The name"Hata-no-Irogu", however, is thought to be an error. The correct reading is "Hata-no-Iroko." Again, Iroko may also be Uroko, for there is an another document where it is depicted as "Hata-no-Uroko". Uroko means scale, as in a fish's scales. Scale in one's name sounds somewhat uncanny but Shinto priests of Fushimi-Inari-shrine have had names related to fish. I shall refer to this later. But for now, the center of our attention is Hata-no-Irogu.

As the Hata clan was the major cultural and industrial contributor of their time, they had been engaged in business such as sericulture since antiquity. And they were tremendously wealthy. It goes without saying that Hata-no-Irogu was one of them. According to the Yamashiro-no-kuni Fudoki (local report of Yamashiro region), he had once set a kagamimochi (a pounded rice cake usually dedicated to a deity) against the wall to utilize it as an archery target.

Many of us experienced being scolded by our parents to not waste food. But what Hata-no-Irogu was doing was exactly what we had been told not to do. As wealthy as he was, he must had enough food to waste. He must have thought of shooting arrows into a piece of mochi when he was looking for something fun to do.

But such a wicked deed shall never be allowed. When he was about to shoot, the mochi turned into a white bird and flew off. Chasing it, he saw the bird land on the peak of a mountain. When he got there he saw rice ripening at the very location where the bird had landed.

Hata-no-Irogu realized that this was God's doing and reflected on his own conduct. He established a shrine on the spot where the rice had grown and named it after the Inari Shrine (Inari, meaning "growing rice"). Since then, the Hata clan began to handle rice with due respect.

Folklorists point out that rice and white birds are closely related. The legend of Hata-no-Irogu signifies the belief that the spirit of rice takes on the figure of a bird. Cleaned rice, which is called white rice in Japan, and white birds. Both are connected with the color white.

But if we consider this from the theory of the Hatas being primitive Christian Jews, there can be another interpretation. Let us first look at "mochi". "Mochi" is made of rice and this leads us to misunderstand it as being unique to Asian nations where rice is grown. But mochi is not only made of rice. Mochi can be made of millet or even of wheat.

Mochi made of wheat is bread. The bread we usually consume uses yeast to leaven it. Unleavened bread is nothing other than mochi.

Jewish people observe an important ritual called Passover every year. On New Year's Day of the Jewish calendar, family members gather and spend the night without sleep. This is an event memorizing the famous Exodus. And on this day, people eat unleavened bread; in other words, mochi. In Hebrew, they call this mochi "Matzoh". "Mochi" and "Matzoh", sounds somewhat similar, don't they? In fact, "Matzoh" varies in pronunciation depending on the region. In the eastern regions, in particular Russia, they pronounce it "mochi".

Passover is observed on the day the year is renewed. In Japan, it's the New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. And the food Japanese eat on New Year's Day is the mochi. Furthermore, on Passover, there is a custom to eat it with some herbs and this resembles the Nanakusa-gayu (a gruel with seven types of herbs) we eat during the New Year's holidays.

Why do Japanese eat mochi on New Year's? This may had been a culture brought into Japan by the primitive Christian Jews, the Hata clan. Passover was an important ritual for primitive Christians as well. Jesus Christ had supper with his apostles on the night before he was crucified. The Last Supper, as it is known. And this, in fact, was the ritual of Passover. Jesus Christ was enjoying mochi with his apostles on New Year's Eve.

N.B. All the names are expressed with last name first as in the Japanese custom .

Translated by Rie Ishida