650 km north of Tokyo, you can find the tiny village of Shingo, which locals consider the last resting place of Jesus Christ. Allegedly, among the quiet hills of this godforsaken place, the Christian prophet lived like an ordinary farmer, growing garlic. He had three daughters and lived in a Japanese village until he was 106. All this, as well as many other interesting facts, is told in the local "Museum of Jesus". Who knows, maybe today you can come across several of his descendants right on the street …
Shingo is located in Aomori Prefecture and has a population of around 2,500. Other popular tourist attractions near the alleged tomb of Christ include the car race track, the stunning pyramid and the so-called Big Rock. However, tourists still go to Shingo in the first place to see the place where Jesus lived for 70 years after his alleged execution. All visitors are also surprised that the population of the village, which has nothing to do with Christianity, is so passionate about Christ.
Moreover, the legend of Shingo Jesus is not just a ploy to lure tourists. The locals sincerely believe in it. The story goes as follows: 21-year-old Jesus went to Japan, where he studied with a priest on Mount Fuji for 12 years. At the age of 33, he returned to his homeland to preach his newfound Eastern wisdom, but the crowd of angry Romans clearly did not appreciate his impulses. But then the unexpected happened. On a sign at the burial site in Shingo, it is written that Jesus' younger brother, Isukiri, helped Christ escape, and he took his place on the cross in his place and was crucified. After that, Jesus, taking with him as a souvenir the ear of his brother and a lock of his mother's hair, fled through Siberia to Alaska, and from there he returned to Japan, to the places where he learned wisdom. Today it is believed that in the burial next to the tomb of Jesus in Shingo, it is precisely this ear with a lock of hair that rests (therefore, two graves were made).
In Shingo, Christ was considered a “great man,” although the locals knew nothing of the miracles he performed. Jesus adopted the new name Torai Taro Daitenku and started a family with a woman named Miyuko. Direct descendants of their ancestry founded the Sawaguchi clan, which has been tending the grave since then, but refuses to exhume to confirm or deny the legend.
A museum has been built near the burial site, which provides information and evidence of the village's claims to the glory of the final resting place of Christ. The museum says that thanks to the appearance of Jesus, the locals began to wear clothes worthy of Jerusalem and carry their children in baskets, like Moses. In the 1970s, residents began marking babies' foreheads with charcoal. By the way, the Stars of David are found throughout the village, and Hebrew words slip through the local dialect.
Locals have always considered the Savaguchi family very unusual: many of them had blue eyes, and the clan also owned a strange family heirloom: a Mediterranean grape press.However, when asked to share their potentially saintly 2,000-year ancestry, Savaguchi ignored the question, telling reporters that they "can believe what they like." In fact, none of this really matters to the Savaguchi, who, after all, are of the Shinto and Buddhist faiths. However, the local legend of Jesus the immigrant attracts tourists to the region. Every June, people gather for a large celebration near the burial sites, singing Jewish and Japanese folk songs. All this takes place within the framework of the Bon Festival.
Hardly anyone will say that there is at least a tiny grain of truth in this legend. But the fact remains that there is an "unrecorded" 12-year period in the New Testament. Also, once there was allegedly a real biblical relic that confirms the story - the Takeuchi scrolls, which "surfaced" in the 1930s, but then disappeared during World War II. The Jesus Museum in Shingo now contains records of lost documents that only the oldest locals remember.
Most historians believe that this legend is just a high-profile publicity stunt invented in the 1930s by Shingo Mayor Denjiro Sasaki, who at the time "very successfully" made a discovery by finding various ancient pyramids. But instead of sinking into oblivion after a while, this story is increasingly woven into the identity of a village dominated by Buddhism.
Christianity here is not a religious practice, but a tourist attraction that keeps the local economy alive. Therefore, the people of Shingo revere a person whom they consider not a son of God, but rather a "professional virtue" (there is another local legend that says that Jesus traveled very long distances in search of food for the villagers). He was a "big man" in Japan, but he was not a prophet at all.
Popular by topic
The funniest memes that appeared thanks to the senator in mittens and a mask and brought almost 2 million "green"
Joe Biden's inauguration was not without some curiosities. The attention of the whole world has attracted … no, not the newly elected President of the United States, but Bernie Sanders. The name of this politician was hitherto unknown to the general public. The elderly senator made a splash on the Internet with his photo in cute knitted mittens and a disposable mask. In just a day, the network was flooded with hundreds of funny memes with a politician. The best of them are further in the review
How teenagers and rock 'n' roll made vaccination fashionable: King Elvis saves the world from an epidemic
The polio virus has kept millions of parents at bay for years. In America, by 1955, tens of thousands of children were infected, many were disabled. Hope came with the discovery of a vaccine against this terrible disease. But those who wanted to be vaccinated were negligible. In search of a solution to this problem, the government attracted the most popular person in the United States at that time - Elvis Presley. The king of rock and roll was able to dramatically change the opinion of all Americans (and not only) about vaccination. How did the musician manage to
Because of what one year only lasted 445 days and other interesting facts about the calendar
Most of the world has been calculating time for four centuries using a calendar called the Gregorian. The year of this calendar is divided into 12 months and lasts 365 days. One additional day is added every four years. Such a year is called a leap year. This is necessary in order to remove the difference between the movement of the sun and the calendar. This concept was introduced in the late 16th century by Pope Gregory XIII as a reform of the Julian calendar. The Gregorian calendar is generally accepted because
Who and why plans to send a search expedition to Antarctica in 2022
Sir Ernest Shackleton's missing ship, the Endurance, has become a legend. One of the most famous ships in the world sank in the Weddell Sea in Antarctica. This happened during the unfortunate expedition of the explorer in 1914-17 and marked the end of the "heroic era" of the exploration of the ice continent. Over the years, there have been many attempts to locate the crash site, but they were all unsuccessful. A fearless scientist named John Shears is set to take another one in early 2022. Why is he t
Why women are jealous of a duck named Gertrude and how she became famous
Her name is Gertrude and she has an amazing hairstyle that can only be envied. In fact, it is a comb of feathers. With whom only thanks to this the duck was not compared! The famous bird was honored to stand on a par with George Washington, Queen Elizabeth, Albert Einstein and many other famous personalities with memorable hairstyles. The duck has become a real star of the Internet not only because of its "hair", but also because of the unusual qualities of its character. NS
