JESUS IN JAPAN

Last year I posted about a theory positing that one of the lost tribes of Israel absconded with the Ark of the Covenant and wandered from the Middle East to Japan, where it settled and left an indelible mark on Japanese culture.  These rumors have been met with various levels of (dis)belief by historians, scholars, rabbis, and Israeli officials.  However, just like the Old Testament was old news after the New Testament came out, so too does the tale of the lost tribe pale in comparison to reports from northern Honshu, in the prefecture of Aomori.  

On the flat top of a steep hill in a distant corner of northern Japan lies the tomb of an itinerant shepherd who, two millennia ago, settled down there to grow garlic. He fell in love with a farmer’s daughter named Miyuko, fathered three kids and died at the ripe old age of 106. In the mountain hamlet of Shingo, he’s remembered by the name Daitenku Taro Jurai. The rest of the world knows him as Jesus Christ. (from Smithsonian Magazine) 

Jesus Christ: Garlic Farmer.  I guess the village already had a carpenter.  According to the museum in Shingo, Jesus came to Japan in his early 20s to learn about Eastern culture and savor the Japanese way of life.  At some point he returned to Judea to spread his newfound knowledge, until it became clear that he had become persona non grata with the Romans.  Fearing for his life, Jesus went into hiding, and his brother Isukiri took his place on the cross and died.  Jesus then fled back to Japan, taking with him one of Isukiri's ears and a lock of his mother Mary's hair.   As stated above, Jesus married a Japanese woman, had children, and lived a quiet life until his death.  He was then buried along with Isukiri's ear and Mary's hair in an otherwise unremarkable spot.  Oh, and one of the families living in Shingo today, the Sawaguchis, are believed to be the direct descendants of Jesus.  

Christ's grave.  From http://www.zetetique.ldh.org

Sawaguchi-san, purported descendant of Jesus.  The website where I found this picture called on readers to take note of Sawaguchi-san's "semitic [sic] characteristics," whatever those might be.  From http://www.zetetique.ldh.org

What strikes me as truly Japanese about this story is the failure to understand what could make it so remarkable (and offensive) if it were true.  Shingo markets Jesus as a notorious historical figure, like Napoleon or Genghis Khan, and increase their own importance by exploiting his celebrity (if you want to call it that) and asserting that Jesus settled and died in the village.  It's the equivalent of the photos you see hanging in restaurants to show that someone like George Clooney ate there.  What people in Shingo fail to grasp, however, is the significance of Jesus in some quarters as the Messiah, the son of God and savior of mankind.   If Jesus escaped the judgement of Pontius Pilate and didn't sacrifice himself for man's sins, this would be the devastating end of a millennia-old religion that spans the world.  

The thing is, Japan is fairly ignorant overall of other religions.  My kids don't know what Hanukkah is, much less Judaism. There's confusion over Jesus and Santa Claus.  They seem to recognize the concept of Islam; I'm not sure if that's because Islam has been such a popular topic in the news over the past decade, or if it's because two of the students at the school are Muslim.  Not that the Japanese can be blamed for this lack of awareness.  They are as homogeneous religiously (mainly Buddhist and Shinto) as they are racially.  Moreover, they are an overwhelmingly secular society for whom religion is based more on ritual and philosophy than the kind of faith and belief required by Judaism, Islam or Christianity.   So while the Japanese understand being kind to others and living one's life by higher principles, the tropes of sin, forgiveness, redemption, etc. are mysteries.  

As the BBC put it:

Many Japanese find it hard to make sense of Christianity. Schools are banned from teaching any religion and people are generally more interested in ritual and tradition than theology. 

However, Christian-style weddings are enormously popular. They are often held in hotels which have special chapels, complete with crosses and stained glass windows. 

Foreign students are sometimes hired to play the part of the priest, although the whole event has no official sanction from any church.

Fellow JET DM related to me a story about one of her coworkers, who got married in a chapel.  There were readings from the Bible, hymns*, and a man dressed as a religious officiant who presided over the ceremony.  I asked if her coworker was Christian.  "No," said DM breezily.  "Is her husband Christian?" I asked.  "Not that I know of," replied DM, "I think they're both Buddhist."  "Then why have a Christian wedding?" I asked, thoroughly bewildered.  "I think they just like the image of the Western wedding in white," she said.  

But I digress; back to Shingo, "Christ's Hometown."  There is precious little tangible evidence to support the village's claims; the burial site has never been exhumed, and no tests have been run.  There are apparently some written records of Jesus's existence in Japan, but they haven't been authenticated, to my knowledge.  Even the Sawaguchis make no claim to having descended from Jesus.  "My family are Buddhist, not Christian" said family spokesperson Junichiro Sawaguchi.  Furthermore, whether or not you lend credence to the notion of Christ's divinity (or lack thereof), Jesus always seemed like a real go-getter to me.  Even if he was only a prophet, as believed by Jews and Muslims, I find it hard to believe that he would have run away to Japan and done nothing more than live as a poor farmer.  What, no turning water into sake or healing the blind?  It also seems unbelievable to me that  Christianity would have remained unheard of until 1549, when St. Francis Xavier arrived in Japan.  

Even if its main source of income is based on a shaky hoax, Shingo has a lot to offer to tourists.  If you aren't compelled by Jesus sake, there's always Dracula ice cream, made with local garlic. 

Dracula ice cream.  From: http://99redblumes.tumblr.com

*I recently found out that my lovely Japanese neighbor is taking singing lessons with a gospel group.  No one in the group is Christian, and I asked her how she got interested in gospel music.  "Well, I saw that movie Sister Act, and I always wanted to be able to sing like that," she said.