Tenrikyo - History

History

In Tenrikyo tradition, Nakayama Miki was chosen as the Shrine of God in 1838, after her son and husband suffered from ailments. The family called a Buddhist monk to exorcise the spirit causing the ailments. When the monk temporarily left and asked Miki to take over, she was possessed by the One god (Tenri-O-no-Mikoto), who demanded that Miki be given to god as a shrine. Miki's husband gave in to this request three days later.

Izo Iburi, one of Miki's foremost followers, held a revelatory leadership position in which questions of followers would be answered and "timely talks" be given. This position, which is no longer held in Tenrikyo, was called the Honseki. The revelatory transmissions of the Honseki were written down and collected in large, multi-volume works called Osashizu. Following Izo's death, a woman called Ueda Naraito partially carried on this role for a while, although she does not appear to have held the actual title "Honseki". Following this, Tenrikyo itself has never had a Honseki, although some Tenrikyo splinter groups believe the revelatory leadership passed from Iburi to their particular founder or foundress.

The history of Tenrikyo is turbulent, having been established during a time of great change within Japan. Tenrikyo as an organisation was forcibly influenced by State Shinto at a date after Tenrikyo's original founding. Even during the time of Oyasama, Tenrikyo beliefs were compromised, and it was incorporated into a local Buddhist temple to prevent persecution. Eventually, it was authorised by the Japanese government as one of the official Thirteen Shinto Sects, despite having a different origin system and divine hierarchy than Shinto. During this time, Tenrikyo became the first new religion to do social work in Japan, opening an orphanage, a public nursery and a school for the blind. After State Shinto was forcibly dissolved by the American occupation of Japan, Tenrikyo asked to be removed from the state-mandated classification "Shinto Sect" and transferred to the classification "Other Religion". At this point Shinto and Buddhist influences on its theology were excised.

Although Tenrikyo is now completely separate from Shinto and Buddhist organisationally, it still shares many of the traditions of Japanese religious practice. For instance, many of the objects used in support of Tenrikyo religious services, such as hassoku and sanpo, were traditionally used in Japanese ritual, and the method of offering is also traditional. It is also true that Miki Nakayama's son, Shuji, sought and obtained approval and protection from the powerful Yoshida branch of Shinto at a relatively early stage in Tenrikyo's development; he did this, however, contrary to his mother's wishes.