Kurozumi Munetada

Japanese: 黒住宗忠 - くろずみ・むねただ

Year of death: February 25, 1850 (March 7, 1850)
Year of birth: 26th November 1780 (21st December 1780)
He was a Shinto priest in the late Edo period and the founder of Kurozumikyo. He was born in Kaminakano Village, Ono County, Bizen Province (Okayama City) as the third son of his father Kurozumi Muneshige, a priest at Imamura Shrine, and his mother Tsuta. He was known as a filial son, and was influenced by his parents from an early age and had a strong faith. In Bunka 7 (1810), at the age of 31, he succeeded to the family headship and became a priest, but two years later, in Bunka 9 (1811), he lost both his parents in succession and suffered from pulmonary tuberculosis himself, which was a great shock to both his body and mind. However, he realized that a healthy mind and body could be restored depending on his attitude, and then, on the morning of the winter solstice in Bunka 11 (1812), he had a mystical experience in which his body was filled with the energy of the sun and he became one with Amaterasu Omikami. This experience is called "direct receipt of heavenly mandate," and it was the decisive turning point in the founding of Kurozumikyo, and in Kurozumikyo this day is celebrated as the day of its founding. Based on this experience, he then began to engage in missionary activities, such as lecturing on Shinto and preaching about bans, preaching that if one is grateful to Amaterasu Omikami for her divine virtues and lives with a cheerful heart, all one's wishes will come true. Munetada's teachings were not systematic, and his doctrine consisted of only seven "daily household rules," and he was known for speaking whatever came to his mind at any given time. For about 35 years until his death, he lectured on Shinto and treated illnesses through faith, and gradually more and more people, not only from the common people but also from the samurai class, joined his teachings, and those who became more devout would offer "Shinbun" (divine writings) and were called "Shinbunshu." These "Shinbunshu" became the basis of the religious organization, and the faith spread, mainly in the Okayama region. Munetada was revered as a living god while he was alive, and after his death he was given the title "Munetada Daimyojin" by the Yoshida family of Kyoto, and in 1862, his senior disciple Akagi Tadaharu and others founded Munetada Shrine in Kyoto. This led to Kurozumikyo spreading to Kyoto during the Meiji Restoration period, and the famous Japanese scholar of the time, Okuni Takamasa, also praised Kurozumikyo as a representative example of "easy-going Shinto." <References> Hara Keigo, Kurozumi Munetada

(Sakamoto Koremaru)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

没年：嘉永3.2.25(1850.3.7)
生年：安永9.11.26(1780.12.21)
江戸後期の神道家で黒住教の教祖。備前国御野郡上中野村(岡山市)に,父の今村宮禰宜・黒住宗繁,母つたの3男として生まれた。幼少より父母の影響を受けて信仰心が篤く,親孝行の子供として知られた。文化7(1810)年,31歳で家督を継ぎ禰宜となったが,2年後の同9年に両親を相次いで失い,宗忠自身も肺結核を患うなど心身ともに大きな衝撃を受けた。しかし心の持ち方によって健全な心身が回復することを悟り,次いで同11年の冬至の朝に太陽のエネルギーが身体に満ち,天照大神と一体になるという神秘的な体験をした。このときの体験を「天命直授」といい,黒住教を立教するに当たっての決定的な契機となり,黒住教ではこの日を立教の日としている。以後,この体験をもとにして神道講釈や禁厭などの布教活動に入り,天照大神の神徳に感謝し,心を陽気にして生活すればあらゆる願いが成就されることを説いた。宗忠の教えは体系的なものではなく,教義はわずか7カ条の「日々家内心得の事」があるだけであり,その時々に心に浮かんだことを話すことに特徴があった。死去するまで約35年にわたって神道講釈と信仰による病気治療を行ったが,この布教を慕って庶民階級だけではなく武士階級にも入門する者が徐々に増え,信仰の深まった信者は「神文」を捧げ,「神文衆」と呼ばれた。この「神文衆」が教団組織の基盤となり,岡山地方を中心にして信仰は広まっていった。宗忠は在世中から生き神として尊信されていたが,死後,京都・吉田家から「宗忠大明神」の号が授けられ,文久2(1862)年高弟の赤木忠春らが京都に宗忠神社を創建した。これによって黒住教は幕末維新期には京都にも広まり,当時の高名な国学者である大国隆正も黒住教を「易行神道」の代表的なものとして評価している。<参考文献>原敬吾『黒住宗忠』

(阪本是丸)

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