422. The churches of the various sects in the present day have become the dens of hungry tigers and wolves.
423. Profiting from God, they indulge in fraud and theft.
424. The true teachings have withered and even the holy houses of God have become the dwelling-places of thieves, demons and giant serpents.
425. Many gods , heavenly and earthly, are extremely indignant. But the churches make no attempt to correct their behaviour and day after day profane the houses of God.
426. Such conduct God hates greatly. Seeing that if left in the present state without purification and renewal the world would remain impure, He sent down the Spirit of Mizu from heaven and founded Oomoto.
427. Favoured with the Spirit of Mizu, I am now undergoing asceticism in order to penetrate deeply into the Divine realm, that is, the training in the art of Saniwa (the method of classifying gods or spirits according to good and evil, justice and injustice).
428. When this asceticism is accomplished, I will make myself manifest and promptly save the sufferers in the world.
429. Instead of manifesting myself and imparting the truth in that way, I publish this book, Divine signposts.
430. These Divine signposts are the words of God and are an eternally unmoving rock. My body and soul, too, breathe in these teachings.
431. While in the position of teachers of the Divine way, present-day missionaries do not know the true will of God.
432. Because of this, the believers who are led by them march fervently forward without knowing God’s true will.
433. Even though this world is already coming to an end, still they do not notice. Pitiable indeed! This world is destined at some time to change radically. The time is near, but of this they know nothing.
434. When the Divine realm is realised on earth, they will all stumble and flounder. Although the way of salvation is already there, none take it. All advance along the path of annihilation like a high tide.
435. Coming down again at the end of the world, the Spirit of Mizu shows in writing and in speaking that he has been in hiding since the beginning of the world. But the people of the present day are not at all convinced, being deaf and blind. On the contrary, they regard it as an absurdity: some mock, others insult.
436. Between heaven and earth there is no complete being apart from the Creator of all in the universe.
437. In the present world, swarming with devils, there is no one who regards good as good. A good person sees good as good, but an evil person sees it as evil.
438. In this world, ruled by ogres, giant serpents and devils, very rare are those who believe in this path, repent and correct themselves. Those who oppose it are infinitely many. But the time has come when the Spirit of Mizu has descended from heaven. Therefore, those who do not follow this way are inviting severe judgment and annihilation.
439. The appearance of the Spirit of Mizu means that this world will be rebuilt as a Divine realm without wars and without conflicts.
440. Between the present time and the Divine there will occur a great war. Afterwards there will be realised on earth a Divine realm, peaceful and eternally prosperous.
441. Until the Divine realm is realised, let all make repentance and correct their ways.
442. Armament and war are the cause of limitless suffering of poor people.
443. For armament or war people should not be burdened with the duty of conscription. What a useless thing to throw away one’s one and only body in order to create a river of blood and a mountain of bones. Do not pay such a heavy tax to the government.
444. In the world there is nothing more evil than war, nothing more worthless than armament. Now many nations of the world are issuing bonds in large sums for armament. Just to pay the interest on them every day requires the earnings of an extremely large number of people.
445. Millions of young men in the world are continuously forced to serve as soldiers and practise the art of killing exclusively. People should not suffer practice in killing, which is evil. There is nothing more useless to any nation than armament.
446. If this world remains in the present state, the people will all perish without exception, and the world will become a field of butchery.
447. To change this evil world into a Divine kingdom, God has sent down the Spirit of Mizu.
448. Do not try to cheat God on the pretext of rain, wind or snow. God brings rain and wind and causes snow according to His will.
449. There are many who say that they could not visit because the rain is torrential or because the snow is deep. These have not yet attained true faith.
450. He who with an upright soul respects and loves God, needs never fear rain, wind and snow. These are absolutely necessary in nature.
451. Missionaries and believers who have to battle against the army of devils and build the Divine realm on earth are never to fear rain, never to abhor snow.
452. If it did not rain in the world, all beings would be unable to stay alive. If the wind did not blow, the polluted air could not be renewed, and human and all other beings would be unable to preserve their bodies. Wind and rain are elements absolutely necessary for the world.
453. Japan is the realm where one should rule with the Japanese spirit. The Japanese spirit means the spirit to fight to the end against those who destroy peace, civilisation, liberty, independence and human rights. It is the spirit to defeat strong devils, unjust and cruel, and to protect the rights of the weak.
454. Those who unjustly usurp and damage the rights of other people and countries because of their greed and ambition, all are enemies of the Japanese spirit.
455. Heaven helps the practitioner of good and Heaven plagues that of evil.
456. Concerning divine services, it is necessary to know the distinction between the formal and the informal. I will explain this here. A formal service is that which worships the Gods of heaven and earth and many other gods ; it is a holy undertaking to express to all gods gratitude in words praising their blessings and virtues; and it requires a shrine, words of prayer (Norito) which glorify the gods, offerings, etc. An informal service requires neither a church nor a shrine nor words of prayer which glorify the gods, nor offerings, because it is that which prays to God, the creator of the universe. It is the way of praying to God with one’s soul about one’s own desire. In summary, the formal service is the way of worship and the informal is the way of prayer.
457. The true God is spirit: human beings too, therefore, should pray with their spirit to this holy spirit.
458. It is not correct to incline too much towards the formal service or to the
informal.459. Worshipping idols is not evil. To pray to them for your happiness, however, is not good. Pray to God with your own spirit.
460. At the end of this world, two spirits only, namely Mizu and Izu, will appear and realise the Divine realm on earth.
461. Most people do not know the heart of the Spirit of Mizu. Only one person in the world knows it (the Foundress of Oomoto). He who makes the joy of this Divine envoy his own joy, his sadness his own sadness, knows the way of the true God.
462. At my side there are many missionaries and believers. But although I am joyful, they are not joyful; although I am sad, they are not sad. This happens because they are not capable of seeing and hearing. There is a proverb: “a child does not know the heart of its parents”. Indeed, the heart of God, the Father of the world, cannot be guessed at.
463. The intellectual and learned person remains without understanding of the Divine way, owing to pride. Because of this he receives very little Divine favour.
464. To the person without knowledge and without learning, like a pure baby, God gives the capability to understand His profound heart. This is proof that God’s love reaches everywhere.
465. Discard the dust and dirt which has collected in your heart and renew yourself; unless you do so, you will never be able to know God’s way of salvation.
466. People experienced in worldly affairs can be quite ignorant of the Divine realm. They believe that they understand everything with their wisdom, ignoring the fact that they are protected by the gods of the spirit world. God’s salvation does not reach them and they can accomplish nothing. To be pitied, therefore, are those who are called intellectuals or scholars.
467. The intellectual and learned person cannot easily discard his knowledge, because the storehouse of his heart is full of it. Consequently in the storehouse of his heart there is no space for the true treasure which is the Divine way.
468. Whatever enemy may appear before you in the spreading of the Divine way, walk forward without stopping and without yielding. Even if one appears who would kill you for your service to the Divine way, have no fear. Even if they can kill your body, they can never kill your soul. Therefore there is nothing to fear.
469. The devil which is able to kill not only your body but even your soul is your sin and impurity, made by you yourself. In the world there is nothing more to be feared than one’s own sin. Even if you were killed because of the way, that is according to God’s will. By means of this God intends to give you long life in a more beautiful world.
470. Not only missionaries but also believers of this way appear as the light of the world.
471. Become the salt of the ocean (human society) and take on its pure colour and taste.
472. May all of you become air, light, water, gold and earth, and serve the world.
473. If you serve the world thus, you will be able to open the door to glory, for you will accord with God’s heart.
474. Family members, be unanimous in striving for faith. If in your family there is one who does not believe in God, leave him for a while. For God is much more important than your parents and siblings.
475. He who denies the Divine way because of his parents or siblings defies the heart of the true God.
476. God does not advise you to defy your parents. God advises you to submit to Him in order to redeem your parents or brothers from their sins, following the path of the true God.
477. The most faithful is the one who believes in God, perfects his conduct and guides even his parents to faith. Obeying the words of the parents without distinguishing good from evil is not faithfulness to the true Father.
Written on the 13th of the 5th month in the 37th year of Meiji (1904).
