If you know much about the Easter story in Christianity you know that it takes place in and around Jerusalem.
And yet, there’s a town in northern Japan, far from the Middle East, that bills itself as the actual hometown of Jesus, and points visitors to a place named the tomb or grave of Christ.
This is a village called Shingo, which is pretty far off the beaten path.
But by some accounts, the folklore here was meant to explain why there were Christians in a primarily non-Christian country.
The story is that Jesus, during his so-called “lost” or “missing years,” actually made his way to Japan by way of Siberia.
Over the next twelve years, he learned about Eastern religion, philosophy and nature in Japan, before returning to Judea at age 33.
Also, his name in Japan was Daitenku Taro Jurai.
And according to Shingo lore, he had a brother, Isukiri; and he was the one who was crucified at Golgotha on Passover weekend (!)
Jesus, aka Daitenku, spent the next four years quietly heading back to Japan, where he became a rice and garlic farmer, fathered three children with his wife Miyuko and lived to be 106.
The tomb site is supposedly home to his remains, plus a lock of hair from his mother Mary and one of his crucified brother’s ears.
This version of Jesus’s story hasn’t caught on with much of the broader Christian community.
But tens of thousands of people come to Shingo each year to pay their respects at the tomb.
People drop by the nearby Legend of Christ Museum and participate in the annual Christ Festival each spring.
Just outside the Austrian town of Gmünd, there’s a divided chapel; it’s on both sides of a road.
Originally it was just on one side, and people would gather on the road to listen to the preacher.
But eventually a pastor felt bad for all the pilgrims standing out in the rain, and he had a second structure built on the other side of the road so they could stay dry.
Weird Legend of Jesus in Japan (ABC News)
The Divided Church of Gmünd (Amusing Planet)
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