Dance as Aggressiveness

Kitamura Sayo (1900-1967), founder of Tenho-kötai-jingii-kyö, proclaimed in July 1945 that the world was ending and that she was chosen by the deity Tensho Kotai Jingu as the world's savior. Followers gathered, and the group became a legally incorporated religious organization in January 1947. She taught that regret, desire, hatred, and love cause misfortune, urging liberation through prayer until the self is forgotten. Members perform a ritual dance and enter ecstatic states at meetings, giving the movement its name, the Dancing Religion.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The woman who founded Tenho-kötai-jingii-kyö, Kitamura Sayo (1900-1967), publicly announced in July 1945 that the world was coming to an end and that she had been chosen by the absolute deity Tensho Kotai Jingu to be the savior of the world. People began to gather to her banner, a religious organization was formed, and legal incorporation of the group as a religious juridical person took place in January 1947. Teaching that regret, desire, hatred, love and other emotional antipathies were the cause of all misfortune, the founder urged people to free themselves of such restraints by praying earnestly until they attained a state in which the self was completely forgotten. Since the members of the group perform a ritual dance and fall into an ecstatic condition at the group meetings, the movement is called the Dancing Religion.