Nao Deguchi
Nao Deguchi (January 22, 1837 – November 16, 1918) founded the religion Oomoto-kyo after being possessed by a spirit called Ushitora no Konjin. Even though she was illiterate, she wrote 200,000 pages of prophesies while possessed. Biography Deguchi was born in Fukuchiyama, Tanba province (present day Kyoto prefecture) on January 22, 1837. She was the third child and the first daughter. She was born in the middle of a famine, so her parents considered abandoning her, but chose not to after Deguchi's grandmother scolded them. Her father, Gorosaburo Kirimura, died of cholera when she was 9, leaving Deguchi to work to support the family. When she was 16 she was adopted into the Deguchi family. The Deguchis had no children, and adopted her so that she could marry their adopted son, a carpenter named Masagoro Deguchi, and continue the family name. They had 8 children, but because of Masagoro's alcoholism and financial mismanagement, the family lived in poverty. After falling off a house and breaking his pelvis, Masagoro died on March 1, 1887. In 1892, Deguchi was possessed by a spirit called Ushitora no Konjin, who prophesied that the world would soon end and that a savior would come and