Takenouchi bunken, also known as the Takenouchi bunsho or the Isohara bunsho, is an apocryphal document said to be in the possession of the self-proclaimed decendants of Takenouchi Sukune, a semihistorical figure from the third or fourth century C.E. The document is supposed to have been written in the mystical script of the Age of the Gods [sic] (jindai moji), which is proponents assert existed in Japan prior to the adoption of Chinese characters and which is supposed to have contained all the elements of all human languages, including Hebrew, Greek, Egyptian hieroglyphics, Sumerian, the Roman alphabet, Sanskrit, and Chinese. [This is a not a common claim about kamiyo moji, but it is suitably esoteric.] According to these proponents, the Takenouchi Dcoument demonstrates that Japan was the source of all human civilization, unifying within itself all the world's cultures in peace and harmony. Because of a series of primeval natural disasters, however, Japan's power to govern was weakened, and it was forced to relinquish its global hegemony. In the seventh century B.C.E., with the accession of the first emperor, Jimmu, Japan itself [i.e. Japan proper --AHM] was reunited and all the world's great religious leaders, including Moses, the Buddha, Lao-tzu, Confucius, Christ, and Muhammad [sic-- ahistorical to the supposed date of the document], are said to have come to Japan to study before returning to their own countries to preach the Wa to their respective peoples. The Takenouchi Dcoument continues to be cited by common ancestry theorists and other mystics even today. See, for example, Yamane Kiku, Kiristo [sic] wa Nippon de shinde iru: ishoku kōshoō—uchū kōkogaku no genten [Christ Died in Japan: Sources of Cosmic Archaeology, An Unorthodox Study], (Tama shuppan, 1958).

In a similar fashion, Okusho Kazuo constructs a comprehensive history of the world based on the apocryphal Takenouchi Document, which he claims to be far older [etc.] ... Okusho develops a highly imaginative, alternative history of Japan according to which Jimmu, the mythical first emperor, who tradition holds ascended the throne in 660 B.C.E., "was actually the 1,169th in the Imperial Lineage."

As mentioned in note 2, above, there are two types of documents available for the study of Mahikari’s teachings: the revelations of Su God and the teachings of Okada himself. The kobunken [ancient documents] are not mentioned in the revelations recorded in the Goseigen, as might be expected, since these revelations are supposed to be the direct and original pronouncements of Su God. Okada, however, cites them frequently in his Kamimuki sanji kaisetsu, where they form an important source for his explanations. But what are these “ancient documents”? According to Andis TEBÉCIS they are a set of records generally referred to as the “Takenouchi Documents” ([1982], pp. 391–92). The Takenouchi Documents are three texts on the ancient history of Japan that were allegedly discovered, together with such artifacts as the stones inscribed with the Ten Commandments, in the tombs of the Takeno- uchi family in Shinmei Village during 1893 or 1894 (OUCHI 1984, p. 14). The Takenouchis, priests of a shrine called Kõso Kõtai Jingū 皇祖皇太神宮, (Imperial ancestors grand shrine), are said to have handed them down through the ages. Okada, Tebécis claims, “said that many historical facts concerning human development, religion, politics and other matters of vital importance to the world are recorded in the Takenouchi Archives or Takenouchi Documents” ([1982], p. 391). TAKEDA Sðgen, too, states that Okada, though he never explicitly declared his sources, “relied in important points directly on the Takenouchi Documents” (1988, p. 31).

It was running down the origins of the legend that led me to the Third Civilization Society. For one of its members is Mr. Takeuchi Yoshimiya, the son of the late Shinto priest Takeuchi Oomaro who first claimed that the Herai tomb-mound is the resting-place of the "Kirisuto". The Takeuchi family lays claim to direct descent from priests who served Japanese emperors ... Central to the intriguing theories of the Third Civilization Society are certain documents purporting to have been salvaged from otherwise prehistoric times by the first of the Takeuchi line and handed own secretly. These documents are now in the possession of Mr. Takeuchi Yoshimiya ... Now, explains Mr. Ogasawara, the time is at hand when mankind is ready for a third civilization which is neither wholly spiritual nor wholly material but a ...