Did you know there were Japanese Jews?

[twiceborn]

Just thought this was an interesting read:


"Traces of the influence of the lost tribes of Israel are found even in Japan. The Japanese writer Arimasa Kubo has performed special research and come to the conclusion:  a great number of the local ceremonies testify to the fact that the Jews arrived at some time on the territory of this country and settled here. Shinto, the traditional religion of the Japanese, bears strikingly pronounced features of Judaism. Arimasa Kubo has collected extensive ethnographic material in support of his conclusion.

Here are some of Arimasa Kubo's conclusions.

The large Suwa-Taisha Shinto shrine is in Nagano prefecture. The traditional Ontohsai festival is held here each year (when the Japanese, as also the Jews, used the lunar calendar, the holiday was held in March or April).  During the festival there is a certain activity which illustrates something very similar to the story of the sacrifice of Isaac.  

At the festival, right up to the last century, the following happened:  they tied a boy to a wooden column and they placed him on a bamboo cover.  A Shinto priest, holding a knife in the hand, approached the boy and menacingly cut off a piece of the upper part of the column.  Suddenly a messenger (another priest) approached the priest, and they set the boy free.

At this same festival the sacrifice of animals took place, in particular:  of 75 does.  In ancient times in Japan there were no sheep, and this may be the reason why they used does in this practice (the doe is a kosher animal.)  Even in ancient times the tradition of bringing does to the offering seemed strange, since the sacrifice of animals is not a Shinto tradition.    

Today the custom has been preserved symbolically to depict how they intend to sacrifice the boy, and then let him go free. There is a wooden column called "onie-bashira," which signifies the "sacrificial column." (***THIS IS THE CEREMONY OF THE "SCAPEGOAT" (ESCAPE-GOAT) - T.B.)

The Japanese religious "Yamabushi" priests put small black boxes (tokin) on the forehead the same as the Jews' phylactery.  This custom existed in Japan much earlier than Buddhism spread through the country (the 17th century.)  The size of the tokin is practically the same as the Jewish phylactery.  The only difference is in the shape:  if the Jewish phylactery is square, then the Japanese tokin is round.

The Yamabushi has one more thing in the arsenal:  a large sea shell which he uses as a horn.  This horn is reminiscent of the Jewish shofar from a ram's horn.  Even the sounds produced by both instruments are similar to each other.

In Japan there is the legend of "Tengu," a legendary being who possesses supernatural capabilities. The essence of the legend is:   A Ninja, while carrying out the wishes of his master, goes looking for Tengu in the mountains in order to receive the same capabilities.  Tengu not only endows the Ninja with special powers, but also gives him the "tora-no-maki" (a scroll of the torah.)  This "scroll of the torah" is given to the Ninja as a very valuable, almost magical book which is capable of helping in any situation.  The phrase "tora-no-maki" has become a Japanese idiom and is widely used to the present day.

The clothing of the Israelite and Japanese priests is very similar to each other.  Marvin Tokayer, a rabbi who has lived in Japan for 10 years, has written: "The linen clothing which the Japanese Shinto priests wear has the same shape as the linen clothing of the ancient Israelite priests."

The construction of a Japanese Shinto shrine is similar to the construction of the Tent of Revelation in ancient Israel. Inside, the Tent of Revelation in ancient Israel consisted of two parts.  The first is the Sanctuary; the second is the Holy of Holies.  The Japanese Shinto shrine also is divided into two parts. The internal arrangement of the Japanese shrine is similar to the arrangement of the Jewish portable temple.  Only the Shinto priests or special people have the right to enter the Sanctuary.  Priests only enter the Holy of Holies of Japanese shrines during special festivals.  Precisely the same as how the Jewish temple was arranged.

Opposite a Japanese shrine there usually are two statues of lions, known as "komainu."  They sit on both sides of the entrance and play the role of guards of the shrine.  There was the very same tradition in ancient Israel, too.  In the temple of the Most High in Israel and in the palace of King Solomon there were statues of lions (Melachin (Third Book of Kings) 7:36, 10:19).

Generally, in ancient Japan no lions were to be found.  Nonetheless, there have been portrayals of lions in Japanese shrines since ancient times.

The Japanese have a tradition of using salt for purification and consecration of something.  Sometimes people sprinkle salt after the presence nearby of an unpleasant person..  It is possible the ancient Israelites had the very same tradition.  For example, when Abimelech destroyed Shechem, he "sowed it with salt."  (Book of Judges (Shoftim 9:45).

Although Shinto is a polytheistic religion, Kubo thinks that he has the reasons to propose that at some time Shintoists believed in Yaweh. "Amenominakanushi-no-kami" is considered to be the very first Shinto god.  The Japanese believe that he was born before all the gods, lived in the center of the universe, had no form, was eternal and, being the invisible creator of the universe, was the sole god.

The colossal geographic prevalence of those or other forms of Judaism leads to definite conclusions:  either the Jewish Israelites are the ancestors of nearly all mankind, or there never existed a Jewish people, and the followers of the faith of Abraham called themselves Jews, to which tribal clan they would not have belonged.

In connection with this, the words of Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, a contemporary Jewish theologian and spiritual mentor of Russia's Jews, are recalled:    "The Jews are not a nationality. They are a metaphorical essence of a people who bear a defined mission and are called upon to become an instrument for the execution and realization of the divine plan" ("Exodus" magazine, 2003.)

Adin Steinsaltz is resolving the problem of the present definition of the Jews along a maternal line using a comparison of the Jews with noblemen. The nobility has been and is hereditary and is conferred for any kind of services. The Jews go along the very same paths. Some Jews are defined according to maternal lines; others go through a rite of dedication and conversion.

In our opinion, the comparison of Jews with nobility has a deep historical sense, and A. Steinsaltz, it is possible, doesn't even suspect how right he is.


....excerpted from "The Medieval Empire of the Israelites" - http://www.revisedhistory.org/spreadJews.htm

[Anonymous]

Indeed the two forms of religion are too similar to simply brush off as coincidence.  This link was posted
on the old forum here by Nonesuch regarding George Bush possibly being Jewish.  What was interesting is the first part of the page deals with the topic discussed in this post regarding Shinto and Jewish religions.  It has some pictures to illustrate the similarities.  Take a look see

Thanks for the post twiceborn  Another valuable piece of info if I may say so.

[mastermg]

More proof that Jews are not of pure semitic blood anymore.