Bizarre Japan!
Legend Claims Jesus Christ Lived and Died in Japan
There is a legend in Japan, buttressed by the existence of a tomb and other evidence, that Yeshua, the original Hebrew-Aramaic name of the young Jewish man now known as Jesus Christ, spent the years he was “missing” from all biblical accounts [from around the age of 12 to 31 or 32] in Japan.
Author Boyé Lafayette De Mente recounts the legend in a book entitled The Bizarre and the Wondrous from the Land of the Rising Sun.
De Mente says the legend claims that Yeshua and his brother Isukiri spent some 20 years in Japan, and then returned to Jordan, where Yeshua was baptized by John the Baptist and then began a ministry that lasted for less than two years.
The legend goes on to say that it was Isukiri, not Jesus, who was crucified and that Jesus escaped back to Japan where he lived in a farming village named Herai, married, had children, and died.
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According to De Mente’s book evidence purporting to validate the legend was published in Tokyo in the 1930s. He says he picked up on the story in the 1950s when he was editor of PREVIEW Magazine in Tokyo.
The Bizarre & the Wondrous from the Land of the Rising Sun is a collection of article and essays on aspects of Japanese culture and customs that live up to the title, including such annual festivals as Hiyoku Matsuri [Fertility Festival] and Hadaka Matsuri [Naked Festival].
The Fertility Festival features wooden carvings of the male organ ranging from purse-size [for women to buy and take home] to log-size that young women mount and “ride” during the festival.
De Mente is the author of 30-plus books on Japan, going back to the pioneer Japanese Etiquette & Ethics in Business [1959] and How to Do Business in Japan [1961]. He recently published JAPAN — Understanding & Dealing with the New Japanese Way of Doing Business.
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