The Rise of Spiritual Shinto and the Birth of Modern Movements
Ōmoto-kyō and the Religious Movements That Redefined Modern Japan
Until now in this series, we have followed the broad trajectory through which Shinto came to embrace spirituality. A decisive culmination of these developments occurred in the 1890s.
Emerging outside the established Shinto framework of the late Edo period, new religious movements—exemplified by Kurozumikyō, Tenrikyō, and Konkōkyō—began gathering large numbers of adherents as people’s anxieties grew toward the chaotic final years of the Tokugawa shogunate. After the Meiji Restoration, the newly formed government formally recognized these movements under the name “Kyōha Shintō” (the Thirteen Sects of Shinto), granting them official status.
In essence, a spiritual movement arose that rejected codified Shinto, resonating with the unrest many people felt. This movement went on to exert significant influence over the new government’s Shinto policy—ultimately linking to pan-Asian ideals that would later become part of Japan’s national strategy.
A key turning point was the abolition of hereditary Shinto priesthood in 1868, the first year of the Meiji government. This measure completely dissolved the longstanding central authority that the Shirakawa and Yoshida families had held—one that had already been waning under Hirata Atsutane’s unifying influence. In its place, those inspired by the emerging new religious movements, labeled by some as “cults,” established new groups across Japan, creating a major wave of fervent religiosity.
At the same time, the new government aimed to construct a modern nation by placing Shinto at the center of a concept called “saisei itchi (祭政一致)” (the unity of religious rites and governance). As part of this effort, they encouraged priests to proselytize widely. A bureaucratic agency known as the Senkyōshi (“missionary office”) was formed in 1869 for the purpose of educating the populace, yet its actual results fell short. It was disbanded within two years, and much of the practical religious instruction was left to leaders of these new, spiritually driven groups, further intensifying Shinto’s spiritual dimension.
Thus, these new religious movements that had taken shape by the end of the Edo period steadily gained official approval from the Meiji government and were gradually integrated into a national framework. For the first time, countless believers across the country were able to practice a diverse array of Shinto faiths without relying on the Shirakawa or Yoshida families. Riding the winds of this new era, Shinto underwent a dramatic transformation.
In this manner, spirituality became absorbed into the state’s version of Shinto, eventually fueling the emperor-centered worship seen from the prewar period into the wartime era.
All of these currents set the stage for an event in 1892—more than two decades after the Meiji Restoration—that would radically reshape the landscape of modern Shinto history. In the secluded mountains of Ayabe in Kyoto Prefecture, a destitute woman in her late fifties named Deguchi Nao (1837-1918) experienced divine possession, from which the Ōmoto-kyō (大本) movement emerged. Ōmoto-kyō would prove pivotal in shaking Japan’s modern history to its core, and its influence still resonates today.
What must not be overlooked is that the movements of Kurozumikyō, Tenrikyō, Konkōkyō, and Ōmoto-kyō all arose not in Edo, Kyoto, or other urban centers—then the hubs of authority—but in remote mountain areas and rural communities.
These were anti-urban religions—spiritual movements standing apart from the mainstream. Such distinctiveness is a hallmark of modern Shinto. Meanwhile, Japan faced the urgent task of forming a modern state that could stand toe-to-toe with Western powers. Consequently, the new religious movements, rooted in spirituality, found themselves compelled to submit to rapid political unification under the government.
However, the leaders of Kurozumikyō, Tenrikyō, and Konkōkyō were not equipped with the political savvy demanded by these new times; their origins lay in apolitical spiritual movements. This opened the door for a more recent group, Ōmoto-kyō, to attract a younger, politically capable visionary ready to meet the needs of modern society—a figure who would leave a forceful mark on prewar Japan.
That individual was the controversial religious leader Deguchi Onisaburō (1871-1948), who transformed Ōmoto-kyō into a major organization. Under his guidance, the group’s power expanded to the point that it briefly sought to bring down the government, thus forever imprinting its legacy on Japan’s modern era.