127. Tokyo, Tokyo and Nagasaki (Japanese title: Tōkyō-Tōkyō, Nagasaki)
In the autumn of 1883, Sasuke Uehara returned to Jiba and was granted an audience with Oyasama. Unexpectedly, Oyasama said to him:
“Tokyo, Tokyo and Nagasaki.”
He was then presented with a red garment. Deep emotion on that occasion led him to firmly resolve his mind. Later, he closed up his house and went alone to Tokyo to spread the teachings, taking the red garment with him.
Anecdotes of Oyasama, p. 105
Sasuke Uehara, accompanying his sister Ishi, and his uncle Sakichi and his wife, returned to Jiba on May 14, 1881. They were happy to be granted an audience with Oyasama. Oyasama was very pleased. She Herself served to each of them small dishes containing bamboo shoots, young taro, and burdocks cooked in soy sauce, and then poured the offered sake into a sake cup that had the design of the moon and sun with a cloud.
“Now, help yourself,”
She offered.
At that time Sasuke was a vigorous young man in his thirties. Oyasama, after explaining various things about the teachings to them, quickly and gently extended both of Her hands, grasped Sasuke’s wrists, and said:
“Try to shake them loose.”
Sasuke felt his body grow numb and all he could do was to bow deeply saying, “Mercy, please.”
His sister, Ishi (later Ishi Tsujikawa), in her later life reminisced, “Her solemn appearance at that time can in no way be expressed with words. I was awestruck and I instinctively bowed my head.”
Sasuke, who at that time had been personally shown the warm parental love and the power of Oyasama, began to hold a firm belief and strived for the single-hearted salvation of mankind.
Anecdotes of Oyasama, p. 68
The following is a translation of Part 67 of the series “Senjin no sokuseki” (Footsteps of Our Predecessors) from the July 2008 (No. 475) issue of Taimo, pp. 34–35. This translation is a provisional one at the moment and may require further revision.
Eigoro Furuta first heard the teachings of Tenrikyo from Sasuke Uehara in 1886. They were teachings of a kind that he had never heard before, yet each of them penetrated his heart one by one. He continued to visit Uehara after coming home from work to listen to the teachings over the next three days.
The following is a translation of Part 38 of the series “Senjin no sokuseki” (Footsteps of Our Predecessors) from the February 2006 (No. 446) issue of Taimo, pp. 34–35. This translation is a provisional one at the moment and may require further revision.
Kanzo Nakadai was born in 1840 and was the eldest son of Kaneshime Kimuraya, one of the leading fish wholesalers in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, at the time. He converted to the faith when he was 47 years old after Sasuke Uehara spread the fragrance of the teachings to him, which helped him experience a vivid recovery from a physical disorder.
The following is an excerpt from Omichi no joshiki [Tenrikyo Fundamentals] (pp. 11–14) by Koji Sato 佐藤浩司, assistant professor at Tenri University and instructor at Tenri Seminary. Note: This translation is tentative and may require further revision.
In 1886, Eigoro Furuta 古田栄五郎 was a fishhook wholesaler who managed an extensive, prosperous business. His business was once considered the most successful of its kind in Tokyo. One day Eigoro visited the home of Sasuke Uehara 上原佐助, who would later become the first head minister of Azuma Grand Church 東大教会.
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