Category Archives: Scripture

A Survey of Previous Commentaries/Bibliography

Twelve Songs Commentary

Survey of commentaries used as main references

I find that a major weakness of many commentaries is that authors tend to go verse by verse and sometimes go on tangents that are not really constructive toward the understanding each Song as a whole. Some authors use a verse as a springboard to begin a short sermon. I will attempt to get away from that style as much as I can though I will adopt the conventional style of going through the Twelve Songs in chronological order. My longer commentaries will contain summaries of each Song. (Songs One to Four, Seven, Eleven and Twelve)

Here is a short survey of the commentaries I used as references when writing my commentary. Continue reading A Survey of Previous Commentaries/Bibliography →

Twelve Songs Commentary: Introduction

Twelve Songs Commentary

The Twelve Songs of the Teodori were composed by Oyasama between the first and eighth lunar months of 1867, which would correspond to between February and September 1867 according to the Gregorian calendar.1 It comprises a large portion of the liturgy Mikagura-uta, the Songs for the Tenrikyo Service or Tsutome.

Motivations and approaches in writing my commentary

I have wanted to do an English commentary on the Twelve Songs for a long time because I have always found the official English translation of the Mikagura-uta to be wanting.

Continue reading Twelve Songs Commentary: Introduction →

  1. Ueda A 461–4. ↩