One of the later Chinese histories says of Wu: "Part of
the king's family escaped and founded the kingdom of Wo" (the
ancient name for the Japanese race): the temptation to connect
this word with _Wu_ is obvious; but etymology will not tolerate
such an identification, either from a Chinese or a Japanese point of
view; the etymological "values" are _Ua_ and Gu respectively.
As in the case of Ts'u, there is no really trustworthy evidence to
show of what race or races, and in what proportions, the bulk of
the Wu population consisted; still less is there any specific
evidence to show to what race the barbarian king who committed
suicide in 473 belonged; or if those of his family who escaped
were wholly or partly Chinese; or if any pure descent existed at
all in royal circles, dating, that is to say, from the ancient
colonists of the imperial Chou family in 1200 B.C.
So far as purely Chinese traditions and history go, the cumulative
evidence, such as it is, needs careful sifting, and is, perhaps,
worth a more thorough examination; but as to the Japanese
traditions and early "history," these, as the Japanese themselves
admit, were only put together in written form retrospectively in
the eighth century A.
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