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Ōmoto

A Shintō-derived new religion founded in 1892 by Deguchi Nao and shaped by Deguchi Onisaburō, suppressed twice by the state for its messianic teachings.

Definition

Founded in Ayabe in 1892 when the illiterate widow Deguchi Nao (1837–1918) began automatic writing under the inspiration of Ushitora-no-Konjin. Her son-in-law Deguchi Onisaburō (1871–1948) reorganised the movement into a Shintō-style church proclaiming a coming "World Renewal" (Tatekae-tatenaoshi). The Japanese government violently suppressed Ōmoto in 1921 and again in 1935 (the Second Ōmoto Incident), destroying its main shrines. Reconstituted after 1945, Ōmoto remains influential as the parent body of later movements such as Sekai Kyūseikyō, Seichō no Ie, and Mahikari, and through its Esperanto-based universalism.

Etymology

ō ("great") + moto ("origin, source")