was the founder of the "dancing religion", Tensho Kotai Jingukyo.

Early life

Kitamura was born on January 1, 1900, in what is now Yanai city, Yamaguchi prefecture, Japan. She was the fourth daughter in a farming family of Jodo Shinshu Buddhists. She got married in November 1920, and moved to

Tabuse, Yamaguchi is a town located in Kumage District, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. In 2016, the town had an estimated population of 15,200 and a density of 300 persons per km². The total area is 50.35 km². In 2018, a civil servant reported property t ...

to be with her husband.

Career

In July 1942, a barn on the Kitamura property burned down. Blaming herself for the incident, Kitamura began visiting a

shaman Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritu ...

. On May 4, 1944, Kitamura was possessed by a spirit, which was later said to be Tensho Kotaijin. She had her first sermon on July 22, 1945, during which she preached she had been sent to save the world, because it was about to end. She said that people should become "true human beings" in order to create a peaceful "land of god", and that Japan's defeat in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

was just the prelude to a battle between good and evil. Her sermons included singing and dances of "non-ego", which earned the group the nickname "the dancing religion". In 1946, she incorporated the sect as the Tensho Kotai Jinshukyo. Her son, Yoshito, performed the administrative functions of the new religion. As the religion became more established, she became more critical of politicians, the

emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

, and other people in power, calling them "maggots". She gained a lot of negative media attention, which she then used to publicize her group and gain followers. In 1952, Kitamura went on a mission trip to

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. Her first overseas branch was in

Kalihi Kalihi is a neighborhood of Honolulu on the island of Oʻahu in Hawaiʻi, United States. Split by the Likelike Highway (Route 63), it is flanked by downtown Honolulu to the east and Mapunapuna, Moanalua and Salt Lake to the west. Kalihi is th ...

, Hawaii. Soon, more branches were formed throughout the world, including in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, and

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. She eventually had over 300,000 followers. Kitamura died in her home on December 28, 1967. In 1968, her granddaughter, Kitamura Kiyokazu, became head of the religion.

References

* 1967 deaths 1900 births People from Yamaguchi Prefecture Founders of new religious movements Japanese religious leaders {{DEFAULTSORT:Kitamura, Sayo