Fantastic Sects in Japan

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 149, 25 June 1937, Page 8

Fantastic Sects in Japan

ACTION BY THE POLICE. Public attention has again been focussed on the mushroom growth of new religious sects in Japan by the recent indictment of Mr Tokmichi Miki, 6Syear old founder of the Hito-no-michi sect, which was accompanied by a sweeping police raid on tho headquarters of tho sect at Fuse, near Osaka. More than a score of arrests were made in connection with this raid. A severe blow was dealt to the Hito-no-michi (Way of Man) last year when its founder was arrested on the complaint of the father of one of the girls who had been a devotee of the sect and had been serving him as a maid. Another Rasputin. Immoral conduct was proved; and financial irregularities were also discovered in tho organisation. The new rive against the sect is motivated by the assertion that its doctrines and evangelical work contain points which are inconsistent with Shinto beliefs, encouraging disrespect for Shinto shrines and dieties. Hito-no-michi thus seems destined to share the fate of Omotokyo, a sect which was finally suppressed last year after having been for a long time an object of suspicion to the authorities. The founder of this organisation, which at the height of its influence, is said to have numbered its votaries in millions, was Wanisaburo Deguchi, who somewhat resembled Rasputin in character and temperament. Falling in with a deranged old woman, Naoko Deguchi, who had tho habit of writing down incoherent sentences and phrases on scraps of paper, Wanisaburo married her daughter and elovated her to tho rank of prophetess. On very slight evidence he extracted from her disconnected writings an alleged prediction of the European War. Omctokvo attracted to its railks many National Extremists, and became objectionable to the authorities on political in 1936,' and the magnificent temple

which it had erected in Ayabe, a small town west of Kyoto, was destroj’-ed. A more sinister self-styled religious cult, allegedly responsible for several hundred murders, has just been discovered in Korea, according to a despatch from Seoul, capital of Korea, in the leading Tokio newspajjer, Nichi Niclii. Children Murdered. This organisation was called PyagPyag; and its leaders were apparently obsessed with homicidal and sex manias.. Over 60 bodies of men, women, and children who were murdered after being initiated into the sect have been discovered. Burying alive was a favourite method of murder in this sect. Seventeen arrests of persons allegedly implicated in these outrages have been made. The founder, a certain Ryukai Kin, has disappeared, and it is believed ho may have committed suicide. The political and social tension and unrest which have prevailed in Japan during recent years have been powerful factors in promoting the growth of new religious bodies, which have been springing up in great numbers, although only a few achieved the nation-wide influence of the Hito no-michi and the Omotokyo. Three traits are characteristic of practically all the new sects. They preach extreme nationalism, promise their devotees healing from physical pains, and rapidly enrich their founders. There- seems to be little spirit of martyrdom among the Japanese; when the order goes forth for the suppression of a sect is is obeyed without any riot ing or disturbance.—Observer.