Kurozumi-kyo

   A religious movement founded in the early nineteenth century by Kurozumi, Munetada (1780-1850). The group had a precarious existence as a new religion, but Kurozumi's successors supported early Meiji attempts to create a state religion, the 'great teaching' (taikyo) and the movement was granted official status in 1876 as 'Shinto kurozumi-ha'. The movement teaches that Amaterasu pervades a vitalistic universe and that devotees should seek to imbibe for themselves the great source of life (dai-seimei). Though an independent religion with distinctive teachings more akin to those of other new religions than jinja shinto, Kurozumi-kyo preserves a 'Shinto' identity through its devotion to Amaterasu and the posthumous designation of Munetada as a daimyojin ('great kami') by the Yoshida priestly administration just before the Meiji restoration.

   See Kyoha Shinto.