I grown up in Southern Japan, small town, still held a lot of tradition from old time.  about 2 years ago, Jєωιѕн people told me  there are some similarity between one of the Japanese characters sets and old Jєωιѕн characters.  so I checked them out, in deed many are similar in fact sound is also similar.  as I compare more about cultures, I start to found more similarities.  those are common knowledge for many Japanese , specially who are grown up in small backward town like I did.  I was wondering, if anybody here has some knowledge of Jєωιѕн culture specially in ancient Jєωιѕн culture ?   below link explain more detail.  

http://www5.ocn.ne.jp/~magi9/isracame.htm

I do not know a whole lot about Jєωιѕн culture, but I do know that you have to be very careful about claiming to be a descendant of the israelites. The book of revelation warns about doing so.

Today there are many false claims to being descendants of the Israelites. There are a descent amount of Nigerians who claim that all 10 of the lost tribes migrated to Nigeria after the temple of Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD. We also have the αѕнкenαzι Jєωs who claim descendancy from the tribes of Israel. There is no direct correlation there, and they are actually of more Russian descent. Within the last 10 years, Mormons have made the claim that Native Americans were directly descended from the lost tribes of Israel. This was later shown to be false.

I personally believe that Europeans are descendants of the tribe of Reuben. Going way way back to Clovis I of France...the earliest French royals believed they were descendants of the tribe of Reuben. Holding that this is true (it is likely that it is) then that would make Charlemagne a descendant of the tribe of Reuben since Charlemagne was a direct descendant of Clovis I. Nowadays, every single European is a descended from Charlemagne one way or another which means they are descended from the tribe of Reuben. Also, there is a prophecy I know of that confirms that the French Royals were descendants of the tribes of Israel...

St. Caesar of Arles, 5th century- "the Great Monarch, a most virtuous man who shall be a scion of the holy race of the French kings"

The Israelites were a "Holy Race" meaning that they were God's chosen people. Thus so were the early French royals and modern day Europeans.

I'm not saying that today's Japanese are not descended from the tribes of Israel. But you should be careful about that claim. Like I said, the book of Revelations warns about that.

I grown up in Southern Japan, small town, still held a lot of tradition from old time.  about 2 years ago, Jєωιѕн people told me  there are some similarity between one of the Japanese characters sets and old Jєωιѕн characters.  so I checked them out, in deed many are similar in fact sound is also similar.  as I compare more about cultures, I start to found more similarities.  those are common knowledge for many Japanese , specially who are grown up in small backward town like I did.  I was wondering, if anybody here has some knowledge of Jєωιѕн culture specially in ancient Jєωιѕн culture ?   below link explain more detail.  

http://www5.ocn.ne.jp/~magi9/isracame.htm

CathInfo e youkoso!

sore ha omoshiroi desu ne...

I am looking for some one, who are familiar with Jєωιѕн Culture, specially in ancient time. so I can compare with mine.  I used to live with Jєωιѕн person.  She told me several times, a many habit , of mine resemble Jєωιѕн culture.  even she is Jєω, she did not want to associate or reminded of her about her Jєωιѕн culture, so my behavior  bothered her sometime.

Shinto temple building are very similar to ancient Jєωιѕн Tabernacle , which is mobile temple.  as it is in Jєωιѕн temple, it is divided into two area,  one area is higher than lower area and there is a steps to climb to higher area.  just as same as Jєωιѕн, it is prohibited that woman who are having period , woman just give birth, person who just killed animals therefore, touched blood are prohibited to enter temple. Of cause, not like Catholic church, they will never bring dead body into temple.  because dead body is consider not holy.  therefore never funeral in temple.   higher area of two temple, only designated priest is allow to enter only once a year in special occasion.  I heard Jєωιѕн temple had similar rules.

The similarity is there -  hontou ni!

The reason is that the temple of the Israelites was something that they wanted because everyone else had a temple. God's reply was that even David wasn't seeking the will of God correctly in that.

God's reply is here:

2 KINGS

THE SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL;
otherwise called,
THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS

2 KINGS 7

CHAPTER VII.
 
5 Go, and say to my servant David: Thus saith the Lord: Shalt thou build me a house to dwell in?
6 Whereas I have not dwelt in a house from the day that I brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, even to this day: but have walked in a tabernacle, and in a tent.
7 In all the places that I have gone through with all the children of Israel, did ever I speak a word to any one of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people Israel, saying: Why have you not built me a house of cedar?

God then spoke mystically and said that He would build a house that would never end - but He was speaking of the Church established by Our Lord Jesus Christ (which has nothing to do with the Novus Ordo Vatican II sect) and not of the temple which Solomon profaned nor of the temple which God destroyed forever by Titus in 70 A.D. because of the iniquity of the Jєωs.


Before that they had a Tabernacle (Tent). God  had given Moses the directions for building the Tabernacle. Even the Tabernacle was just a physical object and even the Ark of the Covenant was just a physical object. God finally allowed the temple to be built and without much time Solomon turned it into idolatry, a very grievous sin against God.

The Tabernacle and the Ark were symbols to show forth the coming of the Immortal Son of God, Jesus Christ, when He took flesh of the blessed virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit and gave Himself as a ransom upon His most Holy Cross for our salvation.

The resemblance between the temple in Jerusalem and its rules and the other temples of the world is because of the shortcomings of the Israelites and the copying of the temple of Jerusalem by other cultures. Even so, God's commands for what the rules of the Temple would mean still set it apart from all the pagan temples. This is summed up in the Holy of Holies which did not allow any image of God. This was to prevent the Israelites, who were always prone to worship idols and false gods, from worshiping as the pagans did. The Israelites were instead to wait upon the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ who alone is the Only Way, Truth and Life.

To see the absolute difference between that and false gods, just look at this:



This is the Daibutsu at Kamakura. Amida or Amitabha is not be confused with the True God. Some have tried that. To prevent that sort of thing in much earlier times God forbid the use of images to represent Him in any way in the Holy of Holies.

There is a deep meaning here which St. Paul explains in his letter to the Hebrews.

See the entire letter - especially this part is what we are talking about.

HEBREWS 9

CHAPTER IX.

The sacrifices of the law were far inferior to that of Christ.

. . .

11 But Christ coming, a high priest of the good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hand, that is, not of this creation:
12 Neither by the blood of goats, or of calves, but by his own blood, entered once into the sanctuary, having obtained eternal redemption.
13 *For if the blood of goats and of oxen, and the ashes of a heifer, being sprinkled, sanctify such as are defiled, to the cleansing of the flesh:
14 *How much more shall the blood of Christ, who, through the Holy Ghost, offered himself without spot to God, cleanse our conscience from dead works, to serve the living God?
15 And, therefore, he is the mediator of the new testament: *that by means of his death, for the redemption of those transgressions, which were under the former testament, they who are called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
16 For where there is a testament, the death of the testator must of necessity intervene.
17 For a testament is of force, after men are dead: otherwise it is not yet of force, whilst the testator liveth.
18 Whereupon neither was the first indeed dedicated without blood.
19 For when every commandment of the law had been read by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,
20 Saying: *This is the blood of the testament, which God hath enjoined unto you.
21 The tabernacle also and all the vessels of the ministry, in like manner, he sprinkled with blood.
22 And almost all things, according to the law, are cleansed with blood: and without the shedding of blood, there is no remission.
23 It is necessary, therefore, that the patterns of heavenly things should be cleansed with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
24 For Jesus hath not entered into the holies made with hands, the patterns of the true: but into heaven itself, that he may appear now in the presence of God for us:
25 Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holies every year with the blood of others:
26 For then he ought to have suffered often from the beginning of the world: but now once at the end of ages, he hath appeared for the destruction of sin, by the sacrifice of himself.
27 And as it is appointed for men once to die, and after this the judgment:
28 *So also Christ was offered once to exhaust the sins of many; the second time he shall appear without sin to them that expect him unto salvation.

HEBREWS
THE
EPISTLE OF S. PAUL, THE APOSTLE,
TO THE HEBREWS.

HEBREWS 1

CHAPTER I.

God spoke of old by the prophets, but now by his Son, who is incomparably greater than the Angels.

1 God having spoken at different times and in many ways, in times past, to the fathers, by the prophets: last of all,
2 In these days hath spoken to us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the world:
3 *Who being the splendour of his glory, and the figure of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, making purgation of sins, sitteth on the right hand of the majesty on high:
4 Being made so much better than the Angels, as he hath inherited a more excellent name than they.
5 For, to which of the Angels hath he said at any time: *Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee?  And again: *I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?
6 And again, when he introduceth the first begotten into the world, he saith: *And let all the Angels of God adore him.
7 And to the Angels indeed he saith: *He that maketh his Angels, spirits: and his ministers, a flame of fire.
8 But to the Son: *Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of justice is the sceptre of thy kingdom.
9 Thou hast loved justice, and hated iniquity: therefore, God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy partners.
10 And: *Thou in the beginning, O Lord, hast found the earth: and the heavens are the works of thy hands.
11 They shall perish, but thou shalt continue: and they shall all grow old as a garment:
12 And as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: but thou art the self-same, and thy years shall not fail.
13 But to which of the Angels said he at any time: *Sit on my right hand, until I make thy enemies thy footstool?
14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent to minister for them, who shall receive the inheritance of salvation?____________________
*
3:  Wisd. vii. 26.
5:  Ps. ii. 7. --- ** 2 Kings vii. 14.
6:  Ps. xcvi. 7.
7:  Ps. ciii. 4.
8:  Ps. xliv. 7.
10:  Ps. ci. 26.
13:  Ps. cix. 1.; 1 Cor. i. 25.
====================

HEBREWS 2

CHAPTER II.

The transgression of the precepts of the Son of God is far more condemnable than of those of the Old Testament, given by Angels.

1 Therefore ought we more diligently to observe the things which we have heard: lest perhaps we should let them slip.
2 For if the word, spoken by Angels became steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward:
3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation? which having begun to be declared by the Lord, was confirmed to us, by them that heard,
4 *God also bearing them witness by signs, and wonders, and divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will.
5 For God hath not subjected to the Angels the world to come, of which we speak.
6 But one in a certain place hath testified, saying; *What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?
7 Thou hast made him a little lower than the Angels: thou hast crowned him with glory and honour: and hast set him over the works of thy hands:
8 *Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet.  For in that he subjected all things to him, he left nothing not subject to him.  But now we see not as yet all things subject to him.
9 *But we see Jesus, who was made a little less than the Angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour: that through the grace of God he might taste death for all.
10 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, who had brought many children into glory, to make the author of their salvation perfect by suffering.
11 For both he who sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one.  For which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying:
12 *I will declare thy name to my brethren: in the midst of the church will I praise thee.
13 And again: *I will put my trust in him: And again: *Behold I, and my children, whom God hath given me.
14 Forasmuch then as the children were partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself in like manner partook of the same: that, *through death, he might destroy him who had the empire of death, that is to say, the devil:
15 And might deliver them, who, through the fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to slavery.
16 For nowhere doth he take hold of the Angels: but of the seed of Abraham he taketh hold.
17 Wherefore it behoved him in all things to be made like to his brethren, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest before God, expiate the sins of the people.
18 For in that, wherein he himself hath suffered and been tempted, he is able to succour those also who are tempted.____________________
*
4:  Mark xvi. 20.
6:  Ps. viii. 5.
8:  Matt. xxviii. 18.; 1 Cor. xv. 26.
9:  Philip. ii. 8.
12:  Ps. xxi. 23.
13:  Ps. xvii. 3. --- ** Isai. viii. 18.
14:  Osee xiii. 14.; 1 Cor. xv. 51.
====================

HEBREWS 3

CHAPTER III.

Christ is more excellent than Moses: and therefore we must adhere to him by faith and obedience.

1 Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly vocation, consider the apostle and high priest of our confession, Jesus:
2 Who is faithful to him who appointed him, as was also *Moses in all his house.
3 For this man was deemed worthy of greater glory than Moses, by so much as he who hath built the house, hath greater honour than the house.
4 For every house is built by some man: but he that created all things, is God.
5 And Moses indeed was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken:
6 But Christ, as the Son in his own house: which house are we, if we hold fast the confidence, and glory of hope unto the end.
7 Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith: *To-day, if you shall hear his voice,
8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the desert,
9 Where your fathers tempted me, proved, and saw my works,
10 Forty years: For which cause I was offended with this generation, and I said: They always err in heart.  And they have not known my ways,
11 As I have sworn in my wrath: If they shall enter into my rest.
12 Take heed, brethren, lest perhaps there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, to depart from the living God:
13 But exhort one another every day, whilst to-day is named: lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
14 For we are made partakers of Christ: yet so if we hold the beginning of his substance firm unto the end.
15 While it is said: To-day, if you shall hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in that provocation.
16 For some who heard did provoke: but not all who came out of Egypt by Moses.
17 And with whom was he offended forty years?  Was it not with those who sinned, *whose carcasses fell in the desert?
18 And to whom did he swear that they should not enter into his rest: but to them that believed not.
19 And we see that they could not enter in, because of unbelief.
____________________
*
2:  Num. xii. 7.
7:  Ps. xciv. 8.; Infra iv. 7.
17:  Num. xiv. 37.
====================

HEBREWS 4

CHAPTER IV.

The Christian's rest: we are to enter into it through Jesus Christ.

1 Let us, therefore, fear, lest perhaps forsaking the promise of entering into his rest, any of you be thought to be wanting.
2 For to us also it hath been declared as well as to them, but the word of hearing did not profit them, not being mixed with the faith of those things which they heard.
3 For we, who have believed, shall enter into rest; as he said: *As I have sworn in my wrath: If they shall enter into my rest: and this when the works from the foundation of the world were finished.
4 For in a certain place he spoke of the seventh day thus: *And God rested the seventh day from all his works.
5 And in this place again: If they shall enter into my rest.
6 Seeing then it remaineth that some are to enter into it, and they, to whom it was first preached, did not enter in because of unbelief:
7 Again he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To-day, after so long a time, as it is above said: *To-day, if you shall hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
8 For if Jesus had given them rest, he would never have afterwards spoken of another day.
9 There remaineth, therefore, a rest for the people of God.
10 For he who is entered into his rest: he also hath rested from his works, as God from his.
11 Let us hasten, therefore, to enter into that rest: lest any man fall into the same example of unbelief.
12 For the word of God is living and effectual, and more penetrating than any two-edged sword: and reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit, of the joints also, and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
13 *Neither is there any creature invisible in his sight: but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him, to whom our speech is.
14 Having, therefore, a great high priest who hath penetrated into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
15 For we have not a high priest, who cannot have compassion on our infirmities: but one tempted in all things like as we are, without sin.
16 Let us go, therefore, with confidence to the throne of grace: that we may obtain mercy, and find grace in seasonable aid.
____________________
*
3:  Ps. xciv. 11.
4:  Gen. ii. 2.
7:  Supra iii. 7.
13:  Ps. xxxiii. 16.; Eccli. xv. 20.
====================

HEBREWS 5

CHAPTER V.

The office of a high priest.  Christ is our high priest.

1 For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in the things that appertain to God, that he may offer up gifts and sacrifices for sins:
2 Who can have compassion on them that are ignorant, and err: because he himself also is encompassed with infirmity.
3 And therefore he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins.
4 *Neither doth any man take the honour to himself but he that is called by God, as Aaron was.
5 So also Christ did not glorify himself to be made a high priest: but he that said to him: *Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.
6 As he saith also in another place: *Thou art a priest forever, according to the order of Melchisedech.
7 Who in the days of his flesh, offering up prayers and supplications, with a strong cry and tears to him, that was able to save him from death, was heard for his reverence.
8 And whereas indeed he was the Son of God, he learned obedience by the things which he suffered:
9 And being consummated, he became the cause of eternal salvation to all that obey him,
10 Called by God a high priest, according to the order of Melchisedech.
11 Of whom we have great things to say, and hard to be intelligibly uttered: because you are become weak to hear.
12 For whereas for the time you ought to be masters; you have need to be taught again what are the first rudiments of the oracles of God: and you are become such as have need of milk, and not of solid food.
13 For every one that is a partaker of milk, is unskilful in the word of justice: for he is a little child.
14 But solid food is for the perfect: for those who by use have their senses exercised to the discerning of good and evil.
____________________
*
4:  Exod. xxviii. 1.; 2 Par. xxvi. 18.
5:  Ps. ii. 7.
6:  Ps. cix. 4.
====================

HEBREWS 6

CHAPTER VI.

He warns them of the danger of falling by apostacy; and exhorts them to patience and perseverance.

1 Wherefore, leaving the word of the beginning of Christ, let us go on to things more perfect, not laying again the foundation of penance from dead works, and of faith towards God,
2 Of the doctrine of baptisms, and imposition of hands, and of the resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
3 And this we will do, if God will permit.
4 *For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, have tasted also the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
5 Have moreover tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
6 And are fallen away, to be renewed again unto penance, crucifying again to themselves the Son of God, and making a mockery of him.
7 For the earth that drinketh in the rain which cometh often upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is tilled, receiveth blessing from God.
8 But that which bringeth forth thorns and briers, is rejected; and very near to a curse, whose end is to be burnt.
9 But my dearly beloved, we trust better things of you, and nearer to salvation: though we thus speak.
10 For God is not unjust, that he should forget your work, and the love which you have shewn in his name, you who have ministered, and do minister to the saints.
11 And we desire that every one of you shew forth the same carefulness to the accomplishing of hope unto the end:
12 That you become not slothful, but followers of them, who through faith and patience shall inherit the promises.
13 For God promising to Abraham, because he had no one greater by whom he might swear, swore by himself,
14 Saying: *Unless blessing, I will bless thee, and multiplying, I will multiply thee.
15 And so after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
16 For men swear by one greater than themselves; and an oath, for confirmation, is the end of all their controversy.
17 Wherein God, meaning more abundantly to shew to the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, interposed an oath:
18 That by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have the strongest comfort, who have fled for refuge, to hold fast the hope set before us:
19 Which we have as an anchor of the soul, sure and firm, and which entereth even within the veil,
20 Where the forerunner, Jesus, is entered for us, made a high priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedech.
____________________
*
4:  Mat. xii. 45.; Infra x. 26.; 2 Pet. ii. 20.
14:  Gen. xxii. 16.
====================

HEBREWS 7

CHAPTER VII.

The priesthood of Christ, according to the order of Melchisedech, excels the Levitical priesthood, and puts an end both to that and to the law.

1 For *this Melchisedech, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him:
2 To whom also Abraham divided the tithes of all: who indeed first by interpretation is king of justice: and then also king of Salem, that is, king of peace,
3 Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life, but likened unto the Son of God, continueth a priest for ever.
4 Now consider how great this man is, to whom also Abraham, the patriarch, gave tithes out of the chief spoils.
5 And indeed they  of the sons of Levi, who receive the priesthood, *have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is to, of their brethren: though they themselves also came out of the loins of Abraham.
6 But he, whose pedigree is not numbered among them, received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him, who had the promises.
7 And without all contradiction, that which is less, is blessed by the better.
8 And here indeed, men who die, receive thithes: but there he of whom it is testified, that he liveth.
9 And (as it may be said) even Levi, who received tithes, paid tithes through Abraham:
10 For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedech met him.
11 If then perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law) what further need was there that another priest should rise, according to the order of Melchisedech, and not be called according to the order of Aaron?
12 For the priesthood being translated, it is necessary that a translation also be made of the law.
13 For he, of whom these things are spoken, is of another tribe, of which no one gave attendance at the altar.
14 For it is evident that our Lord sprung out of Juda: in which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning priests.
15 And it is yet far more evident: if, according to the similitude of Melchisedech, there arise another priest,
16 Who is made not according to the law of a carnal commandment, but according to the power of an indissoluble life:
17 For he testifieth: *Thou art a priest for ever, according to the order of Melchisedech.
18 There is indeed an abrogation of the former commandment, because of the weakness and unprofitableness thereof:
19 For the law brought nothing to perfection: but the introduction of a better hope, by which we approach to God.
20 And inasmuch as it is not without an oath, (for the others indeed were made priests without an oath:
21 But he with an oath, by him that said to him: *The Lord hath sworn, and he will not repent: thou art a priest for ever:)
22 By so much is Jesus made a surety of a better testament.
23 And the others indeed were made many priests, because they were prevented by death from continuing:
24 But he, because he continueth for ever, hath an everlasting priesthood,
25 Whereby he is able also to save for ever them that approach to God by himself: always living to make intercession for us.
26 For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens:
27 Who needeth not daily as the priests, *to offer sacrifices first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, by offering up himself.
28 For the law maketh men priests, who have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which is after the law, the Son who is perfected for evermore.
____________________
*
1:  Gen. xiv. 18.
5:  Deut. xviii. 2.; Josue xiv. 4.
17:  Psal. cix. 4.
21:  Psal. cix. 4.
27:  Lev. xvi. 6.
====================

HEBREWS 8

CHAPTER VIII.

More of the excellence of the priesthood of Christ, and of the New Testament.

1 Now of the things spoken, the sum is: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of majesty in the heavens;
2 A minister of the holies, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord hath pitched, and not man.
3 For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is necessary that he also should have something to offer:
4 If then he were on earth, he would not be a priest: seeing there would be others who should offer gifts according to the law,
5 Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things.  As it was answered to Moses, when he was to finish the tabernacle: See* (saith he) that thou make all things according to the pattern which was shewn thee on the mount.
6 But now he hath obtained a better ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better testament, which is established on better promises.
7 For if the former had been faultless, there should not indeed a place have been sought for a second.
8 For finding fault with them, he saith: *Behold, the days shall come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new testament with the house of Israel and with the house of Juda,
9 Not according to the testament which I made with their fathers, on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt: for they continued not in my testament: and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.
10 For this is the testament, which I will make to the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord: I will give my laws into their mind, and I will write them in their heart: and I will be their God, and they shall be my people:
11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying: Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest of them:
12 Because I will be merciful to their iniquities, and their sins I will remember no more.
13 Now in saying a new, he hath made the former old.  And that which decayeth and groweth old, is near its end.
____________________
*
5:  Exod. xxv. 40.; Acts vii. 44.
8:  Jer. xxxi. 31.
====================

HEBREWS 9

CHAPTER IX.

The sacrifices of the law were far inferior to that of Christ.

1 The former indeed had ordinances of worship, and a worldly sanctuary.
2 *For the first tabernacle was made, wherein were the candlesticks, and the table, and the setting forth of loaves, which is called the holy.
3 And after the second veil, the tabernacle, which is called the holy of holies:
4 Having a golden *censer, and the ark of the covenant covered about on every part with gold, in which was the golden urn that had the manna, and the rod of Aaron that had blossomed, and the *tables of the testament.
5 And over it were the cherubims of glory overshadowing the propitiatory: of which it is not needful to speak now particularly.
6 Now these things being thus ordered: into the first tabernacle the priests indeed always entered, accomplishing the rites of the sacrifices:
7 But into the second, the high priest alone, *once a year; not without blood, which he offereth for his own, and the people's ignorance:
8 The Holy Ghost signifying this, that the way of the holies was not yet made manifest, whilst the former tabernacle was yet standing.
9 Which is a parable of the time present: according to which gifts and sacrifices are offered, which cannot, as to the conscience, make him perfect that serveth only in meats and in drinks,
10 And divers washings, and carnal ordinances, enjoined until the time of correction.
11 But Christ coming, a high priest of the good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hand, that is, not of this creation:
12 Neither by the blood of goats, or of calves, but by his own blood, entered once into the sanctuary, having obtained eternal redemption.
13 *For if the blood of goats and of oxen, and the ashes of a heifer, being sprinkled, sanctify such as are defiled, to the cleansing of the flesh:
14 *How much more shall the blood of Christ, who, through the Holy Ghost, offered himself without spot to God, cleanse our conscience from dead works, to serve the living God?
15 And, therefore, he is the mediator of the new testament: *that by means of his death, for the redemption of those transgressions, which were under the former testament, they who are called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
16 For where there is a testament, the death of the testator must of necessity intervene.
17 For a testament is of force, after men are dead: otherwise it is not yet of force, whilst the testator liveth.
18 Whereupon neither was the first indeed dedicated without blood.
19 For when every commandment of the law had been read by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,
20 Saying: *This is the blood of the testament, which God hath enjoined unto you.
21 The tabernacle also and all the vessels of the ministry, in like manner, he sprinkled with blood.
22 And almost all things, according to the law, are cleansed with blood: and without the shedding of blood, there is no remission.
23 It is necessary, therefore, that the patterns of heavenly things should be cleansed with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
24 For Jesus hath not entered into the holies made with hands, the patterns of the true: but into heaven itself, that he may appear now in the presence of God for us:
25 Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holies every year with the blood of others:
26 For then he ought to have suffered often from the beginning of the world: but now once at the end of ages, he hath appeared for the destruction of sin, by the sacrifice of himself.
27 And as it is appointed for men once to die, and after this the judgment:
28 *So also Christ was offered once to exhaust the sins of many; the second time he shall appear without sin to them that expect him unto salvation.
____________________
*
2:  Exod. xxvi. 1. and xxxvi. 8.
4:  Lev. xvi.; Num. xxvi. --- ** 3 Kings viii. 9.; 2 Par. v. 10.
7:  Exod. xxx. 10.; Lev. xvi. 2.
13:  Lev. xvi. 15.
14:  1 Pet. i. 19.; 1 John i. 7.; Apoc. i. 5.
15:  Gal. iii. 15.
20:  Exod. xxiv. 8.
28:  Rom. v. 9.; 1 Pet. iii. 18.
====================

HEBREWS 10

CHAPTER X.

Because of the insufficiency of the sacrifices of the law, Christ, our high priest, shed his own blood for us, offering up once for all the sacrifice of our redemption.  He exhorts them to perseverance.

1 For the law having a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of the things: can never with those same sacrifices which, they offer continually every year, make the comers thereunto perfect:
2 For then they would have ceased to be offered: because the worshippers once cleansed should have no conscience of sin any longer:
3 But in them a remembrance of sins is made every year.
4 For it is impossible that with the blood of oxen and goats sin should be taken away.
5 Therefore coming into the world, he saith: *Sacrifice and oblation thou wouldest not: but a body thou hast fitted to me:
6 h0Ɩ0cαųsts for sin did not please thee.
7 Then said I: Behold I come:* in the head of the book it is written of me: that I should do thy will, O God.
8 In saying before: Sacrifices and oblations, and h0Ɩ0cαųsts, for sin thou wouldest not, neither are they pleasing to thee, which are offered according to the law.
9 Then said I: Behold, I come to do thy will, O God: he taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
10 In which will, we are sanctified by the oblation of the body of Jesus Christ once.
11 And every priest indeed standeth daily ministering, and often offering the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:
12 But he offering one sacrifice for sins, for ever sitteth on the right hand of God,
13 From henceforth expecting *until his enemies be made his footstool.
14 For by one oblation he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
15 And the Holy Ghost also doth testify this to us.  For after he said:
16 *And this is the testament which I will make unto them after those days, saith the Lord, I will give my laws in their hearts, and in their minds I will write them:
17 And their sins and iniquities I will remember no more.
18 Now where there is remission of these, there is no more an offering for sin.
19 Having therefore, brethren, a confidence in the entering into the sanctuary by the blood of Christ,
20 A new and living way, which he hath dedicated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh,
21 And a high priest over the house of God:
22 Let us draw near with a true heart in fulness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with clean water.
23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering (for he is faithful who hath promised),
24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto charity and to good works:
25 Not forsaking our assembly as some are accustomed, but comforting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching.
26 *For if we sin wilfully after having the knowledge of the truth, there is now left no sacrifice for sins,
27 But a certain dreadful expectation of judgment and the rage of a fire, which shall consume the adversaries.
28 A man making void the law of Moses, dieth without any mercy under *two or three witnesses:
29 How much more, do you think he deserveth worse punishments, who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath esteemed the blood of the testament unclean, with which he was sanctified, and hath offered an outrage to the Spirit of grace?
30 For we know him who hath said: *Vengeance is mine, and I will repay.  And again: The Lord shall judge his people.
31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
32 But call to mind the former days, wherein, being illuminated, you sustained a great conflict of afflictions,
33 And on the one part indeed, by reproaches and tribulations made a spectacle: and on the other, made companions of them that were so treated.
34 For you also had compassion on those who were in chains, and received with joy the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and permanent substance.
35 Do not therefore lose your confidence, which hath a great reward.
36 For patience is necessary for you: that doing the will of God, you may receive the promise.
37 For yet a very little while, and he that is to come will come, and will not delay.
38 *But my just man liveth by faith: but if he withdraw himself, he shall not please my soul.
39 But we are not the children of withdrawing unto perdition, but of faith to the salvation of the soul.
____________________
*
5:  Ps. xxxix. 7.
7:  Ps. xxxix. 8.
13:  Ps. cix. 2.; 1 Cor. xv. 25.
16:  Jer. xxxi. 33.; Supra viii 8.
26:  Supra vi. 4.
28:  Deut. xvii. 6.; Mat. xviii. 16.; John viii. 17.; 2 Cor. xiii. 1.
30:  Deut. xxxii. 35.; Rom. xii. 19.
38:  Habac. ii. 4.; Rom. i. 17.; Gal. iii. 11.
====================

HEBREWS 11

CHAPTER XI.

What faith is: its wonderful fruits and efficacy, demonstrated in the fathers.

1 Now faith is the substance of things to be hoped for, the evidence of things that appear not.
2 For by this the ancients obtained a testimony.
3 *By faith we understand that the world was framed by the word of God; that from invisible things visible things might be made.
4 *By faith Abel offered to God a sacrifice exceeding that of Cain, *by which he obtained a testimony that he was just, God giving testimony to his gifts; and by it he being dead, yet speaketh.
5 *By faith Henoch was translated, that he should not see death; and he was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had testimony that he pleased God.
6 But without faith it is impossible to please God.  For he that cometh to God, must believe that he is, and is a rewarder to them that seek him.
7 *By faith Noe having received an answer concerning those things which as yet were not seen, moved with fear, framed the ark for the saving of his family, whereby he condemned the world: and was instituted heir of the justice which is by faith.
8 *By faith he that is called Abraham, obeyed, to go out into a place which he was to receive for an inheritance: and he went out not knowing whither he went.
9 By faith he dwelt in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in cottages, with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.
10 For he looked for a city that hath foundations: whose builder and maker is God.
11 *By faith also Sara herself, being barren, received strength to conceive seed, even past the time of age: because she believed that he was faithful who had promised.
12 For which cause there sprung, even from one (and him as dead) as the stars of heaven in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea-shore, innumerable.
13 All these died according to faith, not having received the promises, but beholding them afar off, and saluting them, and confessing, that they are pilgrims and strangers on the earth.
14 For they that say these things, do signify that they seek a country.
15 And truly if they had been mindful of that from whence they came out, they had doubtless time to return:
16 But now they desire a better, that is to say, a heavenly one.  Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
17 *By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered Isaac; and he who had received the promises, offered up his only begotten son:
18 To whom it was said: *That in Isaac shall seed be called to thee:
19 Accounting that God is able to raise up even from the dead: from whence also he received him for a parable.
20 *By faith also Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.
21 *By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph: **and worshipped the top of his staff.
22 *By faith Joseph, when dying, made mention of the going out of the children of Israel: and gave commandment concerning his bones.
23 *By faith Moses when he was born, was hid three months by his parents, because they saw he was a comely infant, **and they feared not the king's edict.
24 *By faith Moses, when he was grown up, denied himself to be the son of Pharao's daughter,
25 Choosing rather to be afflicted with the people of God, than to have the pleasure of sin for a time;
26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasure of the Egyptians: for he looked to the reward.
27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the fierceness of the king: for he endured as seeing him that is invisible.
28 *By faith he celebrated the pasch, and the shedding of the blood: that he, who destroyed the first born, might not touch them.
29 *By faith they passed through the Red Sea, as by dry land: which the Egyptians attempting, were swallowed up.
30 *By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, by the going round them seven days.
31 *By faith Rahab the harlot perished not with the unbelievers, receiving the spies with peace.
32 And what shall I yet say?  For the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, of Barac, of Samson, of Jephthe, of David, of Samuel, and of the prophets:
33 Who by faith subdued kingdoms, wrought justice, obtained the promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness regained strength, became valiant in war, put to flight the armies of foreigners:
35 Women received their dead raised to life again: but others were racked, not accepting deliverance, that they might find a better resurrection.
36 And others had trial of mockeries and stripes, moreover also of bands and prisons:
37 They were stoned, they were cut asunder, they were tempted, they were put to death by the sword, they wandered about in sheep skins, in goat skins, being in want, distressed, afflicted:
38 Of whom the world was not worthy: wandering in deserts, in mountains, and in dens, and in caves of the earth.
39 And all these being approved by the testimony of faith, received not the promise,
40 God providing something better for us, that they should not be perfected without us.
____________________
*
3:  Gen. i. 4.
4:  Gen. iv. 4. --- ** Mat. xxiii. 35.
5:  Gen. v. 24.; Eccli. xliv. 16.
7:  Gen. vi. 14.; Eccli. xliv. 17.
8:  Gen. xii. 1.
11:  Gen. xvii. 19.
17:  Gen. xxii. 1.; Eccli. xliv. 21.
18:  Gen. xxi. 12.; Rom. ix. 7.
20:  Gen. xxvii. 27. 39.
21:  Gen. xlviii. 15. --- ** Gen. xlvii. 31.
22:  Gen. l. 23.
23:  Exod. ii. 2. --- ** Exod. i. 17.
24:  Exod. ii. 11.
28:  Exod. xii. 21.
29:  Exod. xiv. 22.
30:  Josue vi. 20.
31:  Josue ii. 3.; James ii. 25.
====================

HEBREWS 12

CHAPTER XII.

Exhortation to constancy under their crosses.  The danger of abusing the grace of the new testament.

1 And therefore we also having so great a cloud of witnesses over us, *laying aside every weight and the sin which surroundeth us, let us run by patience to the fight proposed to us:
2 Looking on Jesus the author and finisher of faith, who having joy proposed to him, underwent the cross, despising the shame, and sitteth on the right hand of the throne of God.
3 For reflect upon him who endured such opposition from sinners against himself: that you be not wearied, fainting in your minds,
4 For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin:
5 And you have forgotten the consolation which speaketh to you, as to children, saying: *My son, neglect not the discipline of the Lord: neither be thou wearied whilst thou art rebuked by him.
6 For whom the Lord loveth he chastiseth: and he scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
7 Persevere in discipline.  God offered himself to you as to sons: for what son is there, whom the father doth not correct?
8 But if you be without discipline, whereof all are made partakers: then are you bastards, and not sons.
9 Moreover we have had indeed for instructor, the fathers of our flesh, and we reverenced them: shall we not much more obey the Father of spirits and live?
10 And they indeed for a few days instructed us according to their own will: but he, for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
11 Now all discipline for the present indeed seemeth to bring not joy, but sorrow: but afterwards it will yield to them that are exercised by it, the most peaceable fruit of justice.
12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees,
13 And make straight steps with your feet: that no one halting may go astray, but rather be healed.
14 *Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see God:
15 Looking diligently, lest any man be wanting to the grace of God: lest any root of bitterness springing up do hinder, and by it many be defiled.
16 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, *as Esau: who for one mess sold his first birth-right:
17 For know ye that *afterwards when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, although with tears he had sought it.
18 *For you are not come to a mountain that might be touched, and a burning fire, and a whirlwind, and darkness, and tempest,
19 And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words, which they that heard excused themselves, that the word might not be spoken to them.
20 For they did not endure that which was said: *And if a beast shall touch the mountain, it shall be stoned.
21 And so terrible was that which was seen, Moses said: I am frightened, and tremble.
22 But you are come to Mount Sion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the company of many thousands of Angels,
23 And to the church of the first-born, who are written in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the just made perfect,
24 And to Jesus, the mediator of the new testament, and to the sprinkling of blood which speaketh better than that of Abel.
25 See that you refuse not him who speaketh.  For if they escaped not who refused him that spoke upon the earth: much less we, who turn away from him that speaketh to us from heaven.
26 Whose voice then moved the earth: but now he promiseth, saying: *Yet once: and I will move not only the earth, but heaven also.
27 And in that he saith: Yet once: he signifieth the translation of the moveable things, as of the things that are made, that those things may remain which are immoveable.
28 Wherefore receiving an immoveable kingdom, we have grace: whereby let us serve, pleasing God with fear and reverence.
29 *For our God is a consuming fire.
____________________
*
1:  Rom. vi. 4.; Ephes. iv. 22.; Coloss. iii. 8.; 1 Pet. ii. 1. and iv. 2.
5:  Prov. iii. 11.; Apoc. iii. 19.
14:  Rom. xii. 18.
16:  Gen. xxv. 33.
17:  Gen. xxvii. 38.
18:  Ex. xix. 12. and xx. 21.
20: Ex. xix. 13.
26:  Agg. ii. 7.
29:  Deut. iv. 24.
====================

HEBREWS 13

CHAPTER XIII.

Divers admonitions and exhortations.

1 Let fraternal charity abide in you.
2 *And hospitality do not forget, for by this some, **being not aware of it, have entertained Angels.
3 Remember them that are in bands, as if you were bound with them: and them that are afflicted, as being yourselves also in the body.
4 Marriage honourable in all, and the bed undefiled.  For God will judge fornicators and adulterers.
5 Let your manners be without covetousness, contented with such things as you have: for he hath said: *I will not leave thee, neither will I forsake thee.
6 So that we may confidently say: *The Lord is my helper: I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
7 Remember your prelates, who have spoken to you the word of God: reflecting on the end of their conversation, imitate their faith.
8 Jesus Christ yesterday, and to-day; and the same for ever.
9 Be not led away with various and strange doctrines.  For it is best to establish the heart with grace, not with meats: which have not profited those that walk in them.
10 We have an altar, whereof they have no power to eat who serve the tabernacle.
11 *For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary for sin by the high priest, are burned without the camp.
12 Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people by his own blood, suffered without the gate.
13 Let us go forth, therefore, to him without the camp, bearing his reproach.
14 [*?]For we have not here a permanent city, but we seek one to come.
15 By him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is the fruit of lips glorifying his name.
16 And do not forget to do good, and to impart: for by such sacrifices God's favour is obtained.
17 Obey your prelates, and be subject to them.  For they watch, as being to render an account of your souls, that they may do this with joy, and not with grief: for this is not expedient for you.
18 Pray for us: for we trust that we have a good conscience, being willing to behave ourselves well in all things.
19 And I beseech you the more to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner.
20 And may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead the great pastor of the sheep, our Lord Jesus Christ, in the blood of the everlasting testament,
21 Make you perfect in every good work, that you may do his will: working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ: to whom is glory for ever and ever.  Amen.
22 And I beseech you, brethren, that you suffer the word of consolation.  For I have written to you in few words.
23 Know ye that our brother, Timothy, is set at liberty: with whom (if he come shortly) I will see you.
24 Salute all your prelates, and all the saints.  The brethren of Italy salute you.
25 Grace be with you all.  Amen.
____________________
*
2:  Rom. xii. 13.; 1 Pet. iv. 9. --- ** Gen. xviii. 3. and xix. 2.
5:  Josue ii. 5.
6:  Ps. cxvii. 6.
11:  Lev. xvi. 27.
[14:?] Mich. ii. 10.
====================
====================

Shinto temple , it has some similarity to Catholic church, it has high altar, priest is facing God , not toward people.  High Altar is elevated from other area. and there is rolled up blind between high altar and rest, in this picture it is open.

Ohio gozaimasu AgnesRoma sama,

Do itashimashite.

I read the links.

People have been chasing the ten lost tribes of Israel for a very long time. Those tribes were absorbed into Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq) a very long time ago, well before the Incarnation of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

The mikoshi is an equivalent of the Buddhist butsudan and the pagan Mesopotamian and Graeco-Egyptienne and earlier Semitic boxes to carry idol statues of pagan gods. It is what is inside the box that matters. Just like a pagan temple including Shinto shrines. It is what is worshiped there that matters. False gods and all goddesses (all goddesses are false gods), including all the Kami of Shinto, lead to hell.

A very important note on the Ark of the Covenant of the Hebrews. It is now gone and NOT to be replaced by any material thing.

HEBREWS 9

CHAPTER IX.

The sacrifices of the law were far inferior to that of Christ.

 
verse 8 The Holy Spirit signifying this, that the way of the holies was not yet made manifest, whilst the former tabernacle was yet standing.

Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ IS the Person who completes forever the Eternal Covenant of God. The Ark of the covenant of the Hebrews only pointed the way to Him. Now that He has come, the Ark of wood and metal doesn't matter any more at all.

HEBREWS 9

CHAPTER IX.

The sacrifices of the law were far inferior to that of Christ.


verse 11 But Christ coming, a high priest of the good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hand, that is, not of this creation:

verse 12 Neither by the blood of goats, or of calves, but by his own blood, entered once into the sanctuary, having obtained eternal redemption.

The Kami of the Shinto religion are false gods/goddesses directly related to ancient Mesopotamian gods/goddesses through the burial mound religion of Mesopotamia which is the exact source of the original Japanese burial mound religion that Shinto came from.

Amaterasu is the ancient Japanese sun goddess version of the mother goddess of the ancient world. The original mother goddess from which all other mother goddesses of the entire world originate is Nammu of Osiria-Mesopotamia, the land of Shinar. It is the Devil as a serpent goddess. It may not be worshiped by Catholics, not ever. Amaterasu is said to give birth to three other goddesses which makes her a triple goddess and therefore the Japanese equivalent to Isis the Egyptian Gnostic goddess of black magic. Shinto worships the forces of nature and nature worship is pagan and also constitutes the very grievous sin of witchcraft. Catholics worship the God who created nature but we do not worship nature - that is a form of idolatry and forbidden by God.

Concerning non-Christian (pagan) festivals, Catholics may observe but NOT participate; they may not host such things either for that is participation.

Here is the central temple of Shinto and Amaterasu, Ise Jingu, Mie prefecture, Japan:



The posts in the below...

The only building on the empty site, which retains its sacredness for the intervening twenty years, is a small wooden shed or hut (oi-ya) inside of which is a post about seven feet high known as shin-no-mihashira (literally the august column of the heart, or more freely translated as sacred central post). The new shrine will be erected over and around this post which are the holiest and most mysterious objects in the Ise Shrine. They remain hidden at all times.

...are idols just like the forbidden tree idols and poles etc. all forbidden by God in the Old Testament and the New Testament. In particular the pole or post is an idol and sign of the mother goddess which is in actuality the Devil. Catholics may never worship the mother goddess. That would be apostasy.

For information only:

Sacred Places: Shrine at Ise, Japan

http://witcombe.sbc.edu/sacredplaces/ise.html
ISE SHRINE, JAPAN


Trees and stones have long been objects of deep devotion in Japan. Originally there were no shrine buildings; instead a tree, forest, or a large boulder or a mountain, festooned with ropes, would be the focus of worship.

In Japan the mysterious forces of nature, called ke, were believed to permeate palpable matter and formless space (collectively called mono in Japanese) to create mononoke. Mononoke was seen to coalesce in trees and stones. Certain trees, especially the cryptomeria and the evergreen sakaki, were considered sacred for this reason. When one of these trees was felled and the wood used in the construction of a shrine, this sacred quality was believed to follow it into the building. The sacred tree itself was literally and symbolically present in the form of a pillar or post around which the shrine was constructed.

The great Shinto shrine at Ise is built amid a dense forest of giant cryptomeria trees next to the Isuzu River at the foot of Mount Kamiji and Mount Shimaji in the Mie Prefecture [see Mie Prefecture] in southern Honshu, Japan. Crossing the Uji Bridge and passing through the large torii gate marking the entrance to the shrine, a long path leads to Ise Jingu (Ise Grand Shrine).

The shrine consists of two groups of buildings: the Imperial Shrine (Kotai Jingu), also known as the Naiku (inner shrine), and the Toyouke Shrine (Toyouke Daijingu ) which constitutes the Geku or outer shrine. The Naiku is dedicated to the Sun Goddess Amaterasu Omikami (Heaven-Illuminating Great Deity), and the Geku to the Goddess of Cereals Toyouke Omikami (Abundant Food Great Deity). Each shrine is composed of a number of buildings, including ancillary shrines, workshops, storehouses, etc. Each shrine has an inner precinct with a main sanctuary and two attendant shrines, as well as treasuries, fences, and gates.

Both shrines are constructed of wood, and every twenty years both are totally rebuilt on an adjoining site. The empty site of the previous shrine (called the kodenchi) is strewn with large white pebbles. The only building on the empty site, which retains its sacredness for the intervening twenty years, is a small wooden shed or hut (oi-ya) inside of which is a post about seven feet high known as shin-no-mihashira (literally the august column of the heart, or more freely translated as sacred central post). The new shrine will be erected over and around this post which are the holiest and most mysterious objects in the Ise Shrine. They remain hidden at all times.


 
The oi-ya in the old shrine compound of the Naiku

Kenzo Tange and Noboru Kawazoe (p. 167, see Bibliography below) suggest that:

the erection of a single post in the center of a sacred area strewn with stones represents the form taken by Japanese places of worship in very ancient times; the shin-no-mihashira would thus be the survival of a symbolism from a very pimitive symbolism to the present day.

The present buildings reproduce the temple first ceremoniously rebuilt in 692 CE by Empress Jito. The first temple had been built by her husband Emperor Temmu (678-686), the first Mikado to rule over a united Japan.

Emperor Temmu had established Ise as the principal cult shrine of Imperial Japan, but the site itself, and the cryptomeria trees that grew on it, were already sacred before then. The cryptomeria is a tree associated with Shinto shrines. The principal sacred plant of Shinto, however, is the sakaki (a shrub related to the tea bush). The shin-no-mihashira is taken to represent a branch of the sakaki stuck upright in the ground.

The chambers of the shrines are raised on timber piles which themselves are analogous to the central sacred post. The roof is not supported by the walls (although the rafters do rest on purlins), but the ridge beam is carried instead by two large columns at either end which embedded directly into the ground without any foundation.

Besides trees, at the Ise Shrine are many subsidiary shrines of rocks from the sea which are regarded as the abodes (iwakura or rock abodes) of deities.

Bibliography:

Kenzo Tange and Noboru Kawazoe, Ise: Prototype of Japanese Architecture, Cambridge, Massachusetts: M.I.T. Press, 1965.

Yasutada Watanabe, Shinto Art: Ise and Izumo Shrines, New York: Weatherhill, 1974 (first published in Japanese, 1964).

The Roots of Japanese Architecture, a photographic quest by Yukio Futagawa, with text and commentary by Teiji Itoh, New York: Harper & Row, 1963 (first published in Japanese, 1962).

SACRED PLACES is written and produced by Christopher L. C. E. Witcombe, Professor, Department of Art History, Sweet Briar College, Virginia, 24595 USA


__________________________________________________________________


May Jesus Christ guide you and keep you in the love He shares with the Father Almighty,

Sayonara AgnesRoma sama.

Konnichiwa AgnesRoma sama,

More Japanese martyrs.


Freemasons hate God and His Christ and the Catholic Church - Truman was warned ahead of time that Catholics were being targeted by the nuclear strikes and there were other places that could be hit instead. True to his Freemasonic demonism he went ahead and insisted that the nuclear bombs be dropped where they had been planned - Urakami Cathedral in the northern part of the city of Nagasaki was the exact ground zero where the atomic bomb exploded on August 9, 1945 and the most ancient Japanese Catholics perished in fire - but not the fire that burns forever. Before that, Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 was destroyed by a nuclear weapon and also then, with Truman's knowledge ahead of time, there were Catholics very close to ground zero. Ground zero was 350m from Honkawa Elementary School.

Freemason Harry S. Truman saw to it that the Japanese, especially the most ancient Catholic Christians of Japan and children, suffered by the nuclear hell of a man made sun come upon earth.


Japan Congress Against A- and H-Bombs

PHOTOGRAPHS OF
HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI



7. The Urakami Cathedral Destroyed In An Instant


The cathedral collapsed at the burst of the A-bomb and scores cf believers died, sharing the same fate. Then, fire broke out. It is said that the remains of the cathedral continued to further collapse with eerie thuds even after dark. It is also said that there were 1,400 believers in Urakami at the time of the bombing, and 850 were killed by the A-bomb.

In the ruins of the cathedral, there were many stone statues of the saints in the heaps of broken bricks and stones. The photograph shows part of the outer wall of the south entrance where the statues of the Holy Mother and Saint John lie turned red by the heat rays. Also, the shadow in the lower left of the photograph shows that the largest twin tower in the Orient fully received the blast and was shifted 8 centimeters from the foundation stone.

The building of this cathedral began in 1985 and it took 30 years to be completed in Urakami, a village then, where the believers have kept their faith since Christianity was introduced to Japan, and even through the years of the Edo period(1603-1867) when Christianity was prohibited. The building employed the Romanesque style, using stones and bricks. This cathedral had a floor space of 1,162 sq. meters and tower 26 meters high. The current Urakami Cathedral was built in 1959. Part of the destroyed cathedral is preserved at the hypocenter.

Stephanos II sama

you have studied Japanese history very well, and know about them very well.
I came  from about 30 km ( 20 miles , north of Saitobaru ) .
I went there often,  and when I used to  work in road construction , when I was young adult, late teenage years.  I have heard many story about Kofun, burial mound.  there are so many of them where I come from.  every time , there is new road construction, they always hit at least one, sometime larger one.  Large one are may be 100 ft in diameter, and 30 - 40 ft in height.   because such large number, archeologists do not have enough time to inspect them, often I heard they just come over and take some pictures and government officials give permission to destroy them. I heard when they destroy them, they uncover many artifact, clay doll, so on.    
some  construction workers collected many of artifact mostly statues made of clay, clay pots, other unknown things made out of clay.  my grand parents house are actually build on parts of large burial mound, about 200 ft in diameter.  I heard often they find many ancient material such as arrow spear, so on.  also there was small shrine on the top of burial mound.
if any one, interested in those things, it would been interesting to work in road construction at that time, when there were building a lot of new road, specially in certain area on the city.