The following excerpt is from Omichi no joshiki [Tenrikyo Fundamentals] (pp. 146–149) by Koji Sato, professor at Tenri University and instructor at Tenri Seminary. Note: This translation is a provisional one at the moment and may require further revision.
Many religions have established forms of ascetic training to deepen one’s faith and to cultivate the mind. There are some that are life-threatening and actually have taken the lives of a number of people.
The following is a translation of Part 41 of the series “Senjin no sokuseki” (Footsteps of Our Predecessors) from the May 2006 (No. 449) issue of Taimo, pp. 34–35. This translation is a provisional one at the moment and may require further revision.
Naka Higashida was born in 1893 in Mifune-machi, Kumamoto Prefecture. When she came of age, her aunt who had relocated to Hawaii came to her with a marriage proposal. It was an arranged marriage with a mere exchange of photos, and it was decided that Naka would go to Hawaii to marry. Continue reading The Footsteps of Our Predecessors 41
Q: Being that Tenrikyo is a religion from Japan, how is it categorized? Is it a Buddhist or Shinto tradition?
submitted by Paradise Plastic (real name withheld)
A: Great question, Paradise Plastic! I get similar ones all the time. Anyone who asks is understandably curious since Tenrikyo appears to share many elements with Buddhism and Shinto.
Continue reading Question no. 2: Is Tenrikyo a Buddhist or Shinto tradition?
The Honseki’s attendance at the ceremony on April 15 enshrining a set of Oyasama’s red clothing at Kochi Bunkyokai was the highlight of his 1894 missionary tour of the western provinces. Arriving on April 14, he stayed until the 18th.
The following excerpt is from Omichi no joshiki [Tenrikyo Fundamentals] (pp. 144–145) by Koji Sato, professor at Tenri University and instructor at Tenri Seminary. Note: This translation is a provisional one at the moment and may require further revision.
It is a difficult task for a person who knows and understands something to explain and have it understood by another who does not. The one who understands does not understand why the other person does not understand.
Continue reading It Is Not That the Child Does Not Understand
The following is a translation of Part 40 of the series “Senjin no sokuseki” (Footsteps of Our Predecessors) from the April 2006 (No. 448) issue of Taimo, pp. 34–35. This translation is a provisional one at the moment and may require further revision. (This is part two of a two-part series [see part one])
Choe Jae-Han (the first head minister of Won Nam Seong Gyohae) was brought back to life after Rev. Hideno Kimura’s administering of the Sazuke. Still, he had lost much of his vision and his arms and legs were bent inward, making him look like a cicada nymph.
On his tour of the western provinces, there was an occasion when the Honseki was making his way through Kochi where it was raining from morning. Yet there was the unexplainable phenomenon of the rain stopping wherever his procession happened to be traveling by and would resume once again after it passed by. Only the area around the Honseki’s palanquin would be free from rain. Continue reading Anecdotes of the Honseki Izo Iburi 59
The second lecture of “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 venue, as always was the sixth floor of the Tenrikyo Doyusha building.) The lecturer this month was Midori Horiuchi sensei and she was assigned to discuss the so-called “Second Section” or Section Two (Dai-nisetsu) of the Mikagura-uta:
Choto hanashi Kami no yū koto kiite kure
ashiki no koto wa iwan de na
kono yō no ji to ten to o katadorite
fūfu o koshirae kitaru dena
kore wa kono yo no hajimedashi
Namu-Tenri-O-no-Mikoto
(“Just a word: Listen to what God says. I never tell you anything wrong. Representing heaven and earth I have created husband and wife. This is the beginning of this world”).
The following is a translation of Part 39 of the series “Senjin no sokuseki” (Footsteps of Our Predecessors) from the March 2006 (No. 447) issue of Taimo, pp. 36–37. This translation is a provisional one at the moment and may require further revision.
Choe Jae-Han, the founding minister of Won Nam Seong Gyohae (church), suffered from several illnesses from his youth. When he finally succumbed to Hansen’s disease, it left him without a place to work. Jae-Han subsequently abandoned himself to despair and plunged himself into a world of darkness. He spent his days and nights fighting and gambling; his notoriety increased as he repeatedly went in and out of prison.
A commentary by Yoshitaro Hirano (1849–1969) third head minister of Sakai Daikyokai on the Honseki:
A carpenter became a Tenrikyo sensei donning a formal montsuki. There are countless examples of such followers. However, it was Izo Iburi sensei who must be considered to have best embodied the teaching, “By saving a single person, you save tens of thousands.”
The mindset of the Honseki was continuously filled with joy due his practice of tanno. He often went about in a light-hearted manner, saying, “I used to be carpenter.” Outwardly, he spent his life without wearing a single adornment on his body. He was a living example of the proverb that claims a silk brocade of the mind amounts to a silk brocade worn on the body.
(From Ten no jogi p. 79)
*Note: This post has been revised since its original publication.