Taniguchi, Masaharu

(1893-1985)

   A prolific writer and publicist, founder of the religious movement Seicho-no-ie 'House of Growth'. He studied English at Waseda university, Tokyo and took an active role in the dissemination of Omoto-kyo teachings. A series of revelations of his own led to the publication of a magazine called Seicho no ie and many other pieces, some of which were collected in a book called 'Seimei no jisso' (the truth of life) which became a best-seller in the 1930's and developed into a continuing series. According to Taniguchi's eclectic thought, derived from Omoto and many other sources including Buddhism, Christianity, Freud and Christian Science, human nature is originally pure and human beings are children of the kami. Before the war Seicho no ie like other religious groups endorsed the kokka shinto aims of emperor-worship and nationalism, but in the new postwar conditions the teachings were revised to embrace universalistic but also nationalistic Shinto-type beliefs grounded in the Kojiki and Nihongi.