Religions You’ve Never Heard Of: Omoto
My mind has been entertained over the past few weeks by many interesting thoughts and ideas. It has been difficult to pick one to write about. My indecisiveness made me realize that, in the end, most of them will be covered at some point, so I might as well just start writing. This blog is dedicated to culture as much as politics, so I’ve decided to set the heavier material aside to write about something a little less “charged.”
Through years of reading, I have learned about several religions that I think few people around the world have heard of. These religions have a lot in common. Often their followers are heavily concentrated in a single country or city. Rarely does the number of loyal devotees surpass a few million. They normally espouse beliefs that are more culturally based and/ or branch off from larger, more established faiths. Most importantly; however, the basic tenets and morals of these belief systems aren’t far removed from those of the more “common” faiths around the world.
In an age of increasing division, it never hurts to consider the minds and hearts of others. I’ve decided to write a bit today about a religion called Omoto; a New Japanese Religious Movement that is just over a hundred years old.
Omoto (also written Oomoto or Omoto-Kyo) was founded in 1892 by a Japanese woman named Deguchi Nao. Rumor has it that at the age of 56, Deguchi Nao was possessed by a Japanese folk deity known as Ushitora-No-Konjin, who used her body as a platform from which to speak. Because Ushitora-No-Konjin is a Kami (spirit) often associated with traditional Shinto beliefs, many see Omoto as a splinter movement from older religious practices.
· Coming from a relatively poor and unrenowned family, it is widely believed that Nao’s rise to fame was based solely on her revelations, though there are few primary sources detailing this period of her life. Initially dismissed as insane, Nao’s poorly written spiritual discoveries were indicative of someone with defective mental health and an inadequate educational background. However, Nao managed to persuade many non-believers when she correctly predicted the First Sino-Japanese War two years before it happened.
. She spent some time as a teacher in the more established Konkokyo movement before meeting a man by the name of Ueda Kisaburo. An adept scholar of spiritual possession, Kisaburo began to work closely with Nao. In 1900, he married one of her daughters and adopted the name Deguchi Onisaburo. Modern Omoto is largely based on Nao’s written revelations (I’ve seen them referred to as the Ofudegaki, Ofudesaki and Fudesaki) as well as many of her son-in-law’s teachings.
Not surprisingly, Omoto bred much skepticism and suspicion early on. Some saw the new faith as a bastardization of Shinto beliefs and even a threat to imperial stability. For the first few decades of its existence, it was greatly suppressed. After all, it was one of the few religious movements in Japan that spoke out against armed aggression in the years preceding World War II.
Following the enactment of religious freedom in 1945, Omoto reformed and reemerged as a movement based largely around charity, tolerance and traditional Japanese culture. Today the religion is known for its emphasis on preserving traditions such as the Noh Theater and tea ceremonies. It’s international wing advocates for world peace, unity and intercultural understanding. Omoto followers tend to place great value on the international language Esperanto. In fact, the language’s founder L. L. Zamenhof is considered an influential Kami in the religion. Many of Omoto’s 150,000 or so followers have at least some knowledge of the international language. It shows that sometimes the smallest, most parochial movements can still have a global outlook.
