Black Sakanoue no Tamuramaro theory (Japanese: 坂上田村麻呂黒人説) is a fringe theory claims that Sakanoue no Tamuramaro, a military officer during the Heian period who made great contributions to subjugate Emishi, was a black person. It's proposed in North America at least by 1911. Although there is no compelling evidence to support this theory, it has been referenced still in 21st century especially by black scholars, and considered to proof of existence of Negroes in ancient Japan.
Common theory about Tamuramaro's origins
According to the section of June of Enryaku 4 (785 in the Julian calendar) in Shoku Nihongi, Tamuramaro's father Sakanoue no Karitamaro said that Achi no omi, his ancestor and Yamatonoaya clan's founder, was a great-grandson of Emperor Ling of Han and moved from Daifang Commandery to the eastern country (i.e. Japan) with Qixingmin people.
Spreading of the black theory
Canadian anthropologist Alexander Francis Chamberlain briefly mentioned Sakanoue no Tamuramaro, when introducing black people who contributed to the civilization of humanity, in his 1911 article "The Contribution of the Negro to Human Civilization."
And we can cross the whole of Asia and find the Negro again, for, when, in far-off Japan, the ancestors of the modern Japanese were making their way northward against the Ainu, the aborigines of that country, the leader of their armies was Sakanouye Tamuramaro, a famous general and a Negro.
Although no source is given, this statement is probably the first appearance of the black theory of Tamuramaro.
W. E. B. Du Bois, American leader of civil rights movement, also introduced Sakanoue no Tamuramaro, on the list of prominent black rulers and warriors in 1915 book "The Negro."
In 1946, Beatrice J. Fleming and Marion J. Pryd published "Distinguished Negroes Abroad," the first work written Tamuramaro as a black man in detail. On the part about Tamuramaro is written in following form: a fictional Japanese man talks Tamuramaro's great feats to his two sons in front of Tamuramaro statue in Kiyomizu-dera.
“Haruo,” advised the father, “You have been educated in Europe and America. Take the best of what you have learned, but always remember to regard a man as a man, irrespective of race or color. Japan did not enslave her captives nor the aliens on her shores in the time of Tamuramaro. True these were relegated to the lowly estate of serfdom but opportunities to rise and succeed were ever present. Sakanouye Tamuramaro was a Negro and true to his kind he proved himself a worthy soldier. He fought with and for us. And for is, too, he won the mighty victory. To us, therefore, he is not an alien; we think of him not as a foreigner. He is our revered warrior of Japan!”
In that year, other works, such as “The Negro in Our History” by Carter G. Woodson and Charles Harris Wesley; "World's Greatest Men of Color” by Joel Augustus Rogers, also took up Tamuramaro as a black.
The images of "Tamuramaro statue in Kiyomizu-dera" took up in "Distinguished Negroes Abroad" are embodied in 1989 work "Black Shogun of Japan Sophonisba: Wife of Two Warring Kings and Other Black Stories from Antiguity" by Mark Hyman.
As seen in the temple where he has [sic] honored, Maro's [sic] statue was taller than his fellow contributors. His hair was curly and tight, his eyes were large and wide-set and brown. His nostrils were flared, his forehead wider, his jaws thick and slightly protruded.
Late 1980s to 1990s, the legend of Tamuramaro based in "Distinguished Negroes Abroad" and "Black Shogun of Japan Sophonisba" was spread among people who disseminate informations about blacks. In fact, the Tamuramaro statue in kaizan-dō (a.k.a. Tamura-dō) in Kiyomizu-dera was made after 1633 big fire, and has no characteristics as a black. It is unclear whether Mark Hyman referred to this statue or a different one.
Even in 21st century, "Black Sakanoue no Tamuramaro theory" had been believed by some researchers: black historian Runoko Rashidi referred on 2002 for example. Furthermore, the theory continues to live on to this day through online communities. Japanese cultural anthropologist Yutaka Nakamura reported own experience around 2002–2004 that a black male Muslim lived in Harlem claimed Sakanoue no Tamuramaro was an African. However, this theory had almost never been referred on Japanese online blogs as of 2007.
Background
Although this theory is not common in Japan, it has been widely accepted in black communities for the following possible reasons.
Positive feelings to Japan in black communities
Du Bois, one of the early pioneers of the black theory of Tamuramaro, is known for his deep ties with Japan. He was impressed by strength of Japanese military in Russo-Japanese War, and be encouraged that colored people won against white people. Later he cooperated in "Negro Propaganda Operations" by Yasuichi Hikida, and materialized to came to Japan. It was due to his positive feelings on the racial policies in Imperial Japan. NAACP, of which he was a co-founder, strongly opposed Internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. After the war, NAACP welcomed Japanese Americans released from concentration camps, helped finding jobs for them, and invited them to churches.
Many Black Americans supported the Racial Equality Proposal which proposed in 1919 by Imperial Japan, but US President Woodrow Wilson rejected it at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference because there is no unanimity. This was one of the factors of Red Summer and other racial conflicts.
In these background, many black people had positive feelings to Japan. The legends of Tamuramaro was linked to belief "historically, Japanese people have been less discriminatory then white people" that was common in black people during and after World War II, as typically expressed in "Distinguished Negroes Abroad."
Existence of theories that black people settled in ancient Asia
Theories that black people settled in ancient Asia, including Japan, had been proposed many times. American anthropologist Roland Burrage Dixon claimed Japanese was mixture of Proto-Australoid and Proto-Negroid and Japanese have some characteristics as Negrito (dark-skinned people live in Southeast Asia to New Guinea). Cheikh Anta Diop, historian and anthropologist from Senegal, claimed yellow race was a mixture of black and white race. Later research shows 35 percent of Japanese people have Haplogroup D, which almost 100 percent of Andaman Islands people (belonging to Negrito) have, and it was pointed out the two ethnic groups may be related (this is a rough classification, and their branches are different).
However, Negrito is now belonging to AustraloidsAustraloids and known to be closer to Mongoloid than Negroid.
Wariness of historical revisionism
Some black people had suspicion that their history had been hidden and altered by others, especially whites. In fact, Great Zimbabwe, even though it was located in southern Africa, Western scholars didn't believed it had been built by Africans, and had been insisted for many years that it had been built by Phoenicians, Arabs or Europeans.
Similarly, the black theory of Tamuramaro took on a more realistic tone because of suspicions that Tamuramaro's true identity had been intentionally concealed by a white-centric view of history. For example, some person believed that because of same racist views toward blacks as whites and belief that Japan is a monoethnicity, modern Japanese people are "ashamed" that their hero, Tamuramaro, was black. About the statue of Sakanoue no Tamuramaro in Kiyomizu-dera is not usually open to the public, another person suspected that the reason is to hide the black characteristics of the Tamuramaro statue, recalling the history that some Black Madonna statues in Europe were hidden.
References
- ^ Russell 2008, p. 16
- Ito, Nobuhiro (March 2005). 桓武期の政策に関する一分析 (1). 言語文化論集. 26 (2). 名古屋大学大学院国際言語文化研究科: 3–40. doi:10.18999/stulc.26.2.3. ISSN 0388-6824. CRID 1390009224656411136. Retrieved 2024-04-05.
- Alexander Francis Chamberlain (1911). "The Contribution of the Negro to Human Civilization". The Journal of Race Development. 1 (4): 482–502. doi:10.2307/29737886. ISSN 1068-3380.
- ^ "The World of Sakanouye No Tamuramaro: Black Shogun of Early Japan". Retrieved June 13, 2015.
- The Negro,1915,p.84. Retrieved June 13, 2015.
- ^ Russell 2008, p. 17
- ^ 中村, 寛 (2013). "アーカイヴへの不満 : アフリカ系アメリカ人ムスリムにおけるアイデンティティをめぐる闘争(<特集>アイデンティティと帰属をめぐるアポリア-理論・継承・歴史)". 文化人類学. 78 (2): 225–244. doi:10.14890/jjcanth.78.2_225.
- ^ Russell 2008, p. 19
- "W.E.B. Du Bois: A Biography, Henry Holt and Co., Single volume edition, updated, of his 1994 and 2001 works, p.597". Retrieved June 13, 2015.
- Gallicchio, Marc S. (18 September 2000), The African American Encounter with Japan and China: Black Internationalism in Asia, 1895-1945, University of North Carolina Press, p. 104, ISBN 978-0-8078-2559-4, OCLC 43334134
- ^ Russell 2008, p. 18
- "Genetic affinities of the Andaman Islanders, a vanishing human population". Current Biology. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
- "The skeletal phenotype of "negritos" from the Andaman Islands and Philippines relative to global variation among hunter-gatherers". Human Biology. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
Sources
- Russell, John G. (March 2008). "Excluded Presence : Shoguns, Minstrels, Bodyguards, and Japan's Encounters with the Black Other". ZINBUN. 40. Jinbun kagaku Kenkyusho, Kyoto University: 15–51. doi:10.14989/71097. ISSN 0084-5515. CRID 1390009224843995648.