Once Oyasama said to Izo Iburi:
“Izo, open your hand.”
She had three unhulled grains of rice in Her hand, and when Izo opened his hand as requested, Oyasama said:
“This is early rising, this is honesty and this is work,”
and placed them one at a time in the palm of his hand. Then, She continued:
“Hold these three firmly in your hand. You must try not to lose them.”
Izo adhered to this teaching for the rest of his life.
Anecdotes of Oyasama, p. 24
The following is a translation of Part 74 of the series “Senjin no sokuseki” (Footsteps of Our Predecessors) from the February 2009 (No. 482) issue of Taimō, pp. 34–35. This translation is a preliminary one and thus may require further revision.
In March 1908, the eldest son of Akiyo Shirokihara graduated from primary school and she had finished closing her business. So she began working at as a live-in at Tohon Shikyokai. Her husband Meikichi had already started living at Tohon, and was engaging in missionary work at the time with Kurakichi Nakagawa, the eldest son of Tohon’s head minister.
The following is a translation of Part 68 of the series “Senjin no sokuseki” (Footsteps of Our Predecessors) from the August 2008 (No. 476) issue of Taimo, pp. 34–35. This translation is a provisional one at the moment and may require further revision.
In 1912, Masayoshi Ando enrolled himself in the eighth session of the six-month Special Course (Bekka) at Tenri Seminary. One day at the seminary, one of his classmates received a telegram saying, “Mother is critically ill.”
The following is a translation of Part 65 of the series “Senjin no sokuseki” (Footsteps of Our Predecessors) from the May 2008 (No. 473) issue of Taimo, pp. 34–35. This translation is a provisional one at the moment and may require further revision.
Yoshi Nakagawa spent her days and nights engaging in salvation work while living outdoors. Talk began among her devout followers to rent a place for her.
The following is a translation of Part 61 of the series “Senjin no sokuseki” (Footsteps of Our Predecessors) from the January 2008 (No. 469) issue of Taimo, pp. 34–35. This translation is a provisional one at the moment and may require further revision.
Masayoshi and Fuku Ando were blessed with three children. However, they were gravely concerned over their children’s health: the two eldest were sickly since birth and their youngest suffered from seizures and from being underdeveloped, both caused by whooping cough.
The following is a translation of Part 50 of the series “Senjin no sokuseki” (Footsteps of Our Predecessors) from the February 2007 (No. 458) issue of Taimo, pp. 34–35. This translation is a provisional one at the moment and may require further revision.
This is a story from the time when Yoshi Nakagawa, the first head minister of Tohon Daikyokai, was still doing missionary work in Akakuma. She stepped into a general goods store and the old woman who ran it mentioned to her that a woman nearby had just passed away after suffering form post-delivery complications. Yoshi causally responded to this by saying: “That’s quite a shame! It wouldn’t have come to that if she had only clung to God for protection!”
The following is a translation of Part 35 of the series “Senjin no sokuseki” (Footsteps of Our Predecessors) from the November 2005 (No. 443) issue of Taimo, pp. 34–35. This translation is a provisional one at the moment and may require further revision.
Yoshi, who just gave birth to her third child Mitsunosuke, had made a promise to take a blind old lady to Jiba. The day that Yoshi made this appointment happened to be three days after she gave birth. In normal circumstances, a person would have either been forced to postpone or cancel the appointment altogether on the premise of having just given birth. But Yoshi was different. She had not only made a promise to this old lady; she had made a promise to God as well. The people around her tried to persuade Yoshi from doing so but she paid no attention to their pleas.
This is a translation of Part 34 of the series “Senjin no sokuseki” (Footsteps of Our Predecessors) from the October 2005 (No. 442) issue of Taimo, pp. 34–35. This translation is a provisional one at the moment and may require further revision.
The following is an account of the birth of Yakichi and Yoshi Nakagawa’s third child Mitsunosuke. By this time Yoshi had gained the reputation in her area as a miracle worker through her salvation work. Yoshi was so busy that she nearly had no time to sleep as she devoted herself toward saving others up to her expected date of delivery. However, once she gave birth, Yoshi would no longer be able to engage in salvation work. So Yoshi offered the following prayer: “God, while I apologize for making such a selfish request, I ask that you somehow allow me to give birth after I am finished with helping this particular person.”
The following is a translation of Part 33 of the series “Senjin no sokuseki” (Footsteps of Our Predecessors) from the September 2005 (No. 441) issue of Taimo, pp. 34–35. This translation is a provisional one at the moment and may require further revision.
A woman, obviously from the countryside, walks the streets of Tokyo in shabby clothes. She carries a baby on her back who, weakened from an empty stomach, is only able to occasionally whimper at best. She walks while tightly gripping the handle of a faded umbrella. She walks briskly under the bright sun with the baby’s diapers placed out to dry on top of her umbrella.
Here we see a glimpse of the youthful missionary days of Yoshi Nakagawa, the first head minister of Tohon.