I have always been fascinated that the name "Moriya" is also a place in Japan. Moriya is a city in Japan, northeast of Tokyo. Moriya is the name of the sacred mountain, הר המוריה, (Mount Moriya) that housed the two Temples (Bais HaMikdash) in Jerusalem, and will house the third and final Bais HaMikdash, may that day be soon.
A short search on Google, produces a fascinating history of the people of Japan and their religious practices. According to this article, that is devoted to locating the ten lost tribes of the ancient kingdom of Israel, the many similarities between the religious practices of the Japanese and Jews hint at the ancient Israelites having settled in Japan.
At 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). 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. The "Ontohsai" festival, held since ancient days, is judged to be the most important festival of "Suwa-Taisha."
At the back of the shrine "Suwa-Taisha," there is a mountain called Mt. Moriya ("Moriya-san" in Japanese). The people from the Suwa area call the god of Mt. Moriya "Moriya no kami," which means, the "god of Moriya." This shrine is built to worship the "god of Moriya."
Today, this custom of the boy about to be sacrificed and then released, is no longer practiced, but we can still see the custom of the wooden pillar called "oniye-basira," which means, "sacrifice-pillar."
Apparently, no other country but Japan has a festival illustrating the biblical story of Abraham and Isaac. This tradition appears to provide strong evidence that the ancient Israelites came to ancient Japan.
Another similarity between the Japanese priests and Jews is the custom of wearing a "black box" on the their foreheads.
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| Japanese Religious Priests "Yamabushi" Put A Black Box on their Foreheads Just As Jews Put A Phylactery on their Foreheads. |
For additional similarities between Japanese religious practices, the garb of their priests, their ceremonial procession of crossing a river with their "shrine" and other customs, read the article here and here:
"Yamabushi" is a religious man in training unique to Japan. Today, they are thought to belong to Japanese Buddhism. However, Buddhism in China, Korea and India have no such custom. The custom of "yamabushi" existed in Japan before Buddhism was imported into Japan in the seventh century.
On the forehead of "Yamabushi," he puts a black small box called a "tokin", which is tied to his head with a black cord. He greatly resembles a Jew putting on a phylactery (black box) on his forehead with a black cord. The size of this black box "tokin" is almost the same as the Jewish phylactery, but its shape is round and flower-like.
Furthermore, the "yamabushi" use a big seashell as a horn. This is very similar to Jews blowing a shofar or ram's horn. The way it is blown and the sounds of the "yamabushi's" horn are very similar to those of a shofar. Because there are no sheep in Japan, the "yamabushi" had to use seashell horns instead of rams' horns.
