Nestorian stele replica at Mt koysan

User avatar
FiveSkandhas
Posts: 917
Joined: Sat Jun 29, 2019 6:40 pm

Re: Nestorian stele replica at Mt koysan

Post by FiveSkandhas »

In 1911, with the full cooperation of Kōyasan’s clergy, Mrs. Gordon had this “most valuable historical monument in the World” copied and installed in the forest cemetery.

This quote makes it seem that the monument on Koyasan is a 1911 copy of the China momument, rather than an ancient Japanese monument. Frankly this would make more sense to me.

There is strong evidence for a Nestorian presence in early medieval China, and I am quite sure that the monument there is of ancient provenance, which is the general scholarly consensus as well. However evidence for Christianity in Japan during this period is much more patchy and most of it appears to be rank forgery written by a certain eccentric missionary, or by Japanese who would like to imagine an ancient connection.

Everything "reputable" I have read about the possibility of Christianity in Japan before the Portuguese arrival in the 1500s is full of qualifiers like "could be" "might have been" "indicates the possibility" and so on. There appears to be no "hard scholarly" evidence for early medieval Christianity in Japan. That doesn't mean there were not some influences, but all remains speculation, unlike the case of China, where a Nestorian presence is well documented in a variety of ways.
User avatar
Bodhiquest
Posts: 29
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2019 12:39 am

Re: Nestorian stele replica at Mt koysan

Post by Bodhiquest »

FiveSkandhas wrote: Wed Sep 23, 2020 5:11 pm This quote makes it seem that the monument on Koyasan is a 1911 copy of the China momument, rather than an ancient Japanese monument.


That is correct. Many Japanese sources, including what appears to be a Japanese Christian website, confirm.
Post Reply

Return to “Shingon”