182. The Residence of Origin (Moto no yashiki)

Naka, wife of Denshichi Oura of Kasama Village in Yamato Province, suddenly felt an acute pain in her forefinger which would not abate. She asked their neighbor, Hyoshiro Kami, to pray for her. When Hyoshiro prayed for her, the pain stopped. But a short while later, her finger became painful again. Again, she had Hyoshiro pray, and then again the pain stopped. After this happened three or four times, Hyoshiro said, “Let’s return to Jiba and ask Oyasama.”

So Naka, accompanied by Hyoshiro, returned to the Residence and was received by Oyasama. At their request, Oyasama breathed three times upon Naka’s forefinger. At that moment, the acute pain stopped instantly. Naka was deeply moved by this instantaneous blessing and thought, “What a truly marvelous God!” On this occasion, Oyasama said:

“This is the Residence of Origin where human beings were first created. In the future, people will come here from all over the world and say, ‘This is indeed the place of man’s origin, the parental home.’ This village will be a busy town where you can buy anything by just taking a step outside the Residence.”

Note: The incident related in this anecdote is said to have taken place in 1885 or 1886.

Anecdotes of Oyasama, pp. 143-144

My take

Anecdotes 182 is notable in how it contains a description of Oyasama applying her breath, which was believed to be sacred, to heal someone of pain. Earlier selections from Anecdotes with similar descriptions include nos. 3 and 156. Further, in Anecdotes 155, Oyasama is portrayed applying a piece of paper made sacred by her breath to heal someone.

In Anecdotes 147, a woman asks Oyasama to apply her sacred breath to heal her shaking hands. Oyasama instead lent the woman the Ofudesaki and instructed her to have someone copy it and to read from it daily.

Anecdotes 182 also contains Oyasama’s alleged prediction that Shoyashiki Village “will be a busy town where you can buy anything by just taking a step outside the Residence.” Earlier in Anecdotes 61 and 93, Oyasama is portrayed making other predictions about how the Residence would look like in the future.

It is debatable whether Oyasama’s prediction has come true or not. In many ways, Tenri is still a sleepy backwater compared to the rest of Japan. Although there is a Daiso 100-yen store near the Tenri train station where one can more or less “buy anything,” you would be out of luck if, for example, you had a sudden hunger for burritos or phở.