Followers, who refer to her as Oyasama (おやさま or 親様), believe that she was settled in the Shrine of Tsukihi from the moment she experienced a divine revelation in 1838 until her death in 1887.

[2] She began to attract followers, who believed that she was a living goddess who could heal people and bless expectant mothers with safe childbirth.

[3] To leave a record of her teachings, she composed the Ofudesaki and taught the lyrics, choreography and music of the Service, which have become Tenrikyo's scripture and liturgy respectively.

[8] Doctrine also maintains that as the Shrine of God, Nakayama's words and actions were in complete accordance with the divine will and that upon her death, her soul withdrew from physical existence and became everliving.

[11] She was born in Sanmaiden Village (三昧田村), Yamabe County (山辺郡), Yamato Province (大和国), or present day Tenri, Nara, to a family of the farming class.

Her father Maegawa Hanshichi was a member of the Tōdō clan[1] and held the title of musokunin, a samurai-like status which entitled him to have a surname and carry a sword, though without stipend.

At home, she learned needlework from her mother and became proficient enough to make handicraft items and to cut garments out of wide bolts of cotton.

In her childhood, Miki became familiar enough with Buddhist prayer so that by the age of twelve or thirteen, she was able to recite from memory various sutras as well the hymns from the Jōdo Wasan.

At first, Miki hesitated to agree to the request out of her desire to become a nun, but eventually she consented, on the condition that even when married she would be allowed to continue her Buddhist prayer.

[16] On 15 September 1810 (13 October), Miki took part in her bridal procession to the residence of the Nakayama family in the village of Shoyashiki (庄屋敷村).

According to its account she did every type of farm work except for the men's tasks of digging ditches and plowing rice fields, pulled more than half an acre of cotton a day, and wove fabrics twice as fast as the average woman.

During the Fivefold Transmission, she attended lectures on the writings of Hōnen, meditated, underwent tonsure, and made a vow to repeat the nenbutsu for the remainder of her life.

[21] Those who enrolled in the Fivefold Transmission were initiated into the mysteries of the Pure Land sect and were considered to have reached the highest level of faith.

[27] On 26 October 1837 (12 December in the Gregorian calendar), Nakayama Miki's eldest son, Shūji, felt an acute pain in his leg while sowing barley in the fields.

[28] When Shūji's condition did not improve, the family called for Nakatano Ichibei, a shugenja (ascetic monk) who was renowned in the area for his healing rituals.

After Zenbei, Miki's husband, made another entreaty to Ichibei, he agreed to conduct an incantation (yosekaji), a ritual intended to invoke the Buddha's compassion.

Then, at eight o'clock on the morning on 26 October 1838, Miki's husband Zenbei accepted the invitation on the family's behalf and her trance stopped.

In the same year, the dismantling of the Nakayama house was completed, and Miki sent her youngest daughter Kokan to Naniwa (in present-day Osaka) to chant the divine name, thus marking the first instance of missionary work in the Tenrikyo tradition.

Recipients of the grant, Miki instructed, would be assured of a rapid and easy delivery and would not need to observe the postnatal customs of the day, such as wearing an abdominal band, not eating certain foods, or leaning against a support.

[37] In 1864, Iburi Izō, a carpenter and a close disciple of Oyasama, constructed Tenrikyo's first house of worship, the Place for the Service (tsutome no basho).

The Ofudesaki was written in the hiragana script and in the waka style of Japanese poetry, and has since been compiled into 1,711 verses divided into seventeen parts.

However, in March 1882, the chief of the Nara police station confiscated the two layers, a measure taken to prevent the performance of the Service the next day.

[41] An early instance of persecution occurred in 1866, when several yamabushi monks caused a disturbance at Miki's residence and filed a complaint to the local magistrate's office regarding the activities taking place there.

[42] In 1876, Miki's son Shūji obtained a license to operate a steam bath and inn as a pretense to allow more followers to gather without arousing suspicion from the police.

[47] In 1952, a group of scholars of Tenrikyo Church Headquarters known as the "Kōki Committee" began to prepare a number of drafts of Oyasama's biography.