The 1935 State Destruction of Ōmoto Religious Sites

Record summary

During the 1935 suppression of Ōmoto, Japanese authorities demolished or damaged major religious facilities and removed sacred objects, publications, and administrative records. The episode is especially relevant to apocryphal-account research because destruction of archives affected the later transmission of revelations, spirit communications, and miracle narratives. It also illustrates how the material remains of a controversial religion can become evidence in a dispute over orthodoxy, fraud, or political danger. The repression is documented in official and scholarly histories, but the exact survival history of individual manuscripts and ritual objects should be established case by case.