I realize it has been a reeaaallly long time since I posted anything or made any updates to this website. I offer my apologies.
I stumbled upon a translation I did some time ago that I felt could be useful to researchers of Tenrikyo and burakumin in general. I am unsure if this post will lead to more activity on this website down the road or not.
Continue reading Excerpts from Miki Nakayama and discriminated peoples
The following is a translation of an excerpt from Ishizue: Kashihara Genjiro no shinko to shogai (Cornerstone: The Faith and Life of Genjiro Kashihara) by Teruo Nishiyama. Note: This translation is a provisional one and may need to undergo further revision.
The following is a translation of an excerpt from Ishizue: Kashihara Genjiro no shinko to shogai (Cornerstone: The Faith and Life of Genjiro Kashihara) by Teruo Nishiyama. Note: This translation is a provisional one and may need to undergo further revision.
The following is a translation of an excerpt from Ishizue: Kashihara Genjiro no shinko to shogai (Cornerstone: The Faith and Life of Genjiro Kashihara) by Teruo Nishiyama. Note: This translation is a provisional one and may need to undergo further revision.
The following is a translation of an excerpt from Ishizue: Kashihara Genjiro no shinko to shogai (Cornerstone: The Faith and Life of Genjiro Kashihara) by Teruo Nishiyama. Note: This translation is a provisional one and may need to undergo further revision.
The following is a translation of an excerpt from Ishizue: Kashihara Genjiro no shinko to shogai (Cornerstone: The Faith and Life of Genjiro Kashihara) by Teruo Nishiyama. Note: This translation is a provisional one and may need to undergo further revision.
The following is a translation of an excerpt from Ishizue: Kashihara Genjiro no shinko to shogai (Cornerstone: The Faith and Life of Genjiro Kashihara) by Teruo Nishiyama. Note: This translation is a provisional one and may need to undergo further revision.
When Koiso Yamanaka was to be married to Ihachiro Yamada of Deyashiki in Kurahashi Village, her father, Chushichi, asked Oyasama about the marriage. Oyasama said to him:
“I am not sending her to be married. Rather, I am sending her to the southern half of the province to spread the teachings as none have spread it there yet. However, it all depends on her heart.”
The Yamanaka parents were hesitant about this request because the Yamada family was living deep in the heart of the mountains, but Koiso was married on May 30, 1881, after saying, “Let me be married as God desires.”
Koiso then found that Isa Yamamoto, a relative of the Yamada family had been bedridden for more than five years due to the paralysis of her limbs. Koiso prayed to God for her recovery and repeatedly gave her sacred water. The following year, when Chushichi Yamanaka came to visit them, Isa was marvelously healed. She rose to her feet, all her joints cracking, and was able to walk by herself. In her village Koiso also found a girl named Naragiku Tanaka who had been blind for more than seven years. Koiso prayed to God for the girl’s recovery, each time washing her eyes with sacred water. Soon, she received God’s blessing. The mention of Koiso’s cure of the cripple and the blind girl became so well-known throughout neighboring villages that many people came to see her one after another.
Anecdotes of Oyasama, p. 70
In the fall of 1879, Bunkichi Nakagawa, who lived at Honden in Osaka, suddenly contracted an eye disease and his condition became so serious that he was in danger of losing his sight. Umejiro Izutsu, his neighbor, without a moment’s delay began praying for Nakagawa’s recovery from the disease. Nakagawa was marvelously healed within a period of three days and three nights.
One day in 1880, Bunkichi Nakagawa visited the Residence to express his gratitude for having been saved. Oyasama received him and said:
“I welcome your seeking the parental home and returning here. Let us have an arm-gripping contest, shall we?”
Nakagawa, who habitually boasted of his strength and had even participated in amateur sumo-wrestling matches, could not refrain from smiling wryly for a moment upon hearing Her words. He could not, however, refuse Her and so he stretched forth both of his muscular arms.
Oyasama then quietly gripped Nakagawa’s left wrist and instructed him to grip Her left wrist as tightly as he could with his right hand. As instructed, Nakagawa gripped Oyasama’s wrist with all his might. Then, contrary to his expectations, he felt a sharp pain in his left arm as though it were about to break. He cried out, “I give up! Please, forgive me!” Then Oyasama said:
“You need not be surprised. If a child puts forth all his strength, the parent also must put forth strength. This is the reason of heaven. Do you understand?”
Anecdotes of Oyasama, p. 65
Early in April 1875, Eijiro Enomoto of Sugahama, Sando Village in Fukui Prefecture, visited the goddess of mercy of Hase, the eighth temple on the pilgrimage route through the western provinces. His purpose was to pray that his daughter Kiyo be cured of insanity. From the old woman of a teahouse he happened to hear that a living god resided in Shoyashiki Village. He then hurried to Shoyashiki through Miwa and visited the Residence. He asked an intermediary for an audience with Oyasama, who told him:
“You need not worry. Never! Go home quickly, as something wrong has happened in your home. Visit houses in your village one by one and save forty-two persons. Pray to God earnestly at each house, chanting, ‘Namu, Tenri-Ō-no-Mikoto,’ and pressing your hands together in prayer. By saving others you yourself will be saved.”
Eijiro left Shoyashiki lightheartedly and, going through Kizu, Kyoto and Shiozu, arrived at Sugahama on April 23rd.
His daughter was hopelessly insane, but while he was praying, “Namu, Tenri-Ō-no-Mikoto,” pressing his hands together in prayer, incredibly, she became calm by degrees. Then as Oyasama had instructed him, he visited every house in his village, spreading the fragrance of the teachings of God. He visited the homes of the sick repeatedly, praying for the healing of forty-two people.
Wonderfully, his daughter was completely cured. Also, people came from many homes to express their gratitude. Restored to sanity, his daughter married a man adopted into her family. Eijiro and the young couple returned to Jiba to offer their thanks and were granted an audience with Oyasama.
Later, they expressed their impression that Oyasama, wearing pure red garments and with Her snow-white hair plaited in the shape of a tea whisk, was a beautiful and noble figure.
Anecdotes of Oyasama, pp. 36–37