Mokichi Okada

Who was Mokichi Okada?

Mokichi Okada was the founder of the Church of World Messianity, in which he is known by the honorific title Meishū-sama. According to his official biography, Okada was born to a poor family in Tokyo and, after many trials and tribulations, eventually made his fortune in the jewellery business.

Initially a follower of Shinto offshoot Oomoto, Okada claimed to have received a special revelation from God in 1926, leading him to found a new religion in 1935 to spread the teachings. Okada soon expanded to open a rehabilitation center centering around the healing powers of light, but it was shut down in 1936 as a violation of the Medical Practitioners' Law.

The Sangetsu school of ikebana, inspired by Mokichi Okada, was founded in June 1972. The Mokichi Okada Association was established in 1980 to continue his work "toward the creation of a new civilization to be undertaken without confining Okada's principles and their implementation within a religious framework". Much of Okada's extensive art collection is now housed in the MOA Museum of Art in Atami, Japan.