Title: Katsugoro and other Reincarnation Cases in Japan

Author: OHKADO Masayuki

Publisher: Afterworlds Press (April 30, 2024)

ISBN: 9781786772039 (Kindle edition)

Book Review by Athanasios Komianos

I was really impressed by this wonderful book from a very bright Japanese scholar and scientist.

I had the pleasure of meeting him in person at the DOPS (Department of Perceptual Studies) at the University of Virginia back in the summer of 2013. We also had some correspondence sharing evidence on Life-between-Life experiences.

I was shocked to discover that a country like Japan had not had any serious scientific publications on the topic of reincarnation and that Ohkado was the first one to conduct a serious review of older cases and also initiate the interest in his country for new cases to come out in public attention. Ohkado starts off with the historical background of reincarnation in Japan scrolling us through the centuries in all realms of Japanese life from archaeological findings to passages of literature and religious practices.

Kastugoro was one of the cases that inspired the pioneer researcher Dr Ian Stevenson to divert his attention to the concept of reincarnation. Ohkado opens up his book with this impressive and well documented case of the 19th century. Then he moves to more recent cases that were reported by people with alleged psychic abilities. Then he moves to report cases of children with past-life memories that he investigated on his own. As Professor Tucker points out in the preface of the book, Ohkado has something of the zeal and enthusiasm that Ian Stevenson had when he was head of the department. He brings up all the details of the statements of the kids under examination, he provides us with well-read tables and images and children’s paintings that support the particular research and he reminds us once more how elusive and how difficult is to come to a solid verification of the stated material and to find the corresponding former personality. No case of this book comes up as close to verification as the Leininger case of DOPS, which could be rightly called the white crow of reincarnation research. However, despite the difficulties faced by Ohkado, his cases are rather strong and evidential. All cases presented have very interesting insights and twists in the narratives. Overall, it makes a wonderful reading.

I was impressed by Takeharu’s case that remembered how Japan’s biggest battleship the Yamato was sunk by American torpedoes and bombs back in 1945, a story so reminiscent of Bruce Kelly’s death in the American submarine Shark, described and researched so vividly by our late colleague Rick Brown. I think the strongest case in this book is that of Dr Snitko who was born in the USSR back in the fifties, but had such a strong attraction to the Japanese culture that could not be overcome and which persists till today. Another challenging case is that of Risa who displayed the very rare phenomenon of xenoglossy. Ohkado took lots of pain to solve this case and he was very close in doing so by establishing in the most scientific manner that the lady called Risa was the reincarnation of a peasant living in a village a few miles north of Kathmandu. He even visited the village but he could not solve the case since identification of the former personality seemed impossible.

I found more interesting the recollections these Japanese children had about the intermission period, the life-between-life period and its comparison to the experiences with Burmese children (Sharma & Tucker, 2004). It is more than evident that culture makes a difference. Most of the Japanese kids describe of visiting a place located in the clouds and a dark “reflection room” where spirits reflect on their earthly deeds and are helped by a counselor so they can come back to specific parents. As the boy says “nobody is forced to enter the room but those who feel that they did something wrong deliberately enter it to reflect on their conduct.”

As a distinguished scientist he provides all the sources and references at the end of the book so that dedicated researchers will be able to enhance their resources.

I am sure that our colleagues who taught Regression Therapy in Japan, Trisha Caetano and Hans TenDam, will be very delighted by this book.

Finally, I deeply appreciate the fact that Ohkado at the end shares his personal story and how he was motivated for all this research and approached Japanese colleagues of regression therapy and had sessions with them that gave him valuable insights that “he is on the right track” because I am sure he is and I am grateful for his contribution.

I am concluding here with Ohkado’s own words:

Japanese has an expression, “an old man of the age of three” to refer to an amazingly mature, wise child. It also has a proverb: “Children under the age of seven are within the realm of gods.” In interviewing children for their past-life and other memories, I often recall these words and feel they capture the truth.