It seems my 3-year-old son has memories of a past life…

[1] What should I do? Should I take him to a temple for an exorcism or something? He’s talking more and more each day, and it’s getting scary.

An exorcism”” (oharai), in Shinto or Buddhism, is when a priest or monk performs a specific ritual to remove misfortune, impurities, evil spirits, etc.“

[2] Both my wife and I are atheists and not interested in the occult… but his stories and the facts just line up too well, it’s uncannily accurate.

• [3] Watching. Details.

[5] >>3 Apparently, he was a soldier who lived back in the Sengoku period? Or something like that.

• [8] >>5 You said the facts line up, does that mean he’s talking about things consistent with actual history?

[14] >>8 Yeah. Like, he mentioned placing a weird pebble on a severed head. I looked it up later, and apparently, when they cut off someone’s head, they used stones to prop it up so it would stand straight when displayed. How would a 3-year-old know that? It really sent shivers down my spine.

• [4] Record it on video!

[5] >>4 No way, it’s too creepy.

• [7] Just raise him as he is.
• [9] I’ve heard that memories of past lives usually fade as the child grows older.

[10] The first time I noticed something strange was when my son was drawing. It was a weird picture of three severed heads lined up on a stand. When I asked, “Why are you drawing something like that?” he said, “It’s for my comrades!!”

• [12] >>10 Whoa…
• [18] >>10 Sounds like a good kid who cares about his comrades.
• [21] >>18 This.
• [11] There are cases overseas where ancient documents were found thanks to children’s testimonies like this, so you can’t just dismiss it.
• [13] Generally, a child’s mind can only comprehend sad or happy events in a childlike way. But kids with past life memories supposedly get adult emotions injected directly, making them prone to instability. Rather than an exorcism, what’s needed is care that values the child’s current self – hugging him, telling him you love him, guiding him on how to process sad memories. An exorcism could imply treating the child’s very existence as an impurity, so be careful.
• [15] Anyway, record it just in case. Interview him occasionally.

[16] So, I asked him where he was from, and he said “Kai Province.” Kai is present-day Yamanashi, and sure enough, he seemed to have been with the Takeda clan.

• [17] Sounds like he’ll be a fine samurai in the future.
• [22] I used to work at a nursery, and I heard similar stories. When I looked it up, I was surprised to find similar cases overseas too.

[25] When I asked how old he was when he died, he stuttered and couldn’t answer, but apparently, he died young.

• [26] What about names? His own name, or names of people he knew?

[31] >>26 He mentioned someone called Ōi no Noto-no-kami. Is Noto-no-kami a first name?

• [54] >>31 Ōi no Noto-no-kami… isn’t it Ōi-no-kami 【大炊頭】Chief of the Ōi Bureau (Ōi-ryō)? Equivalent to Junior Fifth Rank, Lower Grade. And ignore the first ‘no’.

[29] Then, when I showed him a map of Japan, he kept pointing insistently at one place, saying, “I died heading here, right here.” The place was Shinshiro City in present-day Aichi Prefecture. It said “Nagashino Castle,” and even though my son can’t write kanji, let alone hiragana, he read it out loud as “Nagashino-jō.”

• [35] >>29 Nagashino Castle, huh. That’s near my hometown! He might have served under Katsuyori.

[47] >>35 Really? I’d love to ask someone knowledgeable about history.

• [32] If it’s true, I’d love to hear his story.

[33] >>32 It’s true. I’m genuinely scared even as I’m typing this…

• [44] >>33 Maybe try overwriting it by showing him stuff like the Crayon Shin-chan Sengoku movie specials? Focus on the kid he is now. Make new memories with your son. My advice is >>13 and that’s it.

[55] >>44 Yeah, maybe. But we can’t really go out much right now… He often talks about these things at night. During the day, he’s normal.

• [36] Did he react to the location on the map, or the written characters?

[47] >>36 Probably because of the distinctive terrain, and also because it was a word he recognized.

• [57] >>47 I was thinking he wouldn’t recognize the location, as maps back then would look too different.
• [37] Apply to that investigation show, Knight Scoop!
• [50] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Nagashino Maybe he died in this.

[55] >>50 That’s a famous one… Apparently, a lot of people died there.

• [51] What kind of scale map of Japan was it?

[63] >>51 It was Google Earth. My hometown is in Aichi, so I was showing him a map of Aichi.

• [69] >>63 You might think, “How could someone from the Sengoku period recognize a map on Google Earth?” Don’t worry about it. It could just be memories of a historical drama he saw as a baby.

[78] >>69 I think he reacted to the words “Nagashino-jō”, though.

• [75] >>63 Why don’t you actually go there? There’s a Nagashino history museum too.

[85] >>75 I’d like to go someday. But it’s the place where he died. Is that okay?

• [99] >>85 If he doesn’t want to go, it might be better not to force him.

[107] >>99 Probably. Maybe it’s not a good memory, he’s become less talkative about it. He seemed happy when I talked about Shingen, so maybe he likes Shingen.

• [108] >>107 (lol)

[114] >>108 When I showed him a portrait of Shingen from that era online, he was like “Whoa— Whoa—!!”

• [115] >>114 Stop it, that’s hilarious.
• [62] Try asking him if he remembers a place called Furutate Castle.

[78] >>62 OK, I’ll ask him.

• [58] There is a Momoi who was Noto-no-kami.

[63] >>58 A warrior you know?

• [72] He was a Noto-no-kami from the Nanboku-chō period. A guy named Momoi Moriyoshi.

[78] >>72 His family name is Ōi, so probably not him.

• [76] >>72 It’s probably this one. Momoi no Noto-no-kami.

[85] >>76 Did he die in the Battle of Nagashino?

• [93] >>85 I don’t know.
• [74] http://www.isc.meiji.ac.jp/~metapsi/psi/7-3.htm Not sure if this helps, but here you go. I think it’s unlikely a small child would have the opportunity to absorb that kind of knowledge, so I believe past life memories exist.
• [79] I love these kinds of stories. Reincarnation must be real.
• [82] It’s strange that he could understand the characters, though, given they likely used cursive script (sōshotai) back then.
• [84] >>82 It probably just means he can read modern hiragana too.

[85] >>82 I looked it up, that applies more to full texts. Apparently, individual words and key place names are relatively readable.

• [86] Wow, it takes that long to be reincarnated after dying?
• [91] >>86 It’s possible he had other lives in between. The memory that stuck might just be from a distant past life.

[94] >>86 I don’t know… Sometimes he seems tormented in his sleep at night, muttering “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

• [90] Why is the son’s first-person pronoun “boku”? Was “boku” used in the Sengoku period? Doesn’t he say things like “sessha”?

“Sessha” is an archaic, humble first-person pronoun primarily used by samurai during the feudal era. It is not typically used in modern times.

• [96] >>90 Probably influenced by his parents.

[100] >>90 If he inherited every single memory from his past life, conversation would be impossible. He does occasionally say things like “soregashi,” though.

“Soregashi” is also an archaic first-person pronoun, similar to “sessha.”

• [101] >>100 This part sounds fake.
• [106] Speaking of which, while I don’t remember a past life, I do remember being inside my mom’s womb.
• [109] It seems like these past life memories mostly disappear by age 7 or so. I don’t think you need to worry, but if the past life person had lingering regrets, maybe fulfilling them could be good. Apparently, past life memories often involve strong feelings like resentment.

[111] >>109 Well, he died in battle, so it must have been intense.

• [110] Sounds a lot like my childhood.
• [112] I know the past life of an acquaintance, and he was reincarnated within a year. The Sengoku period was quite a while ago, wasn’t it? Why would he be remembering such an old memory now?
• [113] >>112 If memory inheritance itself exists, it’s a supernatural phenomenon, so there are probably things we just don’t understand.
• [127] >>113 Yeah, there are definitely things we don’t understand.
• [117] Hey… if he died in battle, he wouldn’t have memories of arranging his comrades’ severed heads, right? I mean, the heads you line up are the enemy’s, right? If it were allies’ heads, you’d attach them to the body with bamboo or something and cremate them, right? So doesn’t that mean he actually survived the battle itself and was offering up enemy heads?

[124] >>117 No, you’d understand that arranging the heads happened before he died in battle (lol).

• [133] >>124 I don’t think so. You wouldn’t have the leisure for that on a battlefield. Wasn’t it maybe that he was offering the heads of enemy commanders for the sake of his comrades?

[141] >>133 Is that how it was…? What a brutal memory.

[118] By the way, we have absolutely no connection to Shinshiro, where Nagashino is located.

• [121] >>1 Memories of past lives eventually fade, so don’t worry about it. Originally, all babies are born with past life memories, but they forget due to a phenomenon called infantile amnesia, allowing their current personality to form. In very rare cases where the shock of past life memories is too strong, they might remember until around age 5, but even those fade as memories from the current life accumulate.
• [128] Maybe this current life is actually hell. The memories persist because they’re painful, so maybe death really is salvation.

[129] Besides the picture of the severed heads, he also drew pictures of horses and weird huts on fire.

• [139] There’s something romantic about this stuff.
• [148] Honestly, I’m kind of excited.
• [250] Actually, I have past life memories too~. But I have memories of the life before the last one, and all my past lives, so maybe my brain will explode when I reincarnate next time~.