The following is a translation of the Foreword from Ishizue: Kashihara Genjiro no shinko to shogai (Cornerstone: The Faith and Life of Genjiro Kashihara) by Teruo Nishiyama. Note: This translation is a provisional one and may need to undergo further revision.
Foreword by Yoshinori Kashihara
My father Genjiro entirely devoted himself to missionary work, from the time he embraced the faith while in his teens until his passing at age 83.
My father Genjiro took no byroads in his life. He grappled with God face-on. Whereas there were many twists and turns in his life, he always walked life’s main road in a straight line. Genjiro did not have a single secret which he could not tell anyone. He lived life with a clear conscience. His life was a happy one, a result of his faith in the path. While savoring the depth of his causality, he gave himself to the heartfelt joy of single-hearted salvation.
My father wrote a work titled Fukyo sensen ki (A record at the front lines of the mission). At the end of World War II, the followers dormitory in Jiba became a training center for 30,000 Japanese Navy’s Preparatory Flight Training Program recruits. General Kiyomiya of Air Headquarters lived in the room next to us. When the general read Fukyo sensen ki, he did so with great enthusiasm and relish. He said: “Anyone who has made as much effort as your father did would have become a marshal in the navy. In the business world, he can be compared to entrepreneur Zenjiro Yasuda.”
My father had no interest in personal fame or fortune. Still, he shone brightly as God’s Yoboku. He has my heartfelt respect and I enjoyed basking in the light of his joy.
Nishiyama-kun from Tenrikyo Doyusha Co. had his biography on my father, entitled Ishizue (Cornerstone), serialized in the weekly Tenri jiho over a year. Although he never met my father or even heard a sermon from him, Nishiyama-kun closely examined his writings and mine, interviewed my father’s former students, and not only walked the Muya Road as my father did in his younger days, but also roads in Kyushu before taking up his pen to write. People belonging to Myodo who knew Genjiro well were greatly satisfied at how Genjiro would reappear before them while reading Ishizue. Mr. Koyama’s artwork was also received very well.
It is my wish that many people will read Ishizue now that it has been published as a book at the occasion of the 10th anniversary of his passing.
January 5, 1967
Yoshinori Kashihara
Ishizue, Table of Contents
Foreword by Yoshinori Kashihara
Chapter One: His Young Days
Chapter Two: As a Young Live-In
- Unosuke Tosa
- Seinen No. 1: Muya’s First Live-In
- His First Sermons
- A Missionary Expedition to Iwamatsu
Chapter Three: Becoming Heir of the Kashihara Household
- How Tomokichi Kashihara Embraced the Faith
- The Beginning of Myodo Auxiliary Church
- Tomokichi Kashihara’s Twilight Years
- A Young Couple
Chapter Four: Missionary Work in Karatsu and Succumbing to a Severe Illness
- Beginning Missionary Work in Karatsu
- Over Plains and Over Mountains
- Succumbing To a Severe Mental Illness
- Man of the Low Valleys
Chapter Five: Life as a Minister and Its Trials
- The Spirit of Our Predecessors
- His Efforts and Sense of Mission
- Guidelines a Religious Worker Should Follow in Life
- Encountering Challenges
- Hindrances as His Master and Friend
Chapter Six: Asceticism and Its Source
Chapter Seven: Installation as Head Minister and His Mission Tours
- The Protagonist and His Supporting Cast
- “Do Not Forget Your Straw Sandals”
- A Parent’s Love and Strength
- Churches’ Reception on Genjiro’s Mission Tours
- Instances of Salvation on His Mission Tours
- Saving a Couple from Leprosy
Chapter Eight: Thirty-Thousand Sermons
Chapter Nine: Examples of Genjiro’s Salvation Work
- Crisis Prevention
- Saving a Young Woman from Consumption
- Saving a Woman from Paralysis
- Salvation Efforts Involving Head Ministers
Chapter Ten: Years Leading Up to the 30th Anniversary of Oyasama (1916)
- Muya’s Path
- Genjiro’s Resolution Leading to the 30th Anniversary of Oyasama (1916)
- The Miracle of 1910
- Lifelong Core Beliefs
- “By Any Means”
Chapter Eleven: The Construction of Muya Grand Church
Chapter Twelve: Life in the Kashihara Household
- Poor in Money, Rich in Children
- Life in the Kashihara Family
- Yoshinori Attempts to Run Away
- Yoshinori Studies in Okayama and Tokyo
Chapter Thirteen: Yoshinori’s Missionary Expedition and His Trip Around the World
- Training Successors of the Path
- The Start of the Overseas Mission
- Yoshinori’s Trip Around the World
- The First American Student at Tenri Seminary
Chapter Fourteen: Becoming a Yoboku of Jiba
Chapter Fifteen: Counseling and Administering the Sazuke at Church Headquarters
- The First Miracle
- Seventeen Paraplegics Stand
- The Case of Eijiro Hayashi
- Self-Reflection and Progress
- The Source of Miracles
Chapter Sixteen: Kazuko’s Marriage to Yoshiro and the Storm of War
Chapter Seventeen: The Path of the Parent, the Path of the Child
- Yelling at Scorched Earth
- Yoshinori Runs for a Seat in the House of Representatives
- Yoshiro’s Philosophy
- Yoshiro’s Overseas Study in the U.S.
Chapter Eighteen: The Construction of Myodo Grand Church
Chapter Nineteen: The 70th Anniversary of Oyasama and Yoshiro’s Illness
- Genjiro’s Impressions in His Later Years
- Genjiro’s Resolution Leading to the 70th Anniversary of Oyasama (1956)
- A Rock-Like Conviction
- Salvation Work at Myodo Dormitory
Chapter Twenty: To the Far Ends of the Earth