Nao Deguchi 出口なお

(22 January 1837-6 November 1918). Founder of the OMOTO RELIGION. At age 56, after a long life of misery, she entered a deep trance and began to have spiritual revelations which she set down in the form of automatic writing (ofudesaki) which she, as an illiterate, could not read. These writings contained a plan for the salvation and reconstruction of the world. A religion called Omoto or the “Great Origin” was created around her teachings. She was later joined by Kisaburo Ueda who married her daughter Sumiko and adopted the name of Onisaburo DEGUCHI. Nao spent the remainder of her life devoting herself to the spread of her teachings and served as the focal point of the religion.