Deep in the woods of the village of Shingo, where a serene quiet seems to flow through the trees, two wooden crosses stand erect above two mounds of dirt. Whether pure legend, crazy conspiracy, or truth, none can be sure, but these two crosses are said to mark the final resting place of Jesus Christ and the ear of his brother Isukiri.
Legends in the area say that instead of dying on the cross at Golgotha, Christ escaped and fled to Japan. Traveling to the sleepy village of Shingo, he lived a quiet life of a farmer and eventually passed away at the ripe old age of 106. This legend was purported by and gained fame (or notoriety) from an apocryphal collection of documents called the ‘Takenouchi documents’. These documents had (supposedly) been passed down through the Takenouchi family from Ibaraki, and (supposedly) contained the story of Christ’s escape and his grave. In 1935, a man from the Takenouchi family named Kiyomaro Takenouchi and Hatayama Toritani, an ancient history researcher, came to Shingo and discovered what they claimed to be the grave of Christ.
Baffling as the story is, the mysteries of Shingo didn’t stop there. Other interesting stories and coincidences have continuously cropped up over the years leading the village to be known as one of the strangest places in the country.
abroad in Japan
Information
- Address:
- Nozuki-33-1 Herai, Shingo, Sannohe-gun, Aomori
- Phone:
- 0178-78-3741
- Access:
- By bus: from Hachinohe Station take the Nanbu bus for Gonohe and get off at the last stop. From Gonohe transfer to the bus for Hainai, and get off at the「Kirisuto Koen Mae」stop.
- Parking:
- Available
