Epitome of the Ancient History of Japan

"McLeod gives a list of the emperors of Japan...the first of them is Osee...the same name as that of the last King of Israel." -The American Israelite, May 18, 1905
"McLeod in his book 'Epitome of the Ancient History of Japan'...points out the agreement between the first known king of Japan, Osee, 730 B.C. and the last king of Israel who was Hosea, who died in 722 B.C." -Buffalo Times, Feb. 3, 1924
"Contains proofs of the Japanese descent from Osee, the last king of Israel." -A Bibliography of the Japanese Empire (1895)
"The descendants of a Negro race may also be seen in different parts of the country." -Nicholas McLeod
"Spent decades in Japan, wrote Japanese history as a history of the ten tribes in the Japanese isles." -The Ten Lost Tribes: A World History (2009)
"McLeod self-published several books theorizing the Japanese people were actually Israelites." -Early Mormon Missionary Activities in Japan (2010)
"Speculated that Japanese people themselves may be direct descendants of part of the Ten Lost Tribes." -Jesus: From India to Japan (2017)
"One group was what he called the Japanese Jewish people, even mentioned a black race, similar to those in Africa." -Rediscovering Japan (2010)
"A good summary of evidence for Jewish origins found by that author, still mentioned by proponents today." -The Sacred Science of Ancient Japan (2014)

Can evidence of the Lost Tribes of Israel be found in Japan? Yes, the holy class of Japan is descended from the Lost Tribes of Israel; the first known king of Japan was called Osee and came to the throne in 730 B.C., identifying him with Hoshea, the last king of Israel, who died in 722 B.C. Or so claims Nicholas McLeod in his 1878 book "Epitome of the Ancient History of Japan."

A Scot who started his career in the herring industry before he ended up in Japan as a missionary, Nicholas McLeod (1868–1889) was a native of the Isle of Skye, Scotland, who was known for his theory that the Japanese people descended from the Lost Tribes of Israel. McLeod also provides evidence that "descendants of a Negro race" could be found in remote regions of Japan.

McLeod's 1878 book contain extensive comparisons of the religious rituals of Judaism and Shintoism as evidence of the links between ancient Israel and Japan.

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.'"

Regarding dark-skinned Japanese, McLeod writes:

"In my travels I came across the remnants of a Black Race, nearly all of them had the woolly head and features of the Negro... Negro faces are to be seen scattered up and down the Empire; they have the complexion of a Mulatto. ...The Japanese called them Black Devils."

McLeod's remarkable book is still cited to the present day by proponents of the Japanese Jewish ancestry theory.