Case file · Apparition / miracle
Deguchi Nao's divine possession
In 1892 Deguchi Nao, a poor widow in Ayabe, began to be possessed by the god Ushitora no Konjin, who spoke through her of a coming 'world reconstruction'.
1892 CE · 35.30, 135.26 · status: account
The account
Though barely literate, she produced thousands of pages of revelations by automatic writing (ofudesaki). With Onisaburō Deguchi she founded Ōmoto, which the state suppressed in 1921 and 1935.
The sceptical view
Observers at the time took her for mentally ill; scholars see her revelations as a response to poverty and rapid modernisation.