The following is a translation of Part 59 of the series “Senjin no sokuseki” (Footsteps of Our Predecessors) from the November 2007 (No. 467) issue of Taimo, pp. 34–35. This translation is a provisional one at the moment and may require further revision.

Part 59: A Church Construction Lays the Basis for Salvation

In 1908, the year after Fujinosuke Tanabe became the second head minister of Konohana Shikyokai, the criteria of organizing churches was renewed in accordance with Tenrikyo’s attainment of sectarian independence. As a result, Yuasa, a subsidiary church of Konohana, now met the criteria to be promoted to a shikyokai.¹ Konohana, which had been a shikyokai itself until then, now found itself being required to become a “bunkyokai“² that befitted its position of being the supervising church of Yuasa by increasing its membership and going from leasing its building and property to owning it outright. Since Konohana had just recently relocated and there were a number of Konohana church officials (yaku-in) who were not happy with the fact that Fujinosuke, their new head minister, came from Yuasa (in Wakayama), the prospect of a relocation and construction appeared impossible. However, despite the fact that he was disowned by his family, Fujinosuke worked to persuade his mother to sell the home in Yuasa where she was born and raised and borrowed money from his in-laws (his younger sister’s family).

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