p. 200

The Fudesaki (... "Tip of the writing brush") contain the divine revelations that the deity Ushitora no Konjin caused Deguchi Nao to write during her times of spirit possession. They originally amounted to 200,000 sheets of Japanese paper, only ten per cent of which have survived ... . {cf. the legend that most of the Zaratustrian scriptures perished} The Fudesaki are accessible only in edited versions, such as two

p. 201

The Reikai monogatari (... "Tales of the spirit world") was dictated by Deguchi Onisaburo over thirteen years beginning October 1921."

"Deguchi Nao (1837-1918), Omoto’s foundress, "who had never learned how to read or write, started writing page after page of divine revelations, incomprehensible to herself as well as to those around her." {"Deguchi had a "spirit dream"…and thereafter became possessed (kamigakari) by a spirit that began to speak through her…she began to record the deity's words in automatic writing." ("OPRJ")}

p. 210

"Co-operation with Baha>i religion and the Red Swastika Association started in 1923, at the same time as lessons in Esperanto." {Deguchi Onisaburo "planned internationalization of the group and had exchanges with other groups like the Chinese Tao Yuan, the World Red Swastika Society, and Bahá'í." ("DO")}

p. 210, fn. 20

"The Red Swastika Association {"the "red swastika" of the society with that name ... was also modeled upon the symbol of the Red Cross Society." (NUS, p. 87)}, Komanjikai ... in Japanese, ... branch of {and founded "one year after" ("O&HTY")} the elitist Chinese new religion Tao Yu:an ..., which stresses the equality of all humans and revered the main deities of the "five major religions", namely Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Christianity and Islam (Lins 1976:123f. and 138ff. ...)." {Tao Yu:an is part of the ‘Way of Former Heaven’ ("HsT>T").}

p. 214

"Deguchi Nao was possessed by the deity Ushitora no Konjin ..., whom Onisaburo identified as Kunitokotachi ... . [fn. 32 : "Today this god is ... referred to as Omoto Sumeomikami ..., "great universal creator god"".] It is taught that Ushitora no Konjin ... had ruled too pedantically for the other deities to tolerate. They had, this, banished him into the north-eastern corner of the world – hence the name "Ushitora", which according to Chinese cosmography denotes the north-eastern direction ... . {"The image of oni with an ox horn(s) and tiger skin loincloth is said to have come about from a play on the word ushitora. Ushi (ox) represents the direction thirty degrees east from due north (north-north-east); tora (tiger) is the direction thirty degrees northward from due east. Ushitora was considered an ominous direction called kimon ... -- oni’s gate" (JDL, p. 7). Perhaps Is`ana, dikpala of the north-east direction (and 1^st of the 5 Brahman-s), may be intended; but the characterization of the direction as a gate is Taoist.} Humans consequently became ignorant of the deities’ mere existence, ... and manoeuvred themselves close to ruin."

p. 215

"Omoto’s headquarters in Ayabe are believed to be the world’s central sacred site, the very site ... where the ideal future world would first be accomplished, and thus the "great origin" (omoto ...) of the world to come ... . Ayabe is taught to be ... the model of any future event, the miniature prototype of the whole macrocosm (... Ooms 1993:92f.)."

the main protecting deity is responsible for ethically impeccable thoughts and deeds ... .

The soul enters the foetus as soon as it is conceived, and only leaves the body when the heart stops beating (Reikai monogatari XLVII/2:78f.)".

p. 214. fn. 34

After death, "Souls ... stay in the intermediary world {Antara-bhava / Bar-do} for fifty days on the average." {49 days, according to Confucianist-Taoist doctrine}

p. 216

"Jinrui Aizenkai ..., official translated as "Universal Love and Brotherhood Association" (ULBA), was founded in 1925 based on the motto

p. 217

Omoto’s leaders simultaneously act as presidents of Jinrui Aizenkai".

p. 218

his soul travelled the three worlds, the present, the spiritual and the divine, he ... finally realized his mission of saving the world. ...

p. 219

In early April 1898 Mitsuya Kiemon ..., a member of staff at Nagasawa’s Inari Kosha, came to Anao to invite Onisaburo to join his confraternity. ... On 15^th April Onisaburo was appointed Middle Supervisor (chukantoku ...) by nagasawa’s Inari Kosha ... .Nagasawa’s mother Toyoko ... identified Onisaburo as the man prophesied by Honda ... . ... Onisaburo was said to have noticed that their doctrine was identical to what the spirit Kotodamahiko had taught him during his time on Mount Takakuma. He was told that Honda’s spirit name was Kotodamahiko ... . Onisaburo remained in Shimizu ... practising chinkon and

p. 220

kishin with Nagasawa as saniwa, who ... identified the deity which had repeatedly taken possession of Onisaburo as a most high-ranking deity, a fraction (bunrei ...) of Susanoo called Komatsubayashi".

p. 220, fn. 43

"Onisaburo narrated in the Reikai monogatari that he received a natural flute (tennenbue ...) and a chinkon jewel from a divine couple at a ... shrine ... where he had been carried to by some giant hand during his time on Mount Takakuma (Reikai monogatari I/16:42-47)." {in a dream, of course}

p. 221

"In October 1898 Onisaburo met Deguchi Nao ... . In July 1899 he moved to Ayabe, where together they founded Kinmei Reigakkai ... . Honda’s kishin, often referred to as yusai at that time ..., became Kinmei Reigakkai’s main practice ... . ... Practice in Uedani ... was repeated eight times a day, and included standing under a waterfall. Various supernatural powers were said to have developed, such as clairvoyance and prognostication".

p. 221

"One day Fukushima Toranosuke ..., one of Nao’s sons-in-law and born in the year of the ox, ... claimed to be Ushitora no Konjin himself. [fn. 45 : " ‘Ushi’ (... for the ox as calendrical element), the Japanese term for ‘cow’, plus ‘tora’ {cf. Spanish /TORo/, Hellenic /tauro-/}, the first part of Toranosuke’s personal name, combine to form the deity’s name ‘Ushitora’."] Other entranced members supported his claim {was their support spiritist evidence of praeternatural knowledge of other idioms, in this case Spanish?}, and Fukushima stripped naked {"there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes" Euangelion kata Loukas 8:27}, rolled his eyes, jumped about violently and announced the end of the world."

p. 222

"In her understanding the good deities had all been suppressed by the evil deities and were, through chinkon kishin, now given a chance to come to the fore. regain their original positions, and thus contribute toward a renewal of the world".

(Fudesaki, 29^th day 7^th month 1899) "deities who fell from their position in the world are reclaiming these positions. ... No matter how good a deity is, when it becomes a refugee it loses its divinity. Even if you now regard [a deity] as crude, ... Ushitora no Konjin is the god to answer ... . Thus, whatever deity descended[,] it reports to this Konjin".

p. 224

"In 1908 ... 1^st August the former Kinmei Reigakkai was refounded as Dainihon Shusaikai ... . ... In 1914 the Chokureigun ... was founded, as a militarily organised proselytising troop."

p. 224, fn. 53

Izumo Taishakyo ... was founded in 1873 by Senge Takatomi ... . Its doctrine is directly connected to the doctrines of the great shrine in Izumo, for instance the significance placed on the deity Okuninushi."

p. 225

In 1916 Dainihon Shusaikai "changed its docrine’s name to Kodo Omoto. ... And in January 1917 ... entered ... the new magazine Shinreikai, in which Nao’s Fudesaki were continuously published".

p. 226

increase of membership in Omoto

year Chr.E.

members

January 1911

400

1919

25,000

early 1921

300,000

increase of copies of S^inreikai printed

year Chr.E.

copies

1917-March 1918

1,000

January 1921

11,000

p. 231, fn. 72

There "were often ancestral spirits who were believed to take possession of members, therefore, ... ancestral altars would contribute to ... spirit possession."

p. 234

According to Onisaburo, "They often say that an ancestral spirit spoke this or that, or that the spirit of a living person took possession ... . Therefore, some say that, at the ancestral shrine, an ancestral spirit took possession and said to do this or that".

"saniwa ... let a spirit possessing themselves [fn. 85 : "This refers to the protective deities believed to belong to every human being".] take possession of the kannushi (the receiver).

Or the kannushi’s own possessing spirit begins to move ... the saniwa."

p. 238

"On 12^th February 1921, 200 policemen entered Omoto’s headquarters, ... and arrested Onisaburo, Asano and the Shinreikai’s editor, Yoshida Sukesada. They were released on bail {suspended sentence} in June 1921 ... . In October 1921 Onisaburo began to dictate the Reikai monogatari, ... and in September 1923 he introduced miteshiro otoritsugi as a substitute for chinkon kishin. In 1925 proselytising was started anew ... . ...

p. 239

"The ultimate end of ... Omoto was achieved by the second Omoto incident of 1935. This suppression was ... radical ..., resulting in long terms of imprisonment for several leading members, ... and a virtual end to all activities until 1946, when those imprisoned were pardoned and Omoto was revived once again."

p. 239

"Just as a lens focuses rays of light, chinlon is taught to focus the incestives one obtains from different layers of the spirit world ... . It thereby strengthens the main protective deity {= one’s guardian-angel} and enables practitioners to exhibit great powers."

p. 240

"Members are advised to practice chinkon near an altar ..., rather than in a cemetery, ... because it might ... happen that the practitioner becomes possessed by a loitering spirit." {"the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs" (Euanglion kata Matthios 8:28).}

"The saniwa and the kannushi first perform cold water ablutions .., they put on a white robe ... . When the kannushi folds both palms before her chest and closes her eyes, the saniwa blows his natural flute and leads her into entering communion with the divine [shinjin kango ...]. ... At first there were ... eight ["kannushi, six of them girls and women"]. Practice took place eight times a day for thirty minutes each, and some of them came to have their bodies tremble, their hands shake violently up and down and to talk noisily."

"[The female spirit-medium]’s mouth was at that time completely manipulated by the [spirit] as she referred to her very own person as "that woman"."

p. 243

"a certain female practitioner in Honjo ... is an adherent of Inari". [p. 243, fn. 101 : "On the deity Inari ... see Smyers (1999; particularly 72-111)."]

p. 247

"from the mouth of [the female spirit-medium] disgusting things, funny things and ridiculous things were brought forward one after the other".

p. 261

"When Onisaburo returned from a journey to the Tsuetate ... hot springs in Kyushu in August 1923, he gave bamboo rice ladles to twelve close followers ..., but upon his return to Ayabe on 7^th September 1923 Onisaburo gave 160 rice ladles to close followers. These rice ladles were ... signed with a thumb print. As miteshiro ..., literally "substitutes for his hand", they were used as tools in the new healing ritual miteshiro otoritsugi".

p. 266

4. "Initially, ritual rice ladles were made of bamboo ... . ... One rice ladle is shared between spouses ... . At a missionary’s death, his or her rice ladle must be returned to the headquarters, although after a special ritual they may be handed down to the missionary’s child, if that, too, is a missionary. During miteshiro otoritsugi the ritual rice ladle is wrapped in white Japanese rice paper to prevent {by absorbing into the rice-paper} impurities and the paper is burnt {to hinder those impurities from returning into the patient} directly after miteshiro otoritsugi ended".

p. 267

"Sekai Kyuseikyo ... was founded on 1^st January 1935 by Okada Mokichi (... 1882-1955) was Dainihon Kannonkai ... and, after several changes of name, was finally called Sekai Kyuseikyo in 1956. ... Okada Mokichi ... around 1926 ... had his first vision of a deity."

p. 269

"Sekai Kyuseikyo teaches that human beings consist of three bodies, physical, astral and spiritual. ... During jorei, divine light enters the giver’s head, flows through his body and out of his open palm into the receiver’s body ... . ... Silently they will sit together ... while the raised hand shifts minutely towards various parts of the receiver’s body, always keeping its distance of about 30cm. After approximately 15 minutes the receiving person will be asked to turn around and the giving person will apply jorei to the receiver’s back in the same fashion for another ten minutes." {This is similar to Taoist healing by "thunder-magic".}

p. 270

"Anyone who took part in an introductory seminar and received a pendant at a grand ceremony may give jorei to others. The pendant is called ohikari (... "light") and is to be worn around the member’s neck at all times. Senior members, who have been endowed with a superior pendant, may administer jorei to more than one receiver at the same time".

p. 270

"Okada Yoshikazu (... 1901-1974) ... received a divine revelation in 1959 instructing him to change his name to "Kotama" ... and to found a new religious movement, L. H. Yokoshi Tomo no Kai ..., which was renamed into Sekai Mahikari Bunmei Kyodan ... in 1963."

p. 271

okiyome : "Divine light flows through the giver’s palm into the receiver’s body ... . ... The receiver now sits with his back to the giver, who goes on to administer okiyome first to certain standard points on the receiver’s back and then

p. 272

either to the remainder of the 27 recommended areas of the body ... . ... While hands are being laid on the receiver’s forehead, spiritual beings, who are believed to be usually hiding in the backbone, the organs or joints, may appear".

p. 280

"Asano also wrote books on Spiritualist matters ..., and translated many Spiritualist English language publications into Japanese, such as Geraldine Cummins’

p. 281

Asano died 2^nd February 1937."

p. 284

"seishin toitsu includes belief in several kinds of spirits, who take possession of the practitioner ...

p. 285

many assistant spirits (haigorei ...) of varying levels".

p. 302

Seicho no Ie’s founder Taniguchi Masaharu (1893-1985) "heard a divine voice which told him that material things did not exist and that the only truly existing thing was divine reality (jisso ..)".

p. 304

"Seicho no Ie’s central doctrine is that the world as we see it does not exist. ... The divine reality is taught to be perfect, harmonious, beautiful and complete. ... Human beings ... are, therefore, really perfect and harmonious".

p. 312

During "a session of chinkon with Nakano" the founder of Ananaikyo : "The deity manifesting itself pronounced its name to be Michihiko no Mikoto ... the god of the universe (uchu no kami ...) ..., or as Omichihiko no Mikoto ... if engaged on a universal basis."

p. 315

"Ananaikyo teaches that there is but one main god – the Universe’s Great Spirit (uchu daiseishin ...) – and that all other deities are honorary titles attributed to various activities of this main god. {similar to the "beautiful names of >al-Lahh"} Human beings are miniature models of the universe".

p. 319

"Ananaikyo’s chinkon stone ... ought to be two or three centimetres in diameter, black, and round as a ball and must be discovered in a pine field ... . ... After it has been found, ...

p. 320

the deity Ame no Uzume is enshrined in it, and it is carried in a little white bag around the neck at all times like an amulet. ... After the death of someone owning a chinkon stone, Ame no Uzume is requested in a ceremony to leave the stone and return to heaven. The empty stone is placed somewhere in a river’s bed".

p. 322

"Continuous practice of chinkon kishin could lead to supernatural abilities, such as making a wooden stick move without touching it".

He taught that possession ... occasionally resulted in perceptible miracles such as automatic writing."

p. 323

and restricted the practice of kishin to the religious leaders".