The Yamato people (大和民族, yamato-minzoku^?) are the dominant native ethnic group of Japan. It is a term that came to be used around the late 19th century to distinguish the residents of the mainland Japan from other minority ethnic groups who have resided in the peripheral areas of Japan such as Ainu, Ryukyuans, Nivkhs, Uilta, as well as Koreans, Taiwanese, and Taiwanese aborigines who were incorporated into the Empire of Japan in the early 20th century. ... The Ainu IPA: /?ajnu/) are an ethnic group indigenous to Hokkaidō and north of HonshÅ« in Northern Japan, the Kuril Islands, much of Sakhalin, and the southernmost third of the Kamchatka peninsula. ... Ryukyuan people (Japanese: 琉球民族, Chinese: 琉球族) are the indigenous people of the RyÅ«kyÅ« Islands of Japan between the islands of KyÅ«shÅ« and Taiwan. ... The Nivkhs (also Nivkh or Gilyak; ethnonym: Nivxi; language, нивхгу - Nivxgu) are an indigenous people inhabiting the region of the region of the Amur River estuary and on nearby Sakhalin Island. ... Oroks (Ороки in Russian; self designation: ульта, or ulta) are a people in the Sakhalin Oblast (mainly, eastern part of the island) in Russia. ... This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. ... Total population 2006: 458,000 [1] 2004: 454,600 [16] Homelands in Taiwan Mountainous terrain running in five ranges from the northern to the southern tip of the island Narrow eastern plains Orchid Island (Lán YÇ”) Languages 14 living Formosan languages. ... Anthem: Kimi ga Yo Imperial Reign Slogan: Fukoku Kyohei Enrich the Country, Strengthen the Military (a. ...

The name "Yamato" comes from the Yamato Court that existed in Japan in the 4th century. It was originally the name of the region where the Yamato people first settled in Nara Prefecture. In the 6th century, the Yamato people founded a state modeled on the Chinese states of Sui and Tang which were the most advanced polities in Asia at the time. As the Yamato's influence expanded on the island, their language replaced Old Japanese becoming the common spoken language. Ryukyuan, the languages of the Okinawa Islands, split from Old Japanese somewhere between the 3rd and 5th centuries. The following text needs to be harmonized with text in the article History of Japan#Yamato period. ... Nara Prefecture ) is part of the Kinki region on Honshū Island, Japan. ... The Sui Dynasty (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; 581-619[1]) followed the Southern and Northern Dynasties and preceded the Tang Dynasty in China. ... The Tang Dynasty (Chinese: ; pinyin: ) (18 June 618 – 4 June 907), lasting about three centuries, preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Song Dynasty and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period in China. ... The Old Japanese language is the Japanese language as used in the Kojiki, Manyoshu, Nihonshoki, and other early records of Japanese history and poetry. ... The Ryukyuan languages are spoken in the Ryūkyū Islands and make up a subfamily of the Japonic family. ... Okinawa Islands (沖縄諸島 Okinawa Shotō) are a group of islands that belongs to Okinawa Prefecture. ...

There is however a controversy on whether to include the Ryukyuans in the Yamato, or identify them as an independent ethnic group, or as a sub-group that constitutes Japanese ethnicity together with the Yamato because of close similarities suggested by genetics and linguistics. Shinobu Origuchi (折口信夫) argues that Ryukyuans are the "proto-Japanese" (原日本人), whereas Kunio Yanagita suggests that they were a part of the ancestors of the Japanese who came from the south and parted at the Ryukyu Islands from the rest who eventually reached the Japanese archipelago and became the Yamato. Yanagita Kunio (柳田 国男 1875-1962) is a scholar who is often known as a father of Japanese ethnology. ... Location of Ryukyu Islands. ...

See also

• Japanese people
• Nihonjinron
• Ryukyuan people
• Ainu people
• Yamato period