Around 1874, Oyasama used to sing this song to Herself:
The moon rising from the hills in the east,
Like pushing a cart, or like a water wheel,
Rumbling, rumbling, rumbling.
Its melody was said to be the same as that of “Takaiyama kara” (From a high mountain).
Anecdotes of Oyasama, p. 33
One day in 1874, Naragiku Nishio returned to the Residence and was sitting in front of Oyasama with other people. When they were preparing to leave, Oyasama called the name of Kokan, Her daughter, and asked:
“Dear daughter, isn’t there anything to do? These people will not leave if they are asked to do something. There is something, isn’t there?”
To this question, Kokan answered, “Yes, there are many things to do, but I was hesitating to ask them.” Then Oyasama said:
“Why not ask them?”
Kokan asked them to spin yarn. They worked hard at spinning and winding yarn on the spindle. Soon Naragiku, who was then eighteen, completed one spindle. Oyasama went to her and tapped her on the shoulder. She raised the spindle to Her head three times and said:
“Dear Naragiku, girls of your age yearn for many things. You are so young, yet faithful in your work, I admire you. There are a lot of things to do in this Residence if you are of the mind to work. While working in this Residence, you will not be able to leave, even if you want to. I recommend that you work as hard as possible when you can. Then, in the future you will be quite free from hardship, even if you want it. So work hard now.”
Note: Naragiku Nishio’s name was changed to Osame in accord with Oyasama’s words when she married Masui in 1876.
Anecdotes of Oyasama, pp. 32–33
The fourth installment of part two of the “Savoring the Realm of the Mikagura-uta” lecture series, sponsored by the Oyasato Institute for the Study of Religion, was held at 13:00 on July 25. The lecturer was Takanori Sato sensei and he was assigned to discuss Song Eight (Ya Kudari-me) of the Mikagura-uta (The Songs for the Service). The title of the lecture was “Hayaku fushin ni torikakare” (“Begin the construction at once!”). Here is the current translation of Song Eight:
First, In this wide world and its many countries; Are there no stones or standing trees?
Second, Though I carry out marvelous construction, I never ask a favor of anyone.
Third, All coming together from the world one after another, It will be accomplished.
Fourth, Forgetting away the mind of greed, Set out to determine your mind firmly!
Fifth, However long you may hesitate, It will never be accomplished by yourselves.
Sixth, Never hasten so thoughtlessly! Ponder over it from your innermost heart!
Seventh, When your mind becomes somewhat purified, Begin the construction at once!
Eighth, Having entered into the mountains, I have already seen the stones and standing trees.
Ninth, Whether to cut down this tree or to take that stone; It entirely depends upon the heart of God.
Finally, This time, the hearts of all equally Have become completely purified.
Lecture Four “Hayaku fushin ni torikakare” (Song Eight) by Takanori Sato (translation of Tenri jiho article, August 23, 2009 edition, p. 4)
Note: English translations of particular terms, phrases, and my additions to the text (in my hope to ensure smoother reading) are put in brackets.
(Beginning of translation)
Yoshinaru Ueda sensei has straightforwardly explained each Song of the Twelve Songs from the Mikagura-uta [with names/themes such as] “the rich harvest chapter,” “the health and peace chapter” and “faith chapter.”1 Regarding Song Eight, he writes, “It is a chapter on kensetsu [construction] that brims with the most vitality and vigor in The Songs for the Service.” He further stresses that it is a “chapter about the gathering of Yoboku for the purpose of fushin [construction].” Here we can get an idea how important Song Eight is in regards to [teaching us about] the everyday faith of Yoboku.
For the theme [of my lecture] today — “Begin the construction at once!” (verse seven) — the interpretation of the term fushin [construction] especially carries much significance. Ueda sensei writes: “Fushin in Tenrikyo does not merely [signify] visible ‘construction.’ Ultimately, it refers to the unseeable, ‘kokoro no fushin‘ [spiritual construction].”
Further, in the opening verse, “In this wide world and its many countries,” Ueda sensei interprets “sekai” [world] as the “entire face of the Earth” and “kuninaka” [many countries] as “the countries of the world that have been regionally marked off from one another by boundaries.” Taking this idea a step further, we can think of the construction that we are told to begin both as a tangible and intangible phenomenon that is to develop on a glocal (global and local) level.
The most pressing issue humanity faces concerns the Earth’s environment. As a specialist of this field, I cannot help but conclude that Song Eight provides us with clues to help resolve environmental issues. In the Ofudesaki, we read, “Thunder, earthquakes, great winds, and floods: these are from the regret and anger of Tsukihi” (8:58). We are taught here that, starting with climate change, various natural disasters come about because of God the Parent’s “regret and anger.”
The environmental issues of the present is the “sejo no kagami” [world’s mirror] that happens to reflect of the “dusts of the mind” that have piled up due to human activities pursued in the name of profit and convenience [with the mindset that] “all is well if the present is well for the self alone.”2
Technical solutions conceived by governments and specialized agencies are indispensable to resolve such issues. Yet at the same time, I imagine that that each of us is expected to have the awareness that we are alive in God’s bosom, the body of God3, and that we must aim for “kokoro no seijin” [spiritual growth] (spiritual construction) as we sweep away our own dusts of the mind.
This “construction” precisely refers to the gratitude we express for the “Ten no atae” [gifts of heaven] we receive from God the Parent on a daily basis. It is essential that we begin with small efforts such as taking care of things and being humble.
God the Parent has said, “If you bind yourselves together in a unity of mind, I shall provide any blessings for you” (Osashizu, January 19, 1898). It is possible that, by taking the verse “Begin the construction at once!” to heart and having Yoboku unite their efforts and help one another, we will uncover a breakthrough that helps resolve our environmental problems.
Truly, Song Eight is a “chapter about the gathering of for the purpose of fushin.”
(End of translation)
I can’t help but feel that the article is leaving out essential chunks of Sato sensei’s presentation. (But I can’t fill in the gaps since I wasn’t able to attend the lecture last month.) The condensed version here feels awfully incomplete and unsatisfying.
On the morning of December 4, 1874, as Rin Masui tried to get up, she strangely felt pain. Both of her eyes had become badly swollen. They grew worse each day. When the consulting doctor diagnosed it as glaucoma, she became frightened. She received medical treatment, but finally lost her eyesight. This happened two years after her husband passed away.
The whole family was overcome with grief. During the year-end and New Year’s season, twelve-year-old Ikutaro, the elder child, heard the news of a god from a fellow traveler at Tatsuta. The traveler said, “The god ‘Tenryu-san’ at Shoyashiki in Yamato will save anyone from any sickness. One has only to offer prayers for three days and three nights.” Upon Ikutaro’s return, the parent and child promptly began praying for three days and three nights, facing toward Yamato, but there was no sign of improvement. So they sent a man-servant, Tamehachi, to Shoyashiki to pray for the family. He left Ogata early in the morning, and arrived at the Residence before noon. Tamehachi saw Oyasama, who was wearing the red garments, and he prayed to Her. He listened to the teachings from the intermediaries and asked to have the main points of the teachings written down on paper to take home.
As Ikutaro read aloud to Rin the notes that Tamehachi had brought home, Rin said, “Since we have thus received God’s teachings, I don’t care what happens to my physical body. For the sake of eliminating the family innen I will engage in the work of single-hearted salvation, not minding the severe cold and heat, and even if I have to walk with the aid of two canes. We three, mother and children, will follow the path with joy, even through fire and water.” This was the firm resolution of the whole family.
Not only Rin, but Ikutaro as well as eight-year-old Tomie poured cold water over themselves as a form of ascetic ritual. The whole family joined in a three-day and three-night prayer. Facing Jiba, they chanted, “Namu, Tenri-Ō-no-Mikoto,” over and over, and prayed earnestly.
The dawn of the third day came. Rin had been sitting before the brazier throughout the prayer, and Tomie, who was sitting beside her mother, noticed a ray of light through a slight opening in the door. She said, without thinking, “Mother, it’s daybreak.”
Hearing her daughter’s voice, Rin turned toward the front door. She saw a gleam of light through a slight opening in the door. Thinking that it might be a dream, she quickly stood up, rushed to the front entrance and rolled open the sliding door. Outside it was glittering with morning sunlight, just as it had been years before. She had received a wonderful blessing and had recovered her eyesight completely.
Rin returned at once to Jiba to offer her thanks. She thanked Oyasama through the intermediary, Gisaburo Nakata. Oyasama said:
“Sah, sah, you lost your eyesight during one night. Sah, sah, it is an innen, innen. God has drawn you to this Residence. Welcome, welcome home. Sayemon,* please explain the teachings in detail to her. Please explain to her.”
Rin stayed over that night. The next day she heard the teachings from Nakata. While she was learning the hand movements for the morning and evening service, she received Oyasama’s words:
“Sah, sah, your soul has an innen. When it is the divine will to use a person in God’s service, God will draw that person to this Residence by any means. Be thankful and follow the path joyfully, no matter what you may encounter. Persons who are destined to be used as instruments in God’s service will be drawn to this Residence even by means of physical pain. Because I must draw you even by means of giving you suffering, what I do is different depending on the person. It is natural that there is difference. Because of My intent, you never got any better. It was only natural that you never got any better because I do things differently. Your eyesight never improved. Sah, sah, it is an innen, innen. Sayemon, please explain in detail. You could not see because it was as if God’s hands were in front of your eyes. Sah, she says she cannot see ahead. When the hands are removed you can see at once. You can see, can’t you? Sah, sah, take heart, take heart. You will not have any hardships, even if you wish to undergo hardships. It is all up to the individual’s mind.”
Rin stayed over again that night. The next morning, she asked Nakata to tell Oyasama that she was returning to Kawachi, and she again received Oyasama’s words:
“You just heard a bit of the teachings and you have returned from a far place, passing through mountain trails and valleys. Sah, sah, I accept your firm resolution. Look ahead with joy, with joy. Sah, sah, I will provide you with clothing, food, and spending money. Remember you are to serve God for a long time. Sah, sah, look ahead, look ahead, look ahead with joy.”
Rin was speechless and was moved to tears. Rin Masui was then thirty-two years of age.
* Gisaburo Nakata was the former Sayemon Nakata. In or about 1873, due to the Japanese government’s edict abolishing names ending in “-suke,” and “-yemon,” “Sayemon” was changed to “Gisaburo.”
It was on December 26, 1874, that Oyasama wore red garments for the first time. Oyasama had suddenly said:
“I will wear red garments.”
Then Matsue and daughter Kokan set out to Nara in the morning to buy cloth, and came back toward noon. When they returned, Naragiku Nishio (renamed Osame Masui), Masu Masui (renamed Suma Murata), Kaji Nakata and other women were doing chores in the Residence. Since Oyasama had said:
“I will wear them as soon as they are ready,”
they all helped, sewing in haste, and the red garments were completed by evening. Oyasama wore them for the first time that night. It is said that Oyasama, dressed in the red garments, sat on the dais; and the people in attendance enjoyed sweet rice wine in celebration of the occasion.
Anecdotes of Oyasama, pp. 28–29.
In the spring of 1873, Hyoshiro Kami married Tsune. Later, when she became pregnant, Hyoshiro returned to Jiba to receive the Grant of Safe Childbirth. Oyasama said to him:
“Take home as much of the washed rice as you want.”
And She Herself instructed him:
“Sah, sah, divide the washed rice into three portions. Have your wife take one portion after you get home, another when her labor begins, and the third one right after delivery.
If you do as I tell you, your wife will not need a leaning post, special dietary restrictions or an obstetrical binder. Let her use a pillow, and do as usual. Do not worry even a little. You must not worry. Never doubt. This place is the Residence where human beings were first created. This is the parental home. Be sure never to doubt. Once Tsukihi has said, ‘I grant it,’ you are surely granted it.”
Anecdotes of Oyasama, p. 28 Continue reading Blogging Anecdotes of Oyasama 34
Risaburo Yamamoto of Kashiwara Village, Kawachi Province, injured his chest in a village sumo-wrestling match in the autumn of 1870 at the age of twenty-one. For three years from that time he was sick in bed. Doctors were consulted and prayers were offered here and there at shrines and temples for his recovery. But it was to no avail. In fact, his condition became worse until he was on the verge of death. Just at that time, during the summer of 1873, his family heard of God the Parent from a sawyer named Kuma. He had come from Furu, Yamato Province, to work at the To Sawmill in that same village of Kashiwara. Upon hearing of God the Parent, Rihachi, Risaburo’s father, promptly returned to Jiba in place of his son. Oyasama said:
“This Residence is the Residence where mankind was first created. This is the birthplace of man. No matter how serious, any sickness will be cured. Bring your son here at once. I have been eagerly waiting for your coming.”
Receiving such encouraging words, Rihachi returned home and conveyed them to his son. Whereupon Risaburo began to say, “I want to go and worship the god in Yamato.” The family members tried to stop him by saying, “You will never make it to Yamato.” But Risaburo pleaded, “I don’t care, I still want to go. I want to be near that god.”
In response to his earnest pleas, a stretcher was prepared. When it became dark, he was quietly carried out of the gate. However, on the way, when they came to a big bridge over the Tatsuta River, Risaburo stopped breathing, and so they turned back. But when they reached home, he miraculously started to breathe again. Because he pleaded, “I don’t care if I die,” the family, according to custom, drank water from a sake cup at what might be a final parting. Carrying him on the stretcher, they again departed for Yamato late at night with lanterns. It was a dark night.
The group finally reached Jiba on the evening of the following day. The gates of the Residence were already closed, so they sought lodging in a nearby home. The next morning, Risaburo, who was on the verge of death, was brought before Oyasama. She said:
“You need not worry. You shall be saved for sure if you decide to dedicate your whole life to serve this Residence.”
Continuing, She gave him the following words:
“The bridge between countries; a rough log bridge. Without a bridge, a river cannot be crossed. Will you dedicate your life, or not? Arakitoryo, arakitoryo!*”
Oyasama ordered a bath for Risaburo, and said:
“Take a bath now.”
When he returned from the bath, Oyasama said:
“You must now feel fresh and lively.”
Although he had been in no condition to take the bath, he had no trouble doing so. In fact, Risaburo’s suffering disappeared and his pain faded away. He heartily ate three bowls of the rice gruel that Oyasama gave him. Due to Oyasama’s warm parental love, Risaburo received God’s blessing and regained his health on the sixth day. After staying a month he returned to Kashiwara. The villagers were struck with admiration when they saw his vigorous health.
*Arakitoryo: literally, ‘the master wood cutter’; it has the meaning of ‘pioneer missionary.’
Anecdotes of Oyasama, pp. 26–28 Continue reading Blogging Anecdotes of Oyasama 33
When she was in her teens, Yasu, daughter of Rihei Matsuda of Kosaka Village in Yamato, helped cook for Oyasama for several years. Oyasama said:
“When a meal you have cooked is brought in, my heart seems to open up,”
and She enjoyed Yasu’s cooking. Her meal consisted of rice gruel with a few soybeans. When it was not busy, there were times when Yasu was alone with Oyasama. During these times, Oyasama taught Yasu many things. On one such occasion, Oyasama taught her:
“Dear Yasu, a man, any man, is what a wife’s word makes him. Even if he is a man who is apt to be called a fool by others, if his wife treats him with respect and says politely, ‘Welcome home, dear,’ when he comes home, people will say, ‘Although we call him a fool, judging by the respectful way his wife treats him, he must be a great man.’ Whether the husband becomes a great man or a fool depends on the wife’s word.”
When Yasu was twenty-three, Oyasama arranged a marriage for her into the Inui family of Shoyashiki Village. The meeting of the prospective bride and groom was held in Oyasama’s room. At that time, Oyasama said:
“God says, ‘This person and that person.’ In this way, the matter is settled. After it is settled, do not sever it. If it is severed, the one who severs it will be severed.”
Then She moved Her hands three times, saying:
“Good, good, very good.”
, pp. 25–26
It’s exactly three years to the day since Tenri Forum 2006 ended. Although it was an inspiring three days, I have not seen any signs of a comparable coordinated effort in the English-speaking congregation since then. I honestly must say there is much to be desired from anyone who is in the position and authority to bring together another such event, even one much smaller in scale, in the future.
The wonderful people who helped put together this grand event appeared to have been burned out in the process of preparing and carrying it out so much that it took more than two years just to get the “book” (Tenri Forum 2006: New Frontiers in the Mission — Compiled Speeches & Summaries) together.
In some ways, I sympathize, but in other ways, it’s just another source of extreme frustration that comes with the territory of being a Tenrikyo follower. Not to mention they messed up my presentation in print format… grrrrr… (Please click here for the authoritative version, if you’ve yet to read it.)
For those who don’t have the book, the Tenri Forum 2006 entry at the Tenrikyo Resource Wiki is a good place to start.
I had a grand ambition when the TF 2006 book first came out: I was going to read and blog the entire thing (613 pages) here on Tenrikyology.com! I was really serious about this: I even wrote and posted the Intro to this series! But as you can see, I haven’t added anything else in the six months since then. Which kind of begs the question: What happened?
I think the most honest explanation I can give is twofold:
Before I went on to post the next blog after the Intro, it occurred to me that maybe it wasn’t a hot idea to start blogging on Tenri Forum 2006 without letting people know what I was going to do it. I composed a mass e-mail announcing my intentions to all the contributors but I never got around to sending it. I admit it: I chickened (or maybe flaked?) out.
I’ve only started reading the book about a month or two ago, but I’m still on the afternoon session from the first day.
I honestly can’t say if I’ll get around to blogging the TF book. I might finally blog it sometime later on a much smaller scale, just mentioning and maybe summarizing the presentations I happen to like instead of the full-blown analysis that I originally had in mind. But I’m not making any promises at this point.
*Note: This post has been revised since its original publication.
The third installment of part two of the “Savoring the Realm of the Mikagura-uta” lecture series, sponsored by the Oyasato Institute for the Study of Religion, was held at 13:00 on June 25. The lecturer was Harumichi Fukagawa sensei and he was assigned to discuss Song Seven (Nana Kudari-me) of the Mikagura-uta. The title of the lecture was “Denji no iranu mono wa nai” (There is no one… who does not desire to own a field).