About Tenrikyology.com

Welcome to Tenrikyology.com, the first English website strictly dedicated to Tenrikyogaku — the study of Tenrikyo!

The ultimate aim of this site is to be a reservoir of information on Tenrikyo — a religious organization based on the revelations of Oyasama (Nakayama Miki) and the Honseki (Iburi Izo) — with the hope it will enrich the understanding of English-reading followers and non-followers alike.

About Roy Forbes (Self-Intro)

I am a third-generation follower originally from Honolulu. I went to the 691st session of Shuyoka (Spiritual Development Course in Jiba) between November 1998 and January 1999. I completed the first half of the Head Minister Qualification Course (Kentei Koshu-kai, Zenki) in March 2000 and completed the second half (Kentei Koshu-kai, Koki) in July 2005.

I currently live in Tenri with my wife and three children.

Educational background

BA in East Asian Languages and Literature (Japanese), 1998 UH Manoa and MA in Religion (Asian), 2005 UH Manoa. (To anyone who is curious and bold enough: you’re more than free to take a peek at my masters thesis.)

About site content

This site is still in its early stage of development. Its main features at the moment include:

• Mikagura-uta (The Songs for the Service) online (New! First offered in April 2010): This is a Tenrikyology.com exclusive! I’ve decided to be a bit bold and make available the words to The Songs for the Service, a Tenrikyo Scripture, online together with the official translations in six languages. I also ran a commentary series on the Twelve Songs between October 2014 and January 2015.
• Blogging Anecdotes of Oyasama: A series of commentaries on Anecdotes of Oyasama, a “supplemental text” to the Tenrikyo Scriptures, that ran between January 2009 and July 2011.
• The Life of the Honseki Izo Iburi: This is an expanded version of the series that originally ran in the Hawaii Dendocho monthly Origins from June 2005 to May 2006.
• Anecdotes of the Honseki Izo Iburi: A newer series of anecdotes on the Honseki, some are strictly translations, some are adapted from multiple sources.
• The Footsteps of Our Predecessors: Translations of the series “Senjin no sokuseki” from the Tenrikyo Young Men’s Association monthly Taimo.
• Omichi no joshiki: Translations of entries from Dr. Koji Sato’s book Omichi no joshiki (“Tenrikyo Fundamentals”) from Tenrikyo Doyusha publishing.
• Cornerstone: A rough translation of Teruo Nishiyama’s Ishizue: Kashihara Genjiro no shinko to shogai (Cornerstone: The Faith and Life of Genjiro Kashihara). Posted in June 2012 in commemoration of Myodo’s 120th anniversary.

I hope to eventually add future commentaries on The Life of Oyasama, Tenrikyo Scriptures, the Tenrikyo Story of Creation, and more.

Note: The site is undergoing maintenance that is long overdue — overdue even before the site was migrated to WordPress circa November 2011.

Disclaimer: The content of this site is the responsibility of mine alone and does not reflect or represent the opinions or stance of Tenrikyo Church Headquarters.