168. A Boat Ride (funa asobi)

Oyasama once said to Her granddaughter, Hisa Kajimoto (later Hisa Yamazawa):

“I would like to go for a boat ride. Were I to go, I would not be able to come back for two or three years.”

It is said that with these words Oyasama foretold the day when the teachings of God the Parent would spread overseas.

Anecdotes of Oyasama, pp. 135-136

I have added a blog post about the recent earthquakes and tsunamis in northeast Japan here.

My take

The suggestion that Oyasama’s declaration somehow anticipated that her teachings would spread outside Japan is mentioned in the text of Anecdotes 168 itself. There is also a declaration attributed to Oyasama that goes: “God will have purified much of Japan during the seventy-five years following God’s descent into this Residence. Thereafter, the name ‘Tenri-O-no-Mikoto’ is to spread toward all corners of the world.”

An abbreviated history of the Tenrikyo mission overseas:

• 1893 The first Tenrikyo missionary who went to spread the faith to another country was Jitaro Satomi, who arrived in Busan, Korea.
• 1896 The Home Ministry Secret Directives severely restrict Tenrikyo’s propagation activities in Japan, causing several missionaries to turn their efforts overseas. Between 1897 and 1907, missionaries helped spread the faith to China (present-day Guangdong Province), Korea, Manchuria, Taiwan, and the United States.
• 1909 Tenrikyo Mission Administration Office in Korea (now called Tenrikyo Mission Headquarters in South Korea) is established in Busan.
• 1910 A Tenrikyo missionary arrives in London. (The effort is aborted several years later.)
• 1925 Tenri School of Foreign Languages (now Tenri University) is established.
• 1932 Construction of Tenri-mura (“Tenri village”) near Harbin, Manchuria, begins.
• 1934 Tenrikyo Mission Headquarters in America is established in Los Angeles. Tenrikyo Mission Headquarters in Taiwan is established in Taipei.
• 1944 There were more than 500 overseas “churches” (kyokai) by this time.[1] The numbers boiled down to:

• Brazil: 9
• Canada: 2
• China: 46
• Korea: 211
• Manchuria: 124
• Southeast Asia: 7
• South Pacific: 6
• Taiwan: 39
• U.S.: 38
• U.S. (Territory of Hawaii): 22

• 1951 Tenrikyo Mission Headquarters in Brazil (Brasil Dendotyo) is established in Bauru, SP.
• 1954 Tenrikyo Mission Headquarters of Hawaii is established in Honolulu.
• 1966 Congo-Brazzaville Church and Nepal Renrakusho (literally, “contact office”) are established.
• 1970 Tenrikyo Europe Centre is established.
• 1972 Tenrikyo Mission Center in Singapore and Iglesia Tenrikyo de Columbia are established.
• 1976 Tenrikyo Mission New York Center is established.
• 1978 Tenrikyo Mission Center in Hong Kong is established.
• 1982 Tenrikyo Mission Center in Thailand is established.
• 1985 Asociación Religiosa Tenrikyo established in Mexico.
• 1987 Tenrikyo Philippines is established in Manila.
• 1997 Tenrikyo Oceania Centre is established in Brisbane, Australia.
• 2000 Tenrikyo U.K. Centre is established.

According to the latest statistics from Michi no tomo monthly magazine, Tenrikyo’s overseas presence is as follows:

Bibliography

Tenri Daigaku Oyasato Kenkyūsho, ed. 1997. “Kaigai dendō.” In Kaitei Tenrikyō jiten. Tenri: Tenrikyō Dōyūsha, pp. 178–182.

Tenrikyō Omotetōryō-shitsu Chōsa-jōhōka. 2010. Tenrikyō kyōkai meishōroku, Rikkyō 173 nen han. Tenri: Tenrikyō Kyōkai Honbu.

External link

Tenrikyo jiten: “Seventy-five years“