The Canon · No. 085
Tenrikyo
The Religion of Divine Wisdom
1838 CE – present · New Religious Movement · Living · Japan; missions worldwide
VI. REFORMATION & EARLY MODERN — 1500 – 1800
How many
Roughly 1.2–2 million, mostly in Japan. One of the largest and oldest Japanese new religions.
Who began it
Nakayama Miki (1798–1887), a farmer's wife, who during a healing ritual for her son in 1838 was possessed and declared herself the shrine of God the Parent. She is called Oyasama, the Parent.
What it is for
To restore the Joyous Life — the condition God intended for humanity, in which everyone lives in mutual help and no one is in want.
What it worships
Tenri-O-no-Mikoto, God the Parent, who created humanity to see it live joyously. Not a judge; a parent.
What it holds
The body is a thing lent, a thing borrowed from God; only the mind is one's own, and it is the one thing for which one is responsible. Eight mental dusts — miserliness, covetousness, hatred, self-love, grudge-bearing, anger, greed and arrogance — accumulate on the mind and cause illness and misfortune, and are swept away by sincere living and service. Illness is a guidance, a signal from God, not a punishment. The Jiba at Tenri City is the exact spot where humanity was created and where all people will return.
What it does
Daily and monthly services performed around the Kanrodai, a sacred pillar at the Jiba, with the Mikagura-uta songs, hand movements and instruments taught by Miki. Hinokishin — voluntary daily service, gratitude expressed as labour, from cleaning streets to disaster relief; Tenrikyo runs a large and well-regarded disaster response operation. Sazuke, a healing administration granted to trained members. Pilgrimage to Tenri City, a city that is substantially the religion's campus.
After death
Denaoshi — passing away for rebirth. Death is called simply the passing away, and is understood as returning the borrowed body and being reborn. Reincarnation is continuous and there is no hell and no final judgment; the state of one's mind carries over and shapes the next life. Miki is understood not to have died but to remain alive at the Jiba, and a room is maintained for her with meals served daily.
Its texts
Ofudesaki, the Tip of the Writing Brush — 1,711 poems written by Miki between 1869 and 1882. Mikagura-uta, the songs for the service. Osashizu, divine directions.
Its branches
Main Tenrikyo Church Headquarters; Honmichi and a few other splinter groups.
Of note
Founded by a farmer's wife with no education, in a country where women had no public religious authority. She is one of very few women in history to found a religion that still has a million adherents.
Its timeline
- <strong>26 October 1838 CE</strong> Miki's revelation. The date is the religion's founding.
- 1838–1860s CE She gives away the family's property to the poor, reducing her household to poverty; her family and village regard her as mad.
- 1860s–1880s CE She becomes known as a safe-childbirth granter; the movement grows among the rural poor.
- 1870s–1886 CE Repeatedly arrested and imprisoned by Meiji authorities, the last time at 89.
- 1887 CE Miki withdraws from physical life, in the tradition's language, at 90.
- 1908 CE Granted legal recognition as a sect of Shinto, under conditions that forced doctrinal compromises.
- 1938–45 CE Wartime state pressure forces the removal of core teachings; the originals are restored in 1946.
- 1970 CE Tenri City formally named; the religion is one of the very few to have a city named after it.
- 1995 CE Large-scale Tenrikyo relief operations after the Kobe earthquake.
Sources
Not yet checked against named sources. This entry is the house's reading; until it is checked, treat each claim as unverified. Correct it, with a source.