Romans in China and Jesus in Japan...

[Narukami]

One of my graduate Japanese Theatre professors sent the following article to me this morning.

I had first heard about this back in the late 60's and would assume it is in the news again thanks to a certain popular book and film.

We have all heard about Romans making it to China, but this...read on:

JAPAN IS PROUD HOME OF CHRIST'S TOMB
From Leo Lewis in Shingo Village
The Times May 29, 2006

IN A paddy-lined valley in the far north of Japan is a municipal signpost inscribed: "Tomb of Christ: next left."

Follow the winding path up into the forest and there, sure enough, is a simple mound with a large wooden cross labelled as the grave of Jesus. Nearby is a tomb commemorating Isukiri, Christ's brother, adorned with a plastic poinsettia Christmas wreath.
For two millennia the farming village of Shingo claims to have protected a tradition that Jesus spent most of his life in Japan. The village is the home of Sajiro Sawaguchi, a man in his eighties who claims to be a direct descendant of Jesus and whose family has always owned the land in which it is said that Christ is buried.
Mr Sawaguchi emerged as Jesus's heir only in 1935, when a priest in Ibaraki discovered a document in ancient Japanese purporting to be Christ's will. This document supposedly identifies Shingo as the location of the tombs of Jesus and Isukiri. The claim is widely believed. About 40,000 Japanese visit the site every year. Two years ago it was presented with a plaque by Jerusalem, and next Sunday it will host the annual Christ festival of traditional Japanese dance.
According to the account in the Christ Museum next to the tombs, Christ arrived in Japan at the age of 21 and learnt Japanese before returning to Judaea 12 years later to engage in his mission and preach about the "holy land of Japan". The official Shingo history is that Jesus's place on the Cross was "casually" taken by his brother, leaving Christ free to return to Japan. On his return he fell in love with Miyuko, a local girl, and lived happily with his family among the rice fields until dying aged 106.
Norihide Nagano, the straight-faced curator of the tombs, says that the theory that the grave does contain the remains of Jesus is supported by several pieces of evidence. There is the local tradition, dating back hundreds of years, of drawing a charcoal cross on babies' heads; and ancient kimonos made in the area incorporated a Star of David.
The upkeep of the site is paid for out of the profits of a local yoghurt factory, and Mr Nagano agrees that The Da Vinci Code will probably boost Shingo's coffers. The village shop is already doing a roaring trade in Christ-branded saké. "Did you enjoy the museum?" asks Mr Nagano. "If you did, I recommend you go to Ishikawa district. They have the tomb of Moses there."

I wonder if they have Elvis and Jimmy Hoffa too... :wink:

Narukami

[tlclark]

Holy. Freaking. Cow.hock:

This makes the house of the Virgin in Italy look plausible.

[Chuck Russell]

sigh :roll:

[Goffredo]

Humans!
Wonderful and yet terrible.
The same reasons I love are the reasons I dispise them.

[Jeroen Pelgrom]

a convincing story! :wink:

[tlclark]

Y'know, this reminded me of something.

Years ago on of my prof's pulled out some slides of a manuscript. It was the ODDEST thing. The style was completely japanese, but the images were very familiar, but of course I couldn't read Japanese. It was a japanese illustrated bible 16th C. Apparently hundreds of thousands of japanese converted after portuguese missionaries arrived, but they were mercilessly slaughtered by the shogunate. A few managed to survive and went into hiding. When the RC church finally found them three centuries later, the religion was barely recognizable. Mary was integrated into the Trinity and the apostles had morphed into Shinto dieties. It was put down as heresy but rumors abound that there are still underground believers still out there. I wonder if this has anything to do with those people?

Travis

[Jeroen Pelgrom]

Travis,

concerning the Christians in Japan:
In the year 1542, the first Europeans from Portugal landed on Kyushu in Western Japan. The two historically most important things they imported to Japan were gunpowder and Christianity. The Japanese barons on Kyushu welcomed foreign trade especially because of the new weapons, and, therefore, tolerated the Jesuit missionaries. The missionaires were successful in converting quite large numbers of people in Western Japan including members of the ruling class. In 1550, Francis Xavier also undertook a mission to the capital Kyoto.

Towards the end of the 16th century, the Jesuits lost their monopoly position in Japan when Franciscan missionaries arrived in Kyoto despite a first banning edict by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. In 1597, Hideyoshi proclaimed a more serious banning edict and executed 26 Franciscans in Nagasaki as a warning. Tokugawa Ieyasu and his successors continued the persecution of Christianity in several further edicts.

The main reason which led to the complete extinction of Christianity in Japan by 1638 were the government's intentions to excert absolute control over its people. This would not have been possible with the interference of an aggressive and intolerant foreign religion like Christianity of that time.
(from www.japan-guide.com/e/e2298.html)

The event of 1638 is also called the Shimabara Rebellion. The (mainly christian) rebels fortified themselves in the old castle of Hara. After a long siege the rebels were defeated (with help of a Dutch warship BTW) and almost all the rebels were killed.

[Matt Lukes]

That's no weirder than the gazillions of, ahem, pilgrims, who go see the taco that looks like the Virgin Mary or Graceland :lol: In the middle ages they'd have all been burnt at the stake for such blasphemies and heresy- fortunately, now such folks just contribute greatly to our amusement :wink:

[FAVENTIANVS]

[Arthes]

Greetings,
I read just the other day that a place in India also claims the remains of Jesus....can't remember where offhand...somewhere in Kashmir maybe...
Just doing a quick search, I found this site..and this......... hock:

“In early writings, it is mentioned that seventy years after the demise of Alexander the Great, Jesus Christ was born. When he reached the age of thirty years, God raised him to the status of an apostle. At the age of thirty-three years, he proceeded from Palestine towards the Holy Valley [Kashmir]. It is mentioned in historical works that Jesus Christ reached Syria in company of his disciples and followers. It is written in authentic works that six days after his crucifixion, Jesus visited several places and met Zacharis and Mary and Disciples and then left for [an] unknown destination.â€