Deguchi Nao, a housewife from the tiny town of Ayabe, Kyoto Prefecture, declared that she had a "spirit dream" at the Japanese New Year in 1892, becoming possessed (kamigakari) by Ushitora no Konjin (艮の金神)) and starting to transmit his words.

According to the official Oomoto biography of Deguchi, she came from a family which had long been in poverty, and had pawned nearly all of her possessions to feed her children and invalid husband.

[citation needed] Since 1908, the group has taken diverse names — Dai Nihon Shūseikai (大日本修齋會), Taihonkyō (1913) and Kōdō Ōmoto (皇道大本) (1916).

Asano Wasaburō, a teacher at Naval War College (海軍大学校, Kaigun Daigakkō), attracted various intellectuals and high-ranking military officials to the movement in 1916.

A great amount of its popularity derived from a method of inducing spirit possession called chinkon kishin (鎮魂帰神), which was most widely practiced from 1919 to 1921.

[3][need quotation to verify] In March 1920, the Ōmoto-affiliated magazine Shinrei published an edition of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion in Japanese for the first time.

In 1924, retired naval captain Yutaro Yano and his associates within the Black Dragon Society invited Onisaburo on a journey to Mongolia.

After he returned to Japan, he organized religious allies like Jinruiaizenkai to promote a universal brotherhood and world peace.

Foreign religions from Korea, China, Russia, Germany and Bulgaria, including the Red Swastika Society, joined this movement.

[21] Since the time of Onisaburo Deguchi, the constructed language Esperanto has played a major role in the Oomoto religion.

From there, missionaries travelled throughout Europe, spreading the word that Onisaburo Deguchi was a Messiah or Maitreya who would unify the world.

The Oomoto basic doctrine (大本教旨, Ōmoto kyōshi), also known as the shinjin itchi (神人一致), states that:[24] God is the Spirit which pervades the entire universe, and man is the focus of the workings of heaven and earth.

[25] Original Japanese text of the Ōmoto kyōshi: 神は万物普遍の霊にして (kami wa banbutsu fuhen no rei ni shite) 人は天地経綸の主体なり、 (hito wa tenchi keirin no shutai nari) 神人合一して (shinjin gōitsu shite) 茲に無限の権力を発揮す。 (koko ni mugen no kenryoku o hakki su)[26][27] The fundamental ways to reach God are the called the Three Great Rules of Learning (三大学則, sandai gakusoku):[22] The Four Teachings (四大綱領, shidai kōryō) are:[22] The Four Principles (四大主義, shidai shugi) are:[22] Omotokyo was strongly influenced by Konkokyo, Ko-Shintō (ancient Shinto) and folk spiritual and divination traditions; it also integrated Kokugaku (National Studies) teachings and modern ideas on world harmony and peace, creating a new doctrine.

The fundamental narrative is that Ushitora no Konjin, by whom Deguchi Nao was possessed, is actually Kuni-tokotachi-no-mikoto, who made the earth and was the original ruler of the world.

However, Oomoto considers individual kami to be the various manifestations of the one supreme God who created everything in the universe, called Oomoto-sume-oomikami (Japanese: 大天主太神 or おおもとすめおおみかみ).

The Oomoto affirmation of Zamenhof's godhood is stated, in Esperanto, as follows: ...[L]a spirito de Zamenhof eĉ nun daŭre agadas kiel misiisto de la anĝela regno; do, lia spirito estis apoteozita en la kapeleto Senrej-ŝa.

Followers of Oomoto believe Haya-susano-o no Mikoto, who had been originally told to rule the earth by Izanagi, was punished for all the Amatsutsumi instead of all gods and is a redeemer of the world, mainly based on the story of Amano-Iwato and his expulsion from Takaamahara.