The weakest conspiracy theory in Japan
The case of the Japanese Christ
I want to discuss Christianity in Japan. Firstly, no this isn’t an examination of the veracity of the religion or whatever, this is much stupider than that. This is a post about the worst lie I’ve ever heard.
The story starts in Japan and involves one of their many religiously significant sites. That is certainly not unusual, being a land with millennia-long ties to Shintoism and Buddhism. What’s more unusual is Japan claiming a very famous Christian site. Rarer still, it is likely the most important site in all of Christendom, found in the small town of Shingo.
That’s right! The burial site of Jesus Christ is purportedly in Shingo of Aomori Prefecture! Ok, so maybe you have some questions. Questions like, wait what? Let’s take many steps back.
Who is Jesus Christ?
Stay with me, this isn’t an evangelical pitch. Just for those who weren’t with us these last 2000 years, Jesus is one of the most important cultural and historic figures in human history. He is seen as the saviour to humanity in at least one major religion (Christianity), and his life and words have been examined by millions.
The basic facts around Christ’s life are accepted by most. Born roughly 2000 years ago in Bethlehem, living for 33 years while preaching his message, and crucified outside Jerusalem at a biblical location known as Golgotha. I just want to point out that all historical and biblical readings find that the locations are all in the Middle East region.
Where the typical discourse has had minor disagreement in what followed, at a high level Christians believe Jesus resurrected after 3 days and non Christians don’t. This post won’t weigh into that discussion as I’m sure you can find more qualified commentators.
The messianic nature also isn’t where the story of the Shingo Christ diverged. Instead, Japan’s Shingo Christ splits from the common narrative at the most convenient point, the so-called lost years of Jesus.
The Lost Years of Jesus
The Bible discusses several parts of Jesus’ life in great detail: his birth, his early thirties, and his death. But between 12 and 29 there isn’t really much information on what the guy was up to. Common scholarship is that he was just doing the same as everyone else back then… working. With limited miracles and no major innovations in the carpentry field, the local Galilee Monthly paper didn’t find it necessary to scribe his teens and twenties.
The alternate “scholarship” finds Jesus in Shingo Prefecture, Japan. The explanation given is that at 21, he escaped persecution to travel across Siberia and settle into life as a garlic farmer in Japan.
While the concept of a man travelling that distance during the height of the Roman Empire may seem implausible, it could technically happen. Especially given that Jesus’ divinity is still affirmed in the supposed evidence found on the “Takenouchi Scrolls” (竹内文書, Takenouchi no Sukune).
You might wonder, what about the whole teaching, miracles and crucifixion part of Christ?
Oh, easily explained away by “Takenouchi”. He just went back to Judea, during the recorded bits, and gave the same sermons until the famous death. Also, about that death that Christians always go on about, according to the Scrolls, it was actually Jesus’ brother on the cross… Isukiri. In this retelling, Jesus got wind of the whole execution, decided it wasn’t for him, and hopped on back to live as a garlic farmer in Shingo until his death at 106. The revised story undermines the redemptive arc with the brother ditching and garlic living for another 70 years.
On what basis do people make this outlandish claim?
As mentioned, the Takenouchi Scrolls were supposedly found by a local resident (officially a team of archaeologists) of Shingo in the late 1930’s. They had found this document buried with Christ’s body and detailed his entire life. For anyone who wanted to review or fact check the claims, well sorry, the only copy was destroyed during WWII.
Kirisuto no Sato (Christ’s Hometown)
How many people need to believe in something for it to have cultural or historical merit? If the answer is zero, then Shingo’s Christ is perfect. First, I just want to reiterate that this is not something I, or really anyone in Japan actually believes. Instead, the Shingo locals have embraced this bizarre and clearly inaccurate conspiracy to develop a surreal industry and community.
In spite of the fact that there are no officially recorded Christians in all of Shingo, there is a museum (Kirisuto no Sato Denshokan), that can “educate” tourists on Japan’s Jesus. The town and their people have benefited from having this tourist location with thousands of yearly pilgrims who don’t believe a single claim of their conspiracy theory. Shingo even holds a yearly festival to commemorate the tomb. Of course this ceremony isn’t in any way Christian, instead involving lion dances and kimono-dressed women circling the grave.
It has all led to a very odd conundrum where exactly zero people buy into this idea, not even the man who the Scrolls identified as a descendent of Christ. If it was designed to be a religion, or even a cult, Shingo has totally failed. However, if it was just a marketing ploy to have tourists discuss and visit a village of just over 2000 people, it has been a major success.
Maybe this should be the model for conspiracy theories, just unbelievable nonsense that people can celebrate for their stupidity. With people buying into seemingly stranger and stranger beliefs, the message of Jesus from Japan can teach us that conspiracies are always more enjoyable when they’re not taken too seriously.
Have you heard of a more outlandish claim? Would you visit Christ’s Hometown? Subscribe and sign up to hear about other curious stories of Japan.
If you mean have I heard a more outlandish claim about Jesus Christ, the BBC broadcast a documentary some years ago reporting that some believe Jesus is buried in the Rozabal Tomb in the city of Srinagar, Kashmir, India, where he died at the age of 120 years, after living and preaching for many years in Kashmir.
The British forensic historians, Wilson and Blackett, in their book, "Where Jesus Is Buried" (Cymroglyphics), suggest that Jesus may have accompanied other members of The Holy Family to Britain in AD37 after having survived crucifixion and is buried in South Wales.
If you mean have I heard a more outlandish claim about Japan, no I have not!
I've been wanting to go there for years. So it works, I guess. :-)
I both love and hate the total disregard for facts that most Japanese people have when history is concerned. It brings amusing things like the Tomb of Christ (also, I can see the location Momotaro's actual Oni cave from where I'm typing this right now), but also much more concerning ones, like the general belief in the population that Japan mostly was the victim during WW2.