Oomoto Shin'yu


The Oomoto Shin'yu is a sacred scripture of Oomoto, a Japanese new religion founded in 1892 by Nao Deguchi. Beginning in 1892, it was originally dictated by Nao Deguchi and written on paper in hiragana. The manuscript, originally known as the Ofudesaki or Fudesaki, was later reinterpreted and edited by Onisaburo Deguchi to become the Oomoto Shin'yu. Onisaburo Deguchi glossed the original kana text with kanji and prepared it for publication. During the course of editing the manuscript, Onisaburo Deguchi altered some of the meanings of the original text, since he and Nao Deguchi had differing beliefs. As a result, the Nao Deguchi's original unedited, unpublished manuscript is referred to as the Ofudesaki, while Onisaburo Deguchi's edited version is known Oomoto Shin'yu.
The text has 277 sections, organized by date starting from 1892 up until Nao Deguchi's death in 1918. The best-known, most widely quoted section is the first one from January 1892. As a millenarian text, much of the Oomoto Shin'yu states that Ayabe would become the new spiritual center of the world, and that the world is about to experience a complete renewal.

Origins

The original manuscript was called Ofudesaki or Ofudegaki by Nao. Encompassing roughly 200,000 pages of Japanese paper, it is written entirely in uneven hiragana which even Oomoto followers regard as unskilled. It is claimed that Deguchi was illiterate, and that the text is an emanation of a powerful kami named Ushitora no Konjin. The first writing includes a warning that Tokyo would become a wilderness, and Ayabe would become the capital. When Nao began to produce this document, people thought she was insane. However, in 1892, she predicted the First Sino-Japanese War two years before it happened. When the war broke out, people began to take her more seriously.
A key theme of the text is the "demolition and reconstruction" of the world, or literally the "three thousand worlds".

Publication history

The modern publication of the Ofudesaki by the Oomoto organization is called Oomoto Shin'yu. There are a number of issues with this publication. Since the original contained prophecies of war with America and attacks on the Emperor, the text was temporarily banned in 1920 and heavily censored when it was finally published, and no version survives without the censor's black marks. It is suspected that a military official had a hand in its editing, against Nao's specific request. Oddly, one of the original verses read, "Not a single word of this writing is inaccurate," which seems to preclude editing.
There are numerous editions of the Oomoto Shin'yu. A 5-volume edition was published in 1968, and a 7-volume edition was published by Tenseisha, Oomoto's publishing house, in 1983. The most recent edition was published by Aizen Sekaisha, the official publishing house of the Oomoto Foundation, in 5 volumes from 2010–2012.

Translations

Only partial translations of the Oomoto Shin'yu exist in English, Esperanto, Portuguese, and other languages, all of which omit anti-foreign passages in Nao Deguchi's original version.
An English translation of the Oomoto Shin'yu was published in 2008. It was originally written in 1974 as an Oomoto internal document with the cooperation of British Oomoto researchers Mrs. Worcester and Mrs. Cox, and American researcher Richard Steiner.
There is also a 1999 abridged Esperanto translation by Shigeki Maeda, titled Diaj Revelacioj, with a total of 837 numbered paragraphs.
Revelações Divinas, an abridged 2000 Portuguese version directly translated by Benedicto Silva from the Diaj Revelacioj in Esperanto, is published by Oomoto do Brasil, the Brazilian branch of Oomoto.

List of sections

Below is a list of the 277 sections in the Oomoto Shin'yu, which are titled according to the date that the text was divinely revealed.
Japanese yearGregorian yearDay
Meiji 251892January ; May 5
Meiji 261893; July 12
Meiji 271894January 3
Meiji 291896May 26; August 23; December 2
Meiji 301897; November 6
Meiji 311898January 3; March 24; leap : March 6; leap : March 27; April 4; April 16; May 5; July 16; August 7; August 27; September 30; November 5; November 30; December 26
Meiji 321899; January ; January 18; February ; February 3; March ; April ; April 12; April 22; June ; June 3; June 9; June 10; June 18; June 20; June 23; July ; July 1; July 3; July 9; July 29; August ; September 19; December 17; December 29
Meiji 331900January 7; January 15; March 1; April 7; May 20; June 10; July 30; August 4; August 5; August 6; August 8; August 10; August 11; August 13; August 16; August 20; leap : August 1; leap : August 2; leap : August 4; leap : August 5; leap : August 23; September 6; September 12; December 11; December 13
Meiji 341901January 16; February 24; March 7; June 3; July 15; August 5; August 6; September 1; September 16; September 17; September 18; November ; November 9; December 3
Meiji 351902March ; March 8; March 11; March 12; March 14; April 3; June 1; June 3; June 8; June 10; June 14; June 16; June 20; July 1; July 11; July 12; July 16; July 25
Meiji 361903January 1; January 3; January 5; January 9; January 30; February 9; February 29; March 5; April 1; May 1; May 6; May 8; May 11; May 18; May 19; leap : May 23; June ; June 4; June 5; June 7; June 8; June 12; June 14; June 15; June 17; July 13; July 24; August 16; August 22; August 27; August 30; September 18; October 1; October 10; November 4; November 9; November 14; November 19; December 7; December 10; December 25; December 28; December 29
Meiji 371904January 10; January 11; January 16; February 11; July 5; July 12; August 3; August 10
Meiji 381905April 16
Meiji 391906December 2
Meiji 401907July 11; August 26; October 16
Meiji 411908April 24; June 8; June 13; June 15; August 14; October 10; October 15; October 18
Meiji 421909October 6; October 29
Meiji 431910April 15; April 18; August 7; September 10; September 28
Taishō 11912March 8; July 4; July 30; August 19; October 5
Taishō 21913September 11
Taishō 31924May 24; July 11; July 14; September 17; September 19
Taishō 41915January 23; April 6; April 9; April 14; May 4; May 13; June 8; June 11; June 12; June 13; June 15; June 20; June 22; June 28; July 12; July 15; August 28; August 30; November 6; November 26; December 2
Taishō 51916February 3; February 8; March 6; March 14; March 17; March 23; March 28; May 14; May 18; May 21; June 10; July 23; August 5; September 5; September 9; October 2; November 8; November 21; December 3
Taishō 61917January 22; January 23; February 9; leap : February 22; leap : February 25; March 9; March 12; April 17; April 26; May 6; August 22; September 5; September 30; October 16; November 23
Taishō 71918January 12; January 13; January 23; February 26; March 15; October 29