"Konkō Kyō not only declares itself as monotheism but, at the same time, repudiates all ordinary superstitious beliefs and practices so widely prevalent among the nation at large, such as the selling and the wearing of charms and the use of exorcisms, divinations, and formal, repetitious prayers. Its founder, like Jesus of Nazareth, began life as a simple peasant and, like Jesus, Kawate Bunjirō eventually came to the conviction that the great Father of All Life had come to self-knowledge in himself. Chronologically Konkō Kyō is almost exactly coextensive with the history of Christianity in modern Japan. Its study affords material that is remarkably suggestive in making comparison with the progress of the Christian movement."