When I first heard of the rumor about Jewish people in Japan, I didn’t care at all. They often told me that in the ancient time of Japan, groups of Jewish people came to Japan and they started building up the country of Japan by their own background. How could I believe it at the first time ?
But now, I can believe it. I don’t know how many people or how many groups of Jewish came to Japan more than 1500 to 2000 years ago, but , I can’t deny that at least some amount of Jewish people came to Japan and they played very important roles to set up Japanese Shinto ( Japanese original religion) .
Please see this website—-http://www5.ocn.ne.jp/~magi9/isracame.htm
Above site is written by a famous Japanese specialist about this issue.
There are too many similar or same customs to Jewish people’s. Many are concerned with the old Testament. I could not believe what I saw then, but now I know that we can’t ignore many facts about the existence of Jewish influence in Japan.
From now on, I will try to write about this facts we have here in Japan. Today, I will pick up a fact that seems to be the same between the two nations.
Please look at the photo, which is a Japanese OMIKOSHI ( or MIKOSHI ). Doesn’t it look like the Ark of the Covenant ? This is used for Japanese festivals in many places. In Japan, there are a lot of shrines in Japan. Maybe each city, town, village or any small community has the Omikoshi for the annual festival of the shrines. Omikoshis are kept in the shrines only for the time of festival, and when the time comes, men carry the Omikoshi with powerful demonstration on the street shouting loudly ” Essa, Essa, Wasshoi, Wasshoi !!”
Indeed, Omikoshi is regareded as a copy of Ark of the Covenant. There is no other suitable explanation for the birth of the festival and the Omikoshi.
Essa means Carry in the language of old Israel, Hebrew. Omikoshi is painted Gold, and it has two woods to be carried. On the top, there are 2 birds as symbols. Most of the festivals are held in July for a month just like the old Jewish festivals. In Kyoto, this festival is called GION festival, and the peak time of Gion festival is on 17th of July. It’s just when Noah’s Ark stopped on the top of the mountain as written in the old testament. Gion festival is thought to be the same meaning of Zion ( festival ) because Japanese doesn’t exactly match with the spelling of words when we write the Jewish pronunciation in Japanese character.
On the cover of Omikoshi used in Gion Festival of Kyoto, there are some pictures that aren’t Japanese scenes at all. They are thought to be some from Israel or middle east countries of old time. We don’t understand what they mean at the first sight, but some academic professors say it’s based on the stories of the old testament, again.
In the island called Shikoku, there is a unique festival. They carry the Omikoshi to the top of the mountain in white pure clothes, and it’s just on the 17th of July again.
Before finishing this story, I need to tell that there are much more uncountable facts that seem to be the same between 2 nations.
I will write one by one, when I have time.
