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Who is Onisaburo Deguchi?
A great Shinto religionist, a prophet who foretold the outbreak of the
US-Japan War and the subsequent defeat of Japan, or an enigma who
performed one miracle after another.... The list could go on.
Many different people have talked about Onisaburo from many different angles, and you might be familiar with his name. But he is hardly a man one can easily fathom.
Onisaburo had his bursting energy find its way into a variety of artworks. For one, he composed over a hundred thousand 31-syllable Japanese poems in his lifetime! This alone is simply amazing. Besides, his poems take on the distinctive air that would marvel experts, and not a few poets visited him. He also expressed his excellent creativity through his sculptures, paintings and calligraphy, irresistibly fascinating those who would appreciate them.
The kind of pottery Onisaburo created in his later years employs the free-style rakuyaki techniques and is so original and unrivaled that Giichiro Kato, the first pottery critic to publicize Onisaburo's ceramic works, named them yowan (scintillating bowls or bowls of paradise). Later a national museum held the first yowan exhibit. Brave and accommodating in style and innocently bright in color, yowan teabowls sent shock waves through the pottery society, culminating in the holding of the Onisaburo art exhibit in various European countries.
In a more recent instance, some yowan were put on display at Yokohama Museum of Art in 1994.
 Onisaburo creating artworks |
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Onisaburo Deguchi
(1871-1948)
Most startling is the fact that Onisaburo used the earth from rice paddies and ponds to create some 3,000 yowan in just one year! Anyone engaged in pottery would know that not all kinds of the earth can be suitable for ceramic art.
 A yowan titled ' Togen '
Whatever he does, Onisaburo is in a class of his own in terms of quality and quantity.
To take the 81-volume (83-book) Reikai Monogatari as an example, Onisaburo dictated each volume (300 half-size {A5} pages) in just two or three days on average!
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Onisaburo also influenced many people including Morihei Ueshiba, the
founder of Aikido. A direct disciple, he incorporated Onisaburo's
teachings in initiating the martial art.
 Onisaburo and Morihei Ueshiba
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Onisaburo (right) dictating Reikai Monogatari to a scribe (left) |
Onisaburo created a variety of things with his superhuman energy, leaving indelible milestones in the history and culture of Japan. Due to the oppressive age he was in, the spiritual crusader had to go through countless sufferings and pains all his life. However, he always upheld optimism and continued to provide
people with hope.
It is more than gratifying to see an increasing number of people seek the truth about Onisaburo and rely on his teachings as a compass for sailing the uncharted sea of the coming centuries.
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