Kurozumi Munetada

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Kurozumi Munetada (1780–1850). Founder of Kurozumikyō, a Japanese new religion. In 1812, both his parents died, and he contracted tuberculosis; as a result he was virtually bedridden for three years. Believing that his original goal of becoming a kami in this life was now frustrated, he vowed that after death he would become a healing deity. However, in prayer to Amaterasu, he awoke both to healing and to the realization that the divine and the human are inseparable, and that consequently there is neither birth nor death but only movement in eternal life. This transformative vision occurred on 11 Nov. 1814, a date which is now commemorated as the beginning of Kurozumikyō. He extended his own healing through healing others, and his own vision through itinerant preaching. Kurozumikyō was given government authorization as an independent Shinto sect in 1876. Its leadership is held by direct descendants of Kurozumi and numbers about a quarter of a million adherents.