In ancient time of Japan there were no sheep and it might be the reason why they used deer (deer is Kosher). Since the ram was caught in the thicket by the horns, the ear might have been split. It could have had some connection with the ram that God prepared and was sacrificed after Isaac was released. The deer is considered to be the one God prepared. 75 deer are sacrificed, but among them it is believed that there is a deer with its ear split. The **** and sword used in the 'Ontohsai' festivalĪt this festival, animal sacrifices are also offered. This is reminiscent of the Biblical story in which Isaac was released after an angel came to Abraham. A Shinto priest comes to him preparing a ****, and he cuts a part of the top of the wooden pillar, but then a messenger (another priest) comes there, and the boy is released.

Moriya 'Moriya no kami,' which means, the 'god of Moriya.' This shrine is built to worship the 'god of Moriya.'Īt the festival, a boy is tied up by a rope to a wooden pillar, and placed on a bamboo carpet. The people from the Suwa area call the god of Mt. The 'Ontohsai' festival, held since ancient days, is judged to be the most important festival of 'Suwa-Taisha.'Īt the back of the shrine 'Suwa-Taisha,' there is a mountain called Mt. This festival illustrates the story of Isaac in chapter 22 of Genesis in the Bible - when Abraham was about to sacrifice his own son, Isaac. In Nagano prefecture, Japan, there is a large Shinto shrine named 'Suwa-Taisha' (Shinto is the national traditional religion peculiar to Japan.)Īt Suwa-Taisha, the traditional festival called 'Ontohsai' is held on April 15 every year (When the Japanese used the lunar calendar it was March-April). I am going to discuss this on this website.Ī Japanese Festival Illustrates the Story of Isaac. It is known that there had been a large Jewish community since the time of B.C.E. They have customs of Passover, purification, levirate marriage, etc. They say that their ancestor had 12 sons. They believe in one God and have oral tradition that they came from far west. They live in China and have ancient Israeli customs.

Menashe is Manasseh, and the Menashe tribe is said to be the descendants from the tribe of Manasseh, one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. In Myanmar (Burma) and India live Menashe tribe. They speak Aramaic and use the Aramaic Bible. In India there are people called Knanites, which means people of Canaan. They have the feast of Passover and the legend that they came from Israel. In Kashmir they have the same land names as were in the ancient northern kingdom of Israel. They have the customs of circumcision on the 8th day, fringes of robe, Sabbath, Kashrut, Tefilin, etc. The following peoples are thought by Jewish scholars to be the descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. We find the descendants of the Israelites not only in the western world, but also in the eastern world especially along the Silk Road. They are called 'the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.' They were scattered to the four corners of the earth. The people of the northern kingdom were exiled to Assyria in 722 B.C.E. The descendants from the southern kingdom are called Jews. The 10 tribes out of 12 belonged to the northern kingdom and the rest to the southern kingdom. divided into the southern kingdom of Judah and the northern kingdom of Israel. The ancient kingdom of Israel, which consisted of 12 tribes, was in 933 B.C.E. The reason why I exhibit these on the internet is to enable anyone interested in this subject, especially Jewish friends to become more interested, research it for yourself, and share your findings. The following sections are concerned with those Japanese traditions, which possibly originated from the ancient Israelites. I considered that perhaps these rituals came from the religion and customs of the Jews and the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel who might have come to ancient Japan.

As I study the Bible, I began to realize that many traditional customs and ceremonies in Japan are very similar to the ones of ancient Israel. I am a Japanese Christian writer living in Japan. Posted Wednesday, December 31st 2008 at 10:19PM, “Black in America”, Remnant BIBLICAL HEBREW ORIGINS OF THE JAPANESE PEOPLE.

Many of the traditional ceremonies in Japan seem to indicate that the Lost Tribes of Israel came to ancient Japan. “The Hebrew-Israelites and Ancient Japan” Posted By: Gregory Boulware on April 19, 2009

Kami meaning in hebrew