The Takenouchi manuscripts are a set of mysterious documents that were rewritten by a man named Takenouchino Matori 1,500 years ago in a mixture of Japanese and Chinese characters, transcribed from even older texts. According to legend, the original documents were written in divine characters many millennia ago by ‘the gods. The unusual texts tell a story of humanity in a way that has never been told before, starting from the beginning of creation up until the emergence of Christianity. They talk of an era in our ancient past where mankind lived in peace and harmony, united under the rule of the son of a Supreme God.
The Origins and Preservation of the Takenouchi Documents
The Takenouchi documents are said to be preserved by the Takenouchi family, descendants of Takenouchino Matori, son of the legendary Japanese hero Takenouchi no Sukune. According to Yamane Kiku in his book “The Authentic History of the World Secreted Away in Japan”, the original manuscripts were handed down from generation to generation and kept within the Kosokotaijingu Shrine in Mount Omijin in Toyamam Prefecture.
Takeshiuchi Sukune (Public Domain)
It is not clear how Takenouchino Matori translated the supposedly ‘divine language’, but according to modern transcriptions, the Takenouchi documents describe the history of all nations in the ‘Divine Era’. They talk of an ancient world which evolved in four different periods of time starting around 300 billion years ago:
- Seven generations of ‘heavenly gods’ in the Tenjin era, Each generation has sub-generations the Tenjin Era (7 generations),
- The Joko/Koto era consisting of 25 generations
- The Fukiaezu dynasty consisting of 73 generations
- The Kanyamato dynasty, which includes 125 generations, starting in 660BC and continuing to this day.
The Chrysanthemum Flower Seal: Symbolism and Historical Significance
In the beginning, the story goes that the world was a sea of mud, which took 22 billion years to form. The first God and Goddesses emerged, the heavens and the Earth were separated, and the Sun and Moon were created. Gradually, Earth took form during a period of 6 generations. In the fifth generation, the Gods gave birth to the Creator of Nations, who descended to Mount Kurai in Japan, dressed in a ‘shiny’ body.
During the period of the seventh generation, various beings developed technologies including transportation and writing, weather control, farming technology and computers. This seventh generation started the beginning of the lineage of World Emperors starting with Sumera-Mikoto, an ancient Japanese word. The Takenouchi documents refer to the Sumera-Mikoto as the ‘Son of the Sun’, since he descended from the Sun God.
The children of the Sun God started the High Ancient Dynasty and after 8 billion years, their sons and daughters were sent all over the world to start their own nations. In the Takenouchi documents, the account of human creation does not follow the path of evolution. Rather, it was the Gods that created humans, and the sons of Gods created five types of colored people (white, red, blue, yellow, and black) and scattered them all over the Earth. Japan became the center of the world, from where the Gods created races and dispersed them outwards.
The Koto Era was the womb of the creation of a unified world government under the reign of the first god emperor, the Sumera-Mikoto. Sumera-Mikoto divided the world into 16 regions with Japan at its center, appointing a king to rule over each region. The crest off the Sumera-Mikoto, the 16-petal chrysanthemum, symbolizes the world and its 16 regions. This crest, known today as the Chrysanthemum Flower Seal is still used today as the Imperial Seal of Japan, a crest used by members of the Japanese Imperial family. Under the Meiji Constitution (1890-1947), no one was permitted to use the Imperial Seal except the Emperor of Japan.
The passport of Japan contains the 16-petal chrysanthemum. (Public Domain)
But the 16-petal chrysanthemum has not only been used in Japan. It was also present on the Ishtar Gate of Babylon (a reconstruction using original bricks is now shown in the Pergamon Museum, Berlin), at the Alhambra Palace in Spain, and at various locations in Rome, Egypt, and elsewhere. Is it a coincidence, or is there an ancient connection?
Bas-relief on the Ishtar Gate at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, showing three 16-petal chrysanthemums. (ALE!/CC BY-SA 3.0)
Governance by Divine Appointment
According to the Takenouchi manuscripts, the seat of this world government was located in the Hida Mountains in Japan. The Kosokotaijingu Shrine was the most sacred of all, dedicated to the ancestors of mankind. It is said that the shrine was built with a non-rusting metal called hihiiro-kane. According to the Takenouchi documents, all five colored races of humanity visited the shrine to celebrate in an annual festival.
The documents state that Sumera-Mikoto made frequent tours all around the world. He travelled in a flying vessel called Ameno-ukifune (‘floating ships’). The documents tell us that the places that these vessels landed were named ‘hane’ (‘winds’). Many places in Japan have names that include the word ‘hane’. These, according to the Takenouchi documents, were ancient landing sites. Even today, one of the Tokyo airports is called Haneda airport.
The Hida Mountains seen from Mount Kashimayari (Alpsdake/CC BY-SA 3.0)
The ancient social system was based on agriculture. People cultivated the land as farmers of the Sumera-Mikoto. The land was owned by the Gods but administered by the people.
Although the land was leased, there was no tax involved. There was no one to control or exploit them. People could enjoy the fruits of their labor. The Sumera-Mikoto aimed to bring happiness to his people, who in return loved and respected him.
However, Sumera-Mikoto would decide who would be king of a region and who not, he had the power to add or remove a person based on their governing abilities. This reminds us of the accounts given in the ancient Sumerian texts where the first kings were appointed directly by Gods, while the first kings were the Gods.
The Decline of the Golden Era: Disobedience and Catastrophe
The Takenouchi documents also refer to pyramids. According to the documents they were either human-made structures or human-molded hills that Sumera-Mikoto would use to communicate with the heavenly Gods. The texts mention the building of numerous ‘hiramito’ (‘shrines’) for the coming of the sun god. The word ‘pyramid’ is said to be derived from the word ‘hiramito’.
As with many other ancient mythologies, the golden era at some point comes to an end, usually when humans begin to be disobedient to their Gods, and this was the case during the Fukiaezu dynasty, which saw the end of many millennia of peace and prosperity. Catastrophic upheavals caused two continents in the Pacific Ocean, Tamiara and Miyoi, to sink into the sea and at the very end of this Era, an enormous earthquake caused a 200-metre (656.16 ft) tsunami that devastated Japan. These disasters were brought on by the ‘corruption’ of the human spirit. People forgot Sumera-Mikoto and became arrogant, provoking the wrath of their Gods.
Sumera-Mikoto. (Public Domain)
The Unusual Narrative of Moses and Jesus in Japan
One of the most peculiar aspects of the Takenouchi documents is the account of Moses and Jesus, who are both said to have ended up in Japan. Even more surprising is the fact that their supposed tombs can still be visited today. The so-called grave of Jesus (who is said to have lived up to the age of 106), can be found in the remote mountains of northern Japan in a strange little town known as Shingo, in the Aomori Prefecture. The town calls itself Kirisuto no Sato (‘Hometown of Christ’), and just a few minutes’ drive from the center of town is an 8-foot-high (2.43 m) wooden cross surrounded by a white picket fence, which sits on a bluff in the woods overlooking a gravel parking lot.
According to the Takenouchi texts, Moses too ended up in Japan where he is said to have lived for 583 years. His supposed grave can be found today at the foot of Mount Hodatsu in Ishikawa Prefecture.
"Tomb of Christ" in Shingo, Aomori, Japan. (thor hestnes/CC BY 3.0)
The Lost Origins: Confiscation and Disappearance of the Original Manuscripts
Trying to unravel the origins and authenticity of the Takenouchi documents is now an impossible task as the original manuscripts were allegedly confiscated by government authorities and later lost. As a result, much speculation has circulated regarding the accuracy, and indeed the agenda, of the Takenouchi texts.
According to Ichiro Yamane, grandson of Kiku Yamane, who wrote the book “The Authentic History of the World Secreted Away in Japan”, the Takenouchi Documents were propagandistic documents, written by the Japanese military to justify the Japanese Emperor ruling the world. Remember that according to the Takenouchi documents, humanity started from Japan, and Japan was the center of the world.
In the 19th century, Kiyomaro Takenouchi founded an offshoot of the Shinto religion based on the Takenouchi documents. Could the manuscripts have been created to give birth to another religion?
Today the mainstream opinion is that the Takenouchi documents are nothing more than a hoax, and an elaborate one at that. Others maintain that they may have their roots in truth. However, with the original texts now missing, it is one mystery that will probably never be solved.
Top Image: Takenouchi no Sukune, Japanese, 19th century, Source: Harvard Art Museums
By John Black
This article was updated by an Ancient Origins editor in Oct 2024.
References
Bird, W. 2011. Behold! Christ’s grave in Shingo, Aomori Prefecture. Available at: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2011/12/25/travel/behold-christs-grave-in-shingo-aomori-prefecture/#.U7846fmSx8H
Morrow, A. The Sacred Science of Ancient Japan. Bear & Company, Canada.
Unknown. Hidden History of Mankind and Earth. Available at: http://www.takenouchi-documents.com/
Wikipedia. Mahikari. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahikari#Takenouchi_Documents
The Takenouchi Manuscripts are purported ancient texts that claim to offer a comprehensive account of human history from creation to the dawn of Christianity. These manuscripts, rewritten by Takenouchino Matori around 1,500 years ago, are said to contain narratives of divine beings, world emperors, and significant historical events.
story of humanity in manuscripts
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as usual there is a mix of true with a parts of false ,so they could bent the true to bring more power for
themself , a trick as old as mankind....
from what i have seen and read there was a special civilization around12,000 years bc .
ishtar was the godess of the sumerians and was show as a women in that time.
i will say that almost all ''god'' have seem to have some kind of physical presence. they were also what we
call now '' a high tech civilization'' and there was many contact between them and human kind
like the tribe in amazon and us ,the first contact with a helicopter could afraid them.
and they had some way to travel ,because often a new idea appear one place
and then spread around the world
Secrecy in Western Academia
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Western History has to keep this story secret, to conceal human history that began as interventions of "the Gods," who were ETs ... which agree with Sumerian and Mayan histories, essentially.
Dont know much about the
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In reply to Secrecy in Western Academia by Emily Windsor-Cragg (not verified)
Dont know much about the Sumerians, but how did you get the Mayan connection? I dont really see that anywhere tbh
I had never heard of these
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I had never heard of these documents before...I'm totally intrigued!!!!
In the beginning, the story
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In the beginning, the story goes that the world was a sea of mud, which took 22 billion years to form. The first God and Goddesses emerged, the heavens and the Earth were separated and the Sun and Moon were created.
This part is very interresting, and is somehow similar in few ways to the behinning story in Islam.
The heavens and earth were seperated and then there was the creationg of the sun and moon, similar to the creation of universe in Islam, wich says that the earth and sky (everything all together) was one, intill God seperated them and then created all the stars and planets, and Earth and the moon (today we call it BigBang)
The world was a sea of mud, then the first god and godess appeared, in Islam, is it said that God created Adam and Eve from mud (it can be a metaphor, litteral, or the beginning of the appearence of life and then mankind and going throught evolution, wich is supported by Islam btw, infact, many Islamic phelosophers mentioned evolution before Darwin).
I think that all ancient myths have an origin, a source of inspiration that made that story appear, just like the modern urban legends, they all have an original event from wich the myth came from, and by time the myth change and change intill it is very far fetched from reality.
Imagine our civilisation gone, the survivals tell their children that they once had TVs and lamps, but they have to describe them, they'd say, glowing balls of light (lamps), box that tells and show stories, a small object that let you talk to anyone anywhere at any time, as time goes and the story goes from a generation to another, the story changes more.