“Art is the Mother of Religion,” said Onisaburo, and accordingly Oomoto has fostered the study and practice of many traditional Japanese arts at its grounds in Kameoka and Ayabe. The emphasis on the arts is so strong as to be one of the predominant features of Oomoto. Most of the religious exchanges sponsored by Oomoto also involve performances or practice of traditional arts.
Oomoto Art Exhibition, 1972-1975
From 1972 through 1975, Oomoto sponsored an exhibition of art by its Founders, which traveled for three years and three months, to 13 cities in Europe and the USA, including Paris, New York, and San Francisco. The exhibition was the precursor for later activities such as the joint worship services with the Episcopal Church, and the Oomoto School of Traditional Japanese Arts.
Oomoto School of Traditional Japanese Arts, 1976-1996
At the urging of David Kidd, an art collector living in Kyoto and friend of Naohi, Oomoto established a one month seminar in 1976 which taught traditional arts to foreigners (as well as a few Japanese). Over the twenty years of the life of the Seminar, hundreds of students came from over twenty countries, including the USA, Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East, and ranging in age from 14 to 70.
The Seminar has been the only place in Japan where students could simultaneously study Noh drama, tea ceremony, calligraphy, martial arts, as well as pottery, ink painting, and flower arranging. The intent of the seminar was for students to take the spiritual principles they learned at the Oomoto School and to apply them to arts and religious practices in their home countries.
