Kyoha Shinto

   'Sect Shinto'. An administrative category applied to certain religious groups. It emerged as a result of Meiji government legislation in 1876 designed to give all kinds of independent religious movements, some of which focused on a particular kami, a legal status. The 'sects' had names ending in -kyo (literally: teaching) and were so called to differentiate them from the institutions of the state-sponsored 'national teaching' (kokkyo, taikyo) which evolved into the 'non-religious' form of shrine Shinto (see Kokka Shinto). The number, names and indeed nature of the groups did not remain constant; among the sects with Shinto affiliations some like Jingukyo did not persist as sects and all the groups eventually incorporated key teachings of the emperor system. In 1921 the Kyoha Shinto Rengo-kai, the official association of Shinto sects had thirteen groups, into which were forcibly incorporated many smaller groups which regrouped after 1945. The thirteen sects included revelatory 'new' religious movements originating in the pre-Meiji period such as Tenrikyo, Kurozumi-kyo and Konko-kyo together with sects which had begun as shrine-supporting networks formed by shrine administrators (e.g. Shinto Taisei-kyo, Ontake-kyo, Shinto Taikyo). Omoto-kyo which is sometimes listed as one of the thirteen came under the auspices of Fuso-kyo. The list also included Izumo oyashiro-kyo, Jikko-kyo, Misogi-kyo, Shinshu-kyo, Shinto shuseiha and Shinri-kyo. Numerous other sects in modern Japan classified as 'sect Shinto' developed from or were classified under the thirteen recognised prewar sects and there are around fifty 'new sect shinto' organisations which began after 1945. In 1970 Tenri-kyo repudiated its Shinto identity. Kyoha shinto is also referred to as Shuha shinto.