Rediscovering Japan, Reintroducing Christendom
Arts & Culture ( 34 )
In “Rediscovering Japan, Reintroducing Christendom,” Japan’s unvoiced Christian history and cultural roots are examined from an alternative perspective.
It is commonly believed that Christianity was introduced to Japan by the Spanish and Portuguese missionaries during the 1500s; however, Samuel Lee draws on various forms of cultural, religious and linguistic evidence to argue that Christianity was introduced to Japan through the Lost Tribes of Israel, who were converted to Christianity through the missionary efforts of the Assyrian Church of the East around A.D. 500.
Much of the evidence he discusses has become submerged into many Japanese folkloric songs, festivals and is to be found in temples. There are, for example, approximately 300 words in Japanese and Hebrew/Aramaic that are similar. Further, Lee outlines the history of Catholicism in Japan during the 1500s, the systematic persecution of Christians from 1600s to the 1800s, and the rise of Protestant Church in Japan.
The historical portion of the book ends with an analysis and discussion of 21st century Japanese society. Lastly, in “Rediscovering Japan, Reintroducing Christendom,” Lee questions the missiological methods of Western Christianity and advocates an approach based in dialogue between Christianity and other cultures.
Samuel Lee is a sociologist specializing in Japanese society and culture. He is president of Foundation University in the Netherlands and a member of the Christian Sociological Society and Japan Sociological Society of the University of Tokyo.
Order by Time Order by Popularity
34 Comments
Login to comment
0
biglittleman
This is nothing new. I have been saying this since I came to Japan. Hell if you look at the image of the Tengu. It is a caricature of the Japanese view of foreigners. Evil beings with long noses and none Asian features. In almost all cultures when the deities of that culture have a human form they always look the people of that culture. It is unheard of to have them look like people they hadn't seen a half a millennia before they arrive.
It is like people who believe Jesus was a Caucasian male because the first picture of him Europe showed up over 400years after his death. Europeans never saw or met Jesus so how do they know? They didn't they made him in their own image and perpetuated the image. The artist who is famous for the Jesus portrait was known for using real people as models in all of his religious art. Images of Jesus before European art all show him as a dark skinned male. Images that were around during the time of his life.
The point is Japan like the rest of Asia had contact with the west. Whether it was along the silk road or during the conquering of nations. Throughout history great leaders from Africa, Europe and Asia at some point conquered most of the known world. (Except Afghanistan) During that time mixing had to have taken place. Japan also has a pyramid like Africa, S. America and Myanamar and other places. Got to be a connection.
I think a lot of the information about Japan being influenced from other people is usually ignored because it will contradict their image of a unique culture mostly protected from outside influence.
0
DenDon
Should send Ozawa a copy for Xmas.
0
shinjukuboy
Um, Tengu's nose is phallic, as are several other common symbols and signs etc.
Japan's Christian community has never recoverd from WWII. Until August 1945, the center of Japanese Christendom was Nagasaki.
0
illsayit
well I would love to look into the Trappists that are in Hokkaido,if only....
If only to try some of their beer which I hear has always got a kick to it.
0
realteacher
Interesting how every few years we hear about how the lost tribes popped up in yet another place. How many were there? Seven? Damn, they were busy little beavers weren't they? There was a debunked book printed a few years back talking about how they were in the Amazon. It's simply amazing to me how religion, Christianity and Judaism specifically are continually trying to justify themselves by spouting historical inaccuracies in a vain attempt to illustrate their importance in cultures with whom they have little or no influence. Blah, it's all a bunch of religious propaganda.
0
biglittleman
@Shinjukuboy
The tengu was also reported to have taught the founders of several major Japanese martial traditions. Some schools started using certain techniques that weren't common in Japan but was more common in other parts of the world. It was also said to have been the teacher of the Ninja.
UM!!!!
0
biglittleman
I don't know about whether these people were Christian or Jewish. I do know this: The 2nd millennium BC Tarim mummies in China were found with red and blond hair. Which means people were traveling around more than most people realize. Most likely these were all trade routes or hubs. Probably created after the great campaigns launched by some of the greatest leaders in history. Religious zealots are probably just trying to take the credit.
0
Foxie
I always thought that Jesus was buried in Aomori - that would be long before 500AD.
0
shinjukuboy
biglittleman,
This may all be true. But the nose is still a phallic symbol.
Moderator: Back on topic please.
0
nightvision
I think the title should relate more to Judaism than Christianity, because it looks more that way.
There must probably be several points in the book (which would probably be out of reach for some of us) that I have seen before:
-Ancient Japanese traditions similar to Jewish customs, like salt-throwing
-There is a certain type of Shinto priest who wears phylacteries and breastplates, just like Jewish priests of ancient times
It is also interesting to note that the difficulty of pinpointing the origins of the Japanese language within its Asian neighbors might be resolved by this theory if proven or at least validated... far-fetched, but somewhat plausible.
realteacher: There were ten lost tribes... Propaganda or not, it's still an unsolved mystery, and mysteries pique interests. Somehow, you'd want to know what happened.
DenDon: LOL.
0
shinjukuboy
nightvission,
There is also the really big banana: the mikoshi that Japanese carry around on their backs during festivals. These are like the portable shrines the Jews used back in ancient times (and maybe still do, I'm not sure).
This is way off topic, but it is not widely known that there were Jewish colonies in Japan and China (Shanghai) in modern times. Their story makes really interesting reading.
0
OneForAll
Curious myths : Here is book that I found interesting "Bible Stories Hidden in Chinese Characters" by Timothy D. Boyle. Or one can search on "Bible chinese characters" for more info...Christian and Buddhist traditions are enriched by each other.
0
shinjukuboy
It is known that King Ashoka in India sent Buddhist missionaries to Egypt and Assyria in 3rd century BC, but there is no record of what happened to them. Some say that the Essenes are these Buddhist missionaries. The book of Ecclesiastes reads more like a Buddhist text than the Christian cannon.
OK, back on topic, some have said the caucasian Ainu are one of the lost tribes.
0
biglittleman
@Shinjukuboy
They are actually considered Mongoloid = Ainu. They are closer connected to Native Americans than Caucasians.
"Scholars have advocated various theories about the origin of the Ainu people. The theories include the Caucasoid (Caucasian) Theory, the Mongoloid Theory, the Oceania Race Theory, the Old Asian Race Theory, and the Solitary Race Theory. Some scholars have recently advocated the following hypothesis into which the Mongoloid Theory has developed. Mongoloid peoples once were of two types : Southern Mongoloid and Northern Mongoloid. Before the Jomon Period (several tens of thousands of years ago), the Southern Mongoloid started moving northward and settled the Japanese archipelago, including Okinawa, over a long period of time. Later, the Southern Mongoloid played a major role in the Jomon Period throughout Japan. However, in the Yayoi and Tumulus Periods, the Northern Mongoloid came across the sea to Japan in great numbers. The ethnic Japanese (non-Ainu) are the people who have evolved rapidly through the strong influences of these migratory processes. On the other hand, the Ainu in Hokkaido and the Tohoku region and the Ryukyu people in Okinawa are the ones who have hardly affected by this process."
0
tsurubushi
seriously? he's going off of 300 words (etimologically, this is not enough to provide any meaning) with similarities and old speculation. The yamabushi and s We're talking about a theory which has been debunked for at least a generation of scholarship both Western and Eastern. This is yet another attempt to claim the world for Christ by means of utterly ridiculous theories. Let's take a look at the usual claims: tengu (didn't start looking non-Asian until the 1500s, before then, they were beaked like birds), religious garb (rough, general similarity does not prove causality, as this book's author should know), linguistic "similarities" (Japanese words and grammar have almost nothing in common except 300 "similar" words), and folklore (the stories bear vague cross-cultural similarities, as do Native American and Russian folklore, or Chinese and Mayan, if you look hard enough at the message being conveyed, and not the way they are presented, the stories, or the characters).
In short, this book is bogus.
0
tsurubushi
that bit about the yamabushi should have been deleted...minor point anyway, and long since debunked.
0
sharky1
I think it is good for a country to thoroughly research it's history. Japan does have a history of Christendom, and even a dark time of killing and persecuting Christians. To this day Christians are persecuted in Japan as they are perceived as weak. All very interesting.
0
tkoind2
It is possible to skew historical data to argue just about anything you want to prove. Take the Mormons in Utah and their museum full of South and Central American city models that they argue are ancient cultures influenced by the arrival of Christ and entrepid boaters from Israel. And they have the "evidence" to prove it.
Without doubt people from far flung places ended up in contact with Japanese long before the invasion of foreigners by boat. Japan was on the sea lanes of the Silk Road and would have had contact with people from India, Central Asia and more. So western features would have been something people could have experienced or told stories of from very very early on.
Christians, like her parent faith Judaism and brother faith Islam are devoted to proving that they are right, the one true faith etc... Tweaking history to back up their texts is just a modern way of leveraging pseudo-knowledge to convince the easily convinced and weak to add foundation to their stories.
I doubt that the lost tribes came to Japan. There is not much real evidence to prove they existed at all. But if they did, why Japan? The Turks and many Central Asian nations lay claim to the same story. At least in their case it is a very realistic possibility given the ancient history of connections between the west and these regions. But Japan? Seems like another effort to introduce a faith to this country that does not fit, is not needed or wanted and has very little chance of taking any real hold on this country or its people. Nice try christendom.
0
Seiharinokaze
OK, it may be a good reading anyway. This kind of narrative always gratifies my historic curiosity: why the priests of Suwa shrine at the foot of Mt. Moria at their Onto-sai festival bind up a boy aged around 8 years and whip out a sword and then after hearing the men say "So-so (mazu mazu)" unbind him. The severed heads of deers are offered instead to the deity. This festival rite has been practiced from ancient times far before 1500's.
If Judaism or Nestorian Christianity came to Japan, they may have been morphed into something harmless that allows its believers to pray for other gods too. Being Japanized may be a hint for reintroducing Christendom here.
0
Ah_so
We know that disciples got as far as India - where "doubting" Thomas was matyred. It is not improbable that in some way bits of the Christian message got to Japan over the next 500 years, but without firm evidence it is hard to draw too much from some vague similarities between words and songs.
Oh, and I know it has been declared off-topic, but the tengu is not a respresentation of a gaijin, but has a phallus for a nose. These days we have a cleaned up phallic symbol. The phallus is central to a large number of Japanese festivals.
0
biglittleman
Ah so,
I understand the what the nose represent. What I am talking about is the origins of the tengu. The tengu in Japanese myth is related to more than just sexual acts. No one has yet to address or even prove the claims by several ryu that their techniques were taught to their founders by tengu. What is your answer to that?
People have also not addressed the idea that Christians claim that their book is the truth. They travelled and spread Christianity. They never thought the connection is this places have influenced Christianity. Alot of these stories are alot older than Christianity. Christians borrowed them from others.
0
Dewaashita
Alot of religions borrow from other religions.
0
RobWolf27
Is it older than the book of Enoch? The tengu? As for influences Jewish people stay true to there heritage. That's how you know there Jewish I believe. Even when they become Messianic Jews they still hold on to there Jewish heritage,and If they lose track of there Identity over the vast years they will have customs that remain. Where do Japanese people come from originally? Where do Americans come from? With the acceptation of the Native American we come from every continent on earth. Did we originally come from here? No! I speak as a American. Its the same with all nations we move around alot. If Jewish people where influenced by Japanese culture they wouldn't be Jewish now would they?
0
RobWolf27
They said they found a tribe in India who they said was of the Tribe of Manasseh the lost tribe I think that might be the wrong name though. Also they found ancient Hebrew writings in New Mexico USA in ancient times proving that even Jewish people lived here where I live. I believe the lost tribes where truly scattered as the Bible says they where. Its possible that some Japanese people are of the lost tribes of Israel.
0
RobWolf27
My grammar is bad today.
0
RobWolf27
They found Hebrew writing which date back to ancient time in New Mexico USA. I just had to correct myself on that line.
0
RobWolf27
ancient times I left out the s.
Back to top