(ORDO NEWS) — Every year around Christmas, tens and thousands of people go to Jerusalem to worship the tomb of Jesus Christ . There are not many representatives of the Christian concessions in Japan among them: in their opinion, the real tomb of Jesus is located in Japan, in the north of the island of Honshu in the Aomori prefecture in the village of Shingo.
Find by the historian Takenouchi Kiyomaro
It all began in 1935, when the historian Takenouchi Kiyomaro discovered a gravestone in the village cemetery in the village of Shingo with the inscription “Jesus Christ, founder of the Takenouchi clan.” The grave was not abandoned. The village was inhabited by representatives of the Takenouchi and Sawaguchi clans, also considered the descendants of Christ.
The Sawaguchi clan kept a family chronicle – “Testament of Iesu Kirisuto” (Jesus Christ), which tells about the fate of the founder of the clan. The chronicle was more than 200 years old, but according to the head of the clan, it was a list from an earlier document that had fallen into disrepair.
“The Japanese Testament of Esukirisuto”
According to the document, Jesus first came to Japan at a young age and for 12 years was involved in sacred knowledge. The Bible does not say where Jesus acquired his knowledge, his young years are a blank spot for Christian biographers. But the “Japanese Testament” describes in detail how Christ spent 11 years in the province of Etchu, where he studied Japanese culture, language, literature, philosophy under the guidance of the holy teacher.
At the age of 30, Jesus returned to Judea, where his teachings were rejected and the teacher himself was sentenced to death. However, Jesus’ younger brother Isukiri, who voluntarily took the place of Christ, accepted death on the cross.
Jesus, together with several of his disciples, fled, in 4 years of wandering he crossed Siberia, reached Alaska by water, and from there he sailed to Japan again by ship. A donkey in the village of Harei (now part of Shingo) and married a Japanese woman who bore him three daughters. Lived a decent life, died at the age of 106.
Despite such an amazing history, there was not a single Christian in the village. The descendants of Christ from the Sawaguchi and Takeuchi clans were supporters of traditional Japanese syntonism and honored Jesus as the founder of the clan and nothing more.
Takenouchi noted a strange custom among the inhabitants: to draw a cross on the forehead of newborns and decorate the cradles of babies with a cross. Thus, the people of Shingo protected their children from the encroachments of evil spirits. Perhaps this strange custom is all that remains in the village from the teachings of their progenitor.
Tomb of Jesus No. 6
Shingo Village is not the only alternative burial site for Christ. Only in Jerusalem there are two of them, not counting the “official” in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. There is also a grave in the Indian state of Kashmir, there is a version of the burial of Jesus in France. So Japanese burial is not something special.
However, up to 10,000 Christians from all over Japan come to Shingo every year for Christmas. More than 40,000 people visit the village every year. Among them there are both true pilgrims and just curious tourists.
Today, a cross is installed on the grave, a fence around it. Nearby is another, also marked with a cross, in which, according to legend, Jesus buried the ear of his executed brother and the hair of his mother Mary. A small museum has also appeared in the village. Of course, the people of Shingo make money on tourists, but you must admit, it would be strange if they did not.
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