern China is less than 10%.
Looking at the results of this DNA test, it seems that the claim that Xu Fu is the ancestor of the Japanese has been greatly challenged.
However, as soon as the DNA test results came out, many people questioned them.
As we all know, since the Qin and Han dynasties, the mainland has experienced several times of ethnic integration. The first time was during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, when the Wuhu Rebellion occurred, and a large number of northern ethnic minorities poured into the Central Plains.
The second time occurred during the Northern Song Dynasty. With the exception of these two times, the Chinese civilization and the Han nationality have been slowly assimilating and absorbing the surrounding ethnic minorities.
After thousands of years of fusion, the DNA of the modern Han people and the DNA of the ancient Han people have long been very different. If you really want to answer the question of whether the Japanese originated in China, you have to find DNA samples from the northern Han people during the Qin and Han dynasties for comparison.
As a result, the question of "whether Xu Fu is the ancestor of the Japanese" was once again shrouded in a layer of fog, and experts began to look for evidence again.
At this time, they pointed their attention to a special group, that is, the five hundred boys and girls redeemed from the Xiongnu during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.
What does the five hundred boys and girls in the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty have to do with Xu Fu?
This brings us to Japan's ethnic composition.
The ethnic branch of Japan
Although the Japanese nation is collectively known as the Yamato nation externally, there are three main branches internally: the Joji people, the Yayoi people, and the Kofun people.
The Joji people are considered to be the first indigenous people of the Japanese archipelago, and their origins are very ancient, dating back more than 10,000 years, but they have never developed a high-level civilization and have been living a life of gathering, fishing and hunting.
The arrival of the Yayoi people greatly accelerated the process of Japanese civilization, and they brought advanced rice varieties and planting techniques to Japan, so that Japan suddenly entered the Iron Age, and the Japanese called that period the Yayoi period.
Many people in the historical community believe that the Yayoi people are the 500 boys and girls brought by Xu Fu when he crossed the sea, because the planting techniques, traditional crafts and even rice varieties of the Yayoi period can see the shadow of Chinese culture, and the Yayoi people are considered to be a Chinese farming people who arrived in Japan around the 3rd century AD, which can roughly coincide with the historical background of Xu Fu's eastward crossing to Japan.
The Kofun people, on the other hand, are thought to have migrated from northern Asia to Japan after BC. At that time, China was roughly the period when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was in power, and there were also a number of boys and girls who went to sea at that time.
After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty came to power, he adopted a tough policy towards the Xiongnu, in order to break the unity of the Xiongnu nation, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty proposed to use the five-color silk silk, treasure silk, knife sharpening and other precious treasures in exchange for 500 boys and girls of the Xiongnu, and after the exchange was completed, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty placed these people on the border of the Han Dynasty adjacent to the Xiongnu.
Unexpectedly, soon after, the Huns attacked the border of the Han Dynasty and snatched back the 500 boys and girls.
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was furious and sent a heavy army to fight against the Xiongnu, after which the Xiongnu were conquered by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and 500 boys and girls were returned to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, of which 430 had names and were descendants of commoners or nobles.
Later, legend has it that some of these 430 people crossed the ocean to Japan, and they were called Kofun people.
In order to test this conjecture and the question of whether the Chinese are the ancestors of the Japanese, experts specifically found the descendants of three suspected 430 people from a grave, extracted DNA from their bones, and compared it with the DNA of modern Japanese to find the answer to the question.
These 430 people are only one generation away from the era in which Xu Fu lives, and the genetic shape will not change much.
The results of the DNA test made many people's jaws drop again, because the results showed that the genes of two of the 430 offspring showed a high degree of similarity with the genes of modern Japanese.
However, this result only shows that some of the Japanese ancestors came from China, and it is still of little significance in determining whether Xu Fu was the emperor of Japan.
However, since we have not falsified, the Japanese side continues to insist that Xu Fu is the Japanese Emperor Jimmu, and the Xu Fu Tomb and Xu Fu Temple in Shingu City are still full of incense every day, and the Japanese annual ceremony of worshiping Xu Fu is also becoming more and more influential in Japan, and gradually developing from a local festival to a national festival.
epilogue
Today, our researchers no longer focus too much on the question of "whether Xu Fu is the Japanese Emperor Jimmu", but see that Xu Fu's eastward crossing opened a new pattern of East Asian history of exchanges between China, Japan and South Korea.
It was in this process that Chinese culture took root in Japan and South Korea, and became one of the important sources of local culture in Japan and South Korea.
Although it is not certain whether Xu Fu is the Japanese Emperor Jimmu, what we can be sure of is that it was his eastward crossing that brought the seeds of civilization to Japan and made Japan what it is today.