> Research & Reports

Japan’s Javanese Connection

It is part of our received wisdom that Japan has had very little historical connection with ment that urban court life seemed to Javanese – including speaking to a
Research > Java. This article argues that Java has, in fact, had a substantial influence on the make possible. The ensemble of cults superior – and which it still has in Mod-
Japan & Java development of early Japanese civilization and presents evidence of this contact. called Shinto also corresponds to equiv- ern Javanese, where it is used as a hum-
alent cults in Java. ble auxiliary verb in expressions like
By Ann Kumar Bronze bell from the There is also genetic evidence of con- ‘my humble answer/question/respect/
Middle Yayoi period tact between Java and Japan. The posi- thanks’.

I t is known that Japan underwent a

revolutionary transformation in the
Yayoi period (from c. 300 BC to
(c. 100BC-100AD) tive evidence of earlier studies using
indicators such as teeth, skulls and
blood has been confirmed by the
At the other end of the language spec-
trum, we find the borrowing of less cul-
turally loaded everyday words such as
250–300 AD) which saw the introduc- author’s study (1998) of d-loops (the d- sosok, to pour, and tutup, to cover. These
tion of an advanced and expansionist loop is part of mitochondrial DNA), words are both basic vocabulary and
wet-rice civilization, sophisticated which shows that Japanese and Indone- verbs, categories that are known to be
metal-working and other technologies, sians share sites (particular locations borrowed only in cases of intense lan-
Courtesy of Sankokan Museum, Tengri University, Japan

a centralizing religion, and a hierarchi- on the d-loop) not found in other Asian guage contact.
cal society culminating in a populations. This indicates that there Thus the ‘consilience of induction’
king/emperor. One of the great mys- has been not only great cultural and strategy shows that there has been sig-
teries of Japanese history is why, after technological influence from Java, but nificant cultural influence and at least
the 10,000-year stasis of the hunter- also significant numbers of migrants. some migration (determining how
gatherer society of the preceding J_mon much requires further research) from
period, there was such a complete Language Java to Japan. Despite our instinctive
transformation in the Yayoi period. It is axiomatic that any contact of the resistance to the idea, the Javanese did,
Skeletal evidence indicates that magnitude suggested by the evidence in fact, sail ‘up the map’ to Japan –
immigration rather than local innova- so far must have involved language con- which is also the direction the currents
tion was the key to this transformation. tact and borrowing. Diverse theories flow in. (The Austronesian ancestors of
The appearance not just of agriculture, concerning the relationships of the the Javanese had made the more diffi-
itself a major advance, but of sophisti- ciplined form of earlier J_mon pots. many separate lines of evidence from Japanese language have been put for- cult journey southwards from Taiwan
cated metalworking and a fully devel- The striking similarities between different groups of phenomena or ward by researchers, and Japanese has at a much earlier date).
oped court civilization provides further these artefacts relate not only to form classes of facts to form an integrated been linked to languages from Basque Though many adherents of the pre-
support for the conclusion that outside and decoration, but also, particularly explanatory framework. to Tamil. The most favoured candidate vailing belief in the Korean origin of
influence rather than the more gradual in the case of weapon blades, to spe- for a genetic relationship with Japanese early Japanese civilization regard this
process of local evolution was respon- cific techniques of production. A num- Rice, religion and DNA is Korean. Though there may indeed be counter-proposal as outrageous, it is in
sible. ber of early Japanese blades have the The relationship between the differ- a distant genetic relationship with the fact supported by more compelling evi-
characteristic asymmetric flaring at ent types of cultivated rice is complex Korean language, Korean cannot have dence than competing hypotheses, and
Bronze and iron the base of the blade that unites all kris and cannot be explored here. It is suf- been the language of the immigrants this evidence cannot be disregarded.
Though research on bronze and iron (traditional Javanese blades) into a sin- ficient to point out that Morinaga’s who brought the innovations of the This research sheds new light on the
age civilizations in Java has been min- gle family. More significantly, the kris work (1968) has demonstrated that Yayoi period. If this had been the case, development of Japan and Java. It
imal, it is known that metalworking and the Japanese sword blade are Javanese rice (javanica) was the closest attempts to prove the relationship demonstrates that the court civilization
developed earlier there than in Japan. made using the same specialized tech- relative of ordinary Japanese rice, and between Japanese and Korean using the of Java is actually much older, and
There is a striking typological similari- nique. In the case of other artefacts, vice versa. This establishes the first comparative method (which can cer- much more indigenous (rather than
ty between Yayoi artifacts – bells, such as masks and architecture, the demonstrably genetic as opposed to tainly reach as far back as the Yayoi peri- derived from India as is often sup-
blades, and pottery for example – and resemblance between the Javanese typological link between Java and Japan. od) would have succeeded by now. posed) than has previously been real-
their Javanese counterparts. This is not and Japanese examples is so strong Rice, the basis of the Yayoi civilization, The author and Rose (2000) pre- ized. The research also provides a new
just the sort of generic similarity one that earlier Japanese and German also had a parallel religious significance sented data which clearly establish lin- perspective on the way gender rela-
might expect of objects with the same scholars have remarked on it and won- in Java and Japan. guistic borrowing (rather than a genet- tionships are perceived in different civ-
function, but extends to design features dered what the historical explanation This is reflected in the myth, com- ic relationship) by an earlier form of ilizations, since this particular civiliza-
unrelated to function, the repertoire of might be. mon to both, of the angel who descend- Old Japanese, not from Korea, but from tion was one in which women were
ed from the moon to bring rice to an antecedent of Old Javanese. This lin- seen as the bearers of precious gifts
mankind, and whose heavenly robe guistic data was statistically evaluated such as rice and cloth, and divine pro-
‘though many adherents of the prevailing belief in both Javanese rulers and Japanese using Bayesian probability. Further- tectors of kings. Finally, it also helps to
the Korean origin of early Japanese civilization emperors must don at the time of their more, the linguistic evidence elucidates explain the resilience of Javanese civi-
accession. many different aspects of the contact – lization in the face of external cultural
regard this counter-proposal as outrageous, it is in Other shared myths are that of the directionality (demonstrating that the influence and foreign conquest. <
fact supported by more compelling evidence than sea goddess who gives rulers dominion borrowing was indeed from Java to
over the undersea world and the world Japan, not the other way round), precise References
competing hypotheses’ of the spirits, and the secular myth of location of the donor language, inten- - Kumar, Ann (1998) ‘An Indonesian Ele-
the radiant prince, peerlessly beautiful, sity of contact, and imported ideas and ment in the Yayoi?: The evidence of Bio-
motifs used and the details of the dec- To provide this historical explanation, superbly attired, phenomenally accom- concepts which, by their nature, cannot logical Anthropology’ in Anthropological
oration. Thus Yayoi pots, with their clas- I have used a ‘consilience of induction’ plished in all the arts, and of hyper- be found in archaeological remains. Science, 106(3): 265-276
sic shapes and restrained geometric strategy, a term first used by William refined sensitivity. This prince, called Thus we find words referring both to - Kumar, Ann, and Rose, Phil (2000) ‘Lexi-
decoration, are as similar to Javanese Whewell (1840) and later by Darwin in Panji in Java and Genji in Japan, epito- known Yayoi innovations such as cal Evidence for Early Contact Between
pots as they are dissimilar to the undis- Origin of Species. This strategy takes mizes the highest imaginable attain- swords, warehouses, fences, rice-mor- Indonesian Languages and Japanese’ in
tars, plates, cloth, and baskets (materi- Oceanic Linguistics, 39(2): 219-255
[ a d v e r t i s e m e n t ] al objects) as well as to concepts of kin- - Morinaga, T. (1968) ‘Origin and Geo-
ship, royalty and divinity, and the idea graphical Distribution of Japanese Rice’
ASIAN STUDIES BOOK SERVICES now also represents PANDANUS in Europe of the divinity of royalty. in Japan Agricultural Research Quarterly
incl. the United Kingdom. To receive full catalogues and subject Some of the borrowed words are 3(2): 1-5
leaflets, please contact us at the address below. from the high-culture end of the lan- - Whewell, William (1840) The philosophy of

JUST PUBLISHED FORTHCOMING guage spectrum, such as Old Javanese the inductive sciences, founded upon their
matur, ‘to present, offer, tell or report to history, London: J.W. Parker
Hiroshige’s Journeys in A Mencius Reader
the 60-Odd Provinces For Beginning and Advanced Students person of higher rank’, which was bor-
by Marije Jansen of Classical Chinese rowed by an antecedent of Old Japan- Ann Kumar is chair of the board of faculties
Published 2004, 160 pp., colour illus. by Donald B. Wagner
ese as matur- ‘to give or present some- and reader, Centre for Asian Societies and
ISBN 90 74822 60 6, paperback, £25.99 June 2004, 160 pp, illustrated
ISBN 87 91114 28 4, paperback, £14.99 thing to a person of high rank/God; to Histories, Australian National University.
A Courtesan’s Day
Hour by Hour Georgia - A Short History offer prayers’. It was also used as the Her current research interests include Panji
by Cecilia Segawa Seigle, Alfred Marks edited by Nicholas Awde ‘humble auxiliary’ matur-. This usage theatre in Java and Bali, and Indonesian
& Amy Newland July 2004, 256 pp., illustrated
Published 2004, 160 pp., colour illus. ISBN 1 898948 61 5, paperback, £16.99 as an affix indicating humble speech peace movements.
ISBN 90 74822 59 2, paperback, £25.99 shows that it had in Old Japanese the ann.kumar@anu.edu.au
Women and Politics in Thailand
Nationalism and Gender edited by Kazuki Iwanaga full range of meanings it had in Old
by Chizuko Ueno & Marjorie Suriyamongkol
Published 2004, 263 pp. July 2004, 250 pp.
ISBN 1 876843 59 4, paperback, £19.99 ISBN 87 91114 35 7, paperback, £16.99 This article gives the background and substance of a paper presented at the International Symposium, Non-Javanese,
not yet Javanese, and un-Javanese: Encounters and Fissures in a Civilization, organized by the Department of Languages
and Cultures of Southeast Asia and Oceania of Leiden University. The IIAS sponsored symposium, held 23-26 March
A SIAN S TUDIES B OOK S ERVICES 2004 in Leiden, focused on different interpretations of Javanese identity and interactions with non-Javanese identi-
Franseweg 55B, 3921 DE Elst Utr, The Netherlands, web www.asianstudiesbooks.com
tel +31 (0)318 470 030, fax +31 (0)318 470 073, e-mail info@asianstudiesbooks.com ties, past and present.

12 IIAS Newsletter | #34 | July 2004