First published: 1998
Last updated: February 25, 2023
 Shinomura Shrine
Onisaburo's wife, Sumi, visited this shrine when she was an apprentice.
Takauji Ashikaga (1305-1358) made prayers at this shrine before
he rebelled against the Imperial Court and re-established military rule as first shogun of the Muromachi Period.
 Oji Shrine (Shrine of Kuragari)
In his twenties, Onisaburo happened to meet a little girl near this shrine. He helped her find the small change she had lost in the gutter. She was eventually the one to marry Onisaburo - Sumi.
 From Oji to Oi no saka Hill (paved road)
Two of the four greatest "traitors" considered by the Japanese, Takauji Ashikaga and Mitsuhide Akechi both crossed this hill to cause an insurrection in Kyoto.
| Excerpts from The Great Onisaburo Deguchi |
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In April 1333, Takauji Ashikaga gathered troops in order to stage a coup d'etat against the ruling Hojo clan. The village of Shino in the province of Tamba was where he assembled his warriors. In May of that year he crossed the pass of Oi no Saka with troops from Kuchi-Tamba and attacked Rokuhara, the seat of government in Kyoto, thus bringing about the downfall of the Kamakura Shogunate. He was soon to turn against the Emperor, in whose name he had acted, and establish his own shogunate.
Two-and-a half centuries later, in June 1582, Mitsuhide Akechi plotted a rebellion in his castle at Kameyama (present-day Kameoka), crossed Oi no Saka Pass at the head of his soldiers, attacked Honnoji Temple in Kyoto and killed his lord Nobunaga Oda, then in the process of reunifying the country after the downfall of the Ashikaga Shogunate.
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 Nashinoki Hill
18-year-old Onisabruo happened to meet Chikaatsu Honda (1823-1889; a scholar of the Japanese classics) at this hill. He literally disappeared without a trace, saying he would see Onisaburo again in 10 years.
10 years later, at age 28, Onisaburo made his first train journey to Shizuoka to meet Katsutate Nagasawa, a disciple of Chikaatsu Honda.
| Excerpts from The Great Onisaburo Deguchi |
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Nagasawa told Kisaburo much about spiritual science and about the career of Chikaatsu Honda, while his mother Toyoko gave him three books which Honda had given them. To Kisaburo's surprise, Toyoko delightedly told him, 'One of the last things Honda said was that some ten years later a young man would come from the province of Tamba, and that it was from Tamba that the Way of the Gods would open. Without a doubt you are the man who will succeed to his great will.
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To Onisaburo's surprise, these three books from Honda include a passage that was indentical to the Three Rules of Learning revealed by Kototama-hiko at Obata Shrine and on Mount Takakuma.
Nagasawa was well versed in the practice of chinkon ("quieting the soul") and kishin ("opening a channel of communication with the divine"), techniques by which to bring man into contact with deity.
Nagasawa's chinkon-kishin identified the divine nature of Chikaatsu Honda as Deity Kototama-hiko.
In other words, Onisaburo saw Honda again 10 years later in the form of Deity Kototama-hiko on Mounts Takakuma and Fuji. Honda's prediction came true.
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