Nicholas McLeod ( fl. 1868–1889), in some accounts called Norman McLeod, was a native of the

Isle of Skye The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye (; gd, An t-Eilean Sgitheanach or ; sco, Isle o Skye), is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

known for his theory that the Japanese people descended from the

Lost Tribes of Israel The ten lost tribes were the ten of the Twelve Tribes of Israel that were said to have been exiled from the Kingdom of Israel after its conquest by the Neo-Assyrian Empire BCE. These are the tribes of Reuben, Simeon, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Ashe ...

Tudor Parfitt Tudor Parfitt (born 10 October 1944)
Encyclopedia.com is a British historian, wri ...

describes McLeod as

...a Scot who started his career in the
herring Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae. Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, i ...
industry before he ended up in
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
as a missionary...

Beyond that is very little known for certain about him except that he published a book in 1878 in Nagasaki called ''Epitome of the ancient history of Japan'' (cover title: ''Japan and the Lost Tribes of Israel'') and another in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

under the title ''Illustrations to the Epitome of the ancient history of Japan, including illustrations to the guide book''."Rare Books - Important Acquisitions - Illustrations to the Epitome of the ancient history of Japan, including illustrations to the guide book", National Library of Scotland website, 2004 (?), http://www.nls.uk/collections/rarebooks/acquisitions/singlebook.cfm/idfind/416 The thesis of these extraordinary books was that the holy class of

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

is descended from the

. He claimed that the first known king of Japan was called Osee and came to the throne in 730 B.C., identifying him with

Hoshea Hoshea ( he, הוֹשֵׁעַ, ''Hōšēaʿ'', "salvation"; akk, 𒀀𒌑𒋛𒀪 ''A'úsiʾ'' 'a-ú-si-ʾ'' la, Osee) was the nineteenth and last king of the Israelite The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes ...

, the last king of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, who died in 722 B.C. The books contain extensive comparisons of the religious rituals of

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...

and

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintois ...

as evidence of the links between ancient Israel and Japan. McLeod dedicated the book ''Epitome of the ancient history of Japan'' published in 1878 to "Rve. William Mackenzie (Late of North Leith Free Church, Scotland)".Epitome of the ancient history of Japan
N. McLeod According to Zvi Ben-Dor Benite, MacLeod had been a missionary who spent decades in Japan and Korea "searching for the true Israelites". The following passage is an example from the book in which McLeod draws correlations between his observations on Japan and the fulfillment of biblical prophecy.

The civilized race of the Aa. Inus, the Tokugawa and the Machi No Hito of the large towns, by dwelling in the tent or tabernacle shaped houses first erected by Jin Mu Tenno, have fulfilled Noah's prophecy regarding Japhet, "He shall dwell in the tents of Shem."(McLeod, 1878. p. 7)

References

Sources

Jozef Rogala, A Collector's Guide to Books on Japan in English, Routledge, {{DEFAULTSORT:McLeod, Nicholas 1868 births 1889 deaths 19th-century Scottish historians Pseudohistorians Ten Lost Tribes

See also

References

Sources