We call God the Parent, Tenri-O-no-Mikoto. God the Parent created human beings and everything else from where there was no form. God the Parent provided us with the Cosmos, the Earth, and the natural environment that makes life possible. God the Parent oversees the laws of nature and is also its source. God is also our Parent who relieves human beings of our troubles and guides us to the Joyous Life.

In order for us to better understand God the Parent’s providence, each particular working of God was assigned a sacred name and explained. This is the “ten aspects of God’s complete providence.”

We learn this exposition of the providence in order to build genuine faith to the teaching of God the Parent, appreciate the providence by chanting the sacred names, and learn the intention of God the Parent shown through illness and calamities.

Otonobe-no-Mikoto: the providence of pulling out the child from its mother during birth; in the world, the providence of pulling forth in general.

This aspect of the complete providence is male and represented in the heavens as the evening star; its direction is west. At human creation, its symbolic form in the muddy ocean was a black snake. Its counterparts in the Buddhist tradition are Fudo Myo-o (Acala), Saint Kobo (Kukai), En-no-Gyoja, and Shingon (Esoteric) Buddhism.

In addition to human childbirth, in the world, this aspect of the complete providence oversees skills, technology, as well as the birth, germination, and growth/development of all things.

This aspect of God’s providence provides the protection of pulling forth during childbirth, working in conjunction with the workings of Taishokuten-no-Mikoto, which cut the newborn’s ties with his/her mother, and the protection of Kunisazuchi-no-Mikoto, which connects the newborn with the breath of life. This aspect of the divine providence extracts, pulls, and improves our physical capacity and intellect. It also allows us to climb the social ladder. The protection offered by Otonobe-no-Mikoto also provides the buds with the power to sprout from seeds.

The quality of mind associated with the workings of Otonobe-no-Mikoto is to have the willingness and tenacity to pull without caring whether or not our body may rip apart. It is a mind that hones skills and techniques until we gain expertise. It is a mind that seeks to draw out the highest potential from people and material things.

To conform to this aspect of God’s providence, we ought to savor the splendor of things and make efforts to praise, respect, and nurture others.

Expressing discontent and squandering material things, exposing the shortcomings of others, and an attitude that deprives others of their humanity all run contrary to the workings of Otonobe-no-Mikoto. By indulging in such behavior, we risk dystocia, hypoplasia, mental deficiencies, fragile health, alopecia, as well as afflictions of the endocrine system. It is important to make the best use of things that tend to be discarded, make efforts to become an expert at raising children and nurturing the young, and strive to help others to grow.

*This exposition was written by Rev. Chuichi Fukaya, the second head minister of Yamatoyoki Branch Church, and translated by Roy Forbes.