The Great Kanto Earthquake and Ōmoto Apocalyptic Interpretation

Record summary

The 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake became a major setting for competing religious interpretations in Japan, including apocalyptic and prophetic readings associated in later scholarship with Ōmoto and other new religions. Such interpretations sometimes linked catastrophe to divine judgment, purification, or warnings transmitted through inspired leaders. This is useful comparatively because disaster, revelation, and accusations of spiritual influence often overlap in possession discourse. The earthquake and subsequent repression are firmly documented, while specific claims about which prophecies were made before or after the disaster must be checked against contemporary publications.