"野人女真"之稱謂,在明代經歷了從對女真人的蔑稱發展到專屬稱謂的過程。明嘉靖中葉,為整頓女真羈縻衛所朝貢亂象,開始控制海西、建州女真衛所的朝貢人數,分別確準海西女真衛所憑1000道、建州憑500道敕書入邊朝貢貿易之策,且將不在此1500道敕書之內,"極東""遠甚"的女真人,稱作"野人女真",其可"朝貢不常",自此才將女真分為海西、建州、"野人"三部分。迄今國內外學界所認為明代"野人女真",又稱"東海女真"的用法并不準確,明朝各種文獻中,沒有將"野人女真"稱為東海女真的記載。以東海瓦爾喀、呼爾哈、窩集三部作為東海女真,最早出現于《滿文原檔》,此稱謂被清朝沿用,但東海三部之范圍,與明代"野人女真"的范圍不同,不應將兩者等同。

The appellation"Wild Jurchens"(Ch.Yeren Nuzhen野人女真)developed from a disparaging name to a special term for certain Jurchen group in the Ming Dynasty.During the middle of the Jiajing 嘉慶 period(1522-1566),the Ming placed a quota on the size of the tributary delegations of Haixi 海西 and Jianshou 建州 Jurchens to rectify the disorder of Jurchen jimi 羈縻 (governed by traditional chiefs and headmen)wei-suo 衛所(literally,guard and garrison)tributary activities.For the first time the Jurchens were divided into the three groups of Haixi,Jianzhou,and Wild Jurchens when it was decided that the Haixi could only present tribute with a thousand imperial edicts,the Jianzhou with five hundred imperial edicts,and the "extreme east"or"very far"wild Jurchens without these fifteen hundred edicts would be allowed to "present tribute irregularly."The "Wild Jurchens"have been conflated with the Donghai Jurchens 東海女真 (literally,East Sea Jurchens)by lots of researchers of China and other countries.But this term hasn’t been found in the records of the Ming dynasty.The names of the three main Wild Jurchen tribes of the Hūrha,Warka and Weji were adopted by the Qing court and were first found in the Manwen yuandang 滿文原檔 (original achieves in Manchu language).Yet,the ranges of the three Donghai Jurchen tribesin the Qing dynasty were not the same as those of the Wild Jurchens in the Ming Dynasty.