Misogi-Kyo — One of Japan’s obscure New Religions of the Meiji Era
Toshiro Saito recounts his memories of his grandfather and the new religious sect in Japan his grandfather belonged to.
My maternal grandfather Tatsugoro was a grain merchant. He was from Toyama originally before coming to Edo to work for his older brother. He became a yoshi — an ‘adopted son’ — and partnered into his brother’s grain merchant business which he eventually took over.
My mother told me that Tatsugoro, my grandfather, had a kindly personality. When he went to collect money owed to him by his clients (rice was paid for monthly,) and his clients were unable to pay because they were hard up that month, he would often then give them money instead out of sympathy.
In addition to his grain business, my grandfather also had a shop that sold mochi, zenzai, and shiruko and this shop employed many people. It was quite prosperous. My mother helped in this shop when she was a young woman, and that time learned how to make mochi, knead it, and also make anko. After she got married into the Saito household and made these items at New Year’s as is the custom and was praised for how well she made them, she always responded proudly with “I’m a mochi-maker’s daughter.” No one, however, believed her, much to her consternation. Because her husband, my father, was a well-positioned civil…
