The Japanese Village That Believes Jesus Lived With Them

The story of Jesus is well known throughout the world. The Christian god has a son with the Virgin Mary, Jesus is crucified after being betrayed, and after three days he rises once more. There is however a period of time in Jesus's life that is unaccounted for by the Bible, commonly referred to as Jesus' 'unknown years', or the 'lost years'. It has historically been assumed that Jesus has spent this time working as a carpenter, but other theories have also appeared throughout history. One theory that appeared during the middle ages was that Jesus had visited Britain, and another more modern theory is that he had visited India ^[1]. One small village in Japan however claims that during this period, Jesus travelled thousands of kilometres to Japan and spent this time living in that village.

Shingō, in the Aomori Prefecture is a small village in the North of Japan. The terrain is extremely mountainous ^[2]. The village's population has been steadily decreasing over the past more than half century, with the village having a population of only 2,344 people as of 2018 ^[3].

The village claims that as well as Jesus visiting during his 'lost years', he also returned after 'his' crucifixion. The 'his' part will be explained shortly. The story of Jesus coming to this small Japanese town according to a sign posted near the alleged grave site claims:

"When Jesus Christ was 21 years old, he came to Japan and pursued knowledge of divinity for 12 years. He went back to Judea at age 33, and engaged in his mission. However, at that time, people in Judea would not accept Christ's preaching. Instead, they arrested him, and tried to crucify him on a cross. His younger brother, Isukiri casually took christ's place and ended his life on the cross.
Christ, who escaped the crucifixion, went through the ups and downs of travel, and again came to Japan. He settled right here in what is now called Herai Village, and died at the age of 106.
On this holy ground there is dedicated a burial mound on the right to deify Christ, and a grave on the left to deify Isukiri.
The above description was given in a testament by Jesus Christ" ^[4].

That was an exact transcription of the English version of the sign along with its inconsistent capitalisation of 'Christ'.

It can be said that in this version, Jesus did not really make much of a sacrifice for people's sins, as Jesus was scared so had his secret brother take his place while Jesus ran away. So who is this Isukiri?  While not everyone may know this, according to the Bible, Jesus did have siblings, although whether they are actually his siblings or cousins is commonly debated. Jesus had 4 brothers, James, Joses, Simon, and Judas ^[5]. So, Isukiri is not one of these people, or is he? Isukiri could be one of his brother's names who has changed over time. It could also be the name of the brother of the person who is buried in the other mound. This means that the person in the first mound may not be Jesus at all, but someone else, possibly a Christian Missionary who came to Japan, and who over time, has gradually had their story changed until they themselves were thought of as Jesus. During the 16th century, there were Christian missionaries throughout Japan. In 1614, Christianity became banned in Japan. Many of those who refused to denounce their faith were tortured or brutally killed. As a result of this, Christianity became secretive in Japan over the next two centuries. ^[4]. Another theory is that the story of this being the tomb of Christ and his brother was artificially invented. Historically, the region was not known for being the place of death of Christ. In the early 20th century, one of the burial mounds was proclaimed as the place of rest for Jesus. Before this it was thought that the tombs were the place of rest for ancient samurai, or other important people. The idea that it is the place of rest for Jesus has been accepted by some of the village people as well as people promoting the area to tourists ^[6][7].

In 2004, the village would even receive a plaque from Jerusalem as a token of friendship between this small village and one of the centres of the Christian world ^[4][7]. In Japan Christianity accounts for about 1.5% of the religious population ^[8].

References:

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unknown_years_of_Jesus
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shing%C5%8D,_Aomori
[3] https://www.citypopulation.de/php/japan-aomori.php
[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Lt6DEnFYuA
[5] https://www.bibleinfo.com/en/questions/did-jesus-have-any-brothers-andor-sisters
[6] https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%96%B0%E9%83%B7%E6%9D%91
[7] https://www.marugotoaomori.jp/blog/2019/06/20767.html
[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Japan