Tenrikyo Church Headquarters

[3] The Main Sanctuary (神殿 Shinden) houses the Kanrodai, the stand that marks the Jiba where adherents believe God conceived humankind.

[4] In the Taishō period, a major construction project was undertaken, and as a result what is currently the north section of the Main Sanctuary was completed in December 1913.

[9] The earliest memorial dedicated to Tenrikyo followers was inside the Tsutome basho (Place for the Service), an early worship hall.

The middle altar honors deceased members of the Nakayama family, including the late Shinbashiras and their wives, as well as the early disciples Izo Iburi, Naraito Ueda, and Chushichi Yamanaka.

[9] The oyasato-yakata (おやさとやかた or 親里館) complex is a collection of buildings in Tenri City, Nara, Japan, that form an incomplete square 872 m (954 yd) on each side surrounding the Divine Residence (Oyasato), a structure sacred to the Japanese new religion Tenrikyo.

The task of revitalizing the area around the Residence was informed by both religious prophecy and city planning, and construction began in 1954 on a project that continues today.

The oyasato-yakata is a massive organizational undertaking that is understood by Tenrikyo adherents as a spiritual practice,[10] creating a model city that reflects their belief in a Joyous Life.

[11] As such a practice it has involved the entire Tenrikyo community, from the volunteers who assist in construction to professors who plan the scope of future wings.

It was around this time that Tenrikyo's Second Shinbashira (community leader) Shōzen Nakayama conceived of creating a grand construction project as a testament to the loyalty of Oyasama's followers.

[13] In 1952, after the war and Occupation, Tenrikyo Chief of Architecture Onzō Okumura (奥村音造) was asked by Nakayama to design a large Besseki Lecture Hall to accommodate 10,000 people on the site of an old girls' school.

"[14]Since Tenrikyo was at the time a tiny cult centered on a house in a farming village, the growth of Tenri into a city full of inns paralleling this prophecy was seen as miraculous.

"[14] The original idea was that the planned school buildings and classrooms would be the first part of an enormous central hub that would eventually fill eight cho square.

His new plan, which arranged the buildings in a great square with open space on the inside, was dubbed the oyasato-yakata, roughly meaning the "grounds of Oyasama's Residence".

The yakata was designed along the lines of Edo period tenement housing (長屋), but modernized with reinforced walls, multiple stories, and balconies for emergency access.

Although it was a sparsely inhabited village in Oyasama's time, Tenri City lies on top of a confirmed cultural center of prehistoric Japan.

However, Japanese law during the Meiji period stipulated that legal authorization could only be granted if the church were classified under an established tradition, such as Shinto, Buddhism, or Christianity.

The legal authorization removed the threat of suppression and allowed followers could seek permission to establish branch churches and to gain official recognition for missionary work.

12," which ordered strict and secretive surveillance over Tenrikyo Church Headquarters under the pretense of maintaining and strengthening the state polity of Japan.

Issues raised by authorities were the congregation of both men and women together, the obstruction of medical treatment and the alleged policy of enforced donations.

In 1902, Tenrikyo arranged its mission administration system in Japan, which divided the country into ten dioceses and appointed superintendents to supervise regional missionary activities.

Around this time, Tenrikyo began to open its first churches overseas in Taiwan (1897), Korea (1904), Manchuria (1911), the U.S. (1927), Brazil, and Southeast Asian countries.

This conference initiated a program of national edification, and with the support of the government, Tenrikyo was able to hold lectures at 2,074 places through Japan, drawing nearly a quarter million listeners.

[29] Due to the relative relaxation of state control on Tenrikyo rituals, the performance of section one of the Mikagura-uta was restored in 1916, after two decades of prohibition under the Home Ministry's directive.

One week later, on December 16, 1935, around four hundred policemen were sent to investigate Tenrikyo Church Headquarters on suspicion of tax evasion, even though there were no grounds for that accusation.

In 1939, Tenrikyo Church Headquarters announced that it would reform its doctrine and ritual, under threat of forced disbanding of the organization by state authorities.

Under the reformation, copies of the Ofudesaki and Osashizu were recalled, certain chapters were deleted from the Mikagura-uta,[30] and the Kagura Service, an important Tenrikyo ritual, was not allowed to be performed.

In its own historical account, Tenrikyo refers to the years following the surrender of Japan and the conclusion of World War II as fukugen, or "restoration.

In addition, the doctrine, which for decades had been colored by State Shinto ideology, was revised to reflect the teachings conveyed in the main scriptures and authorized in 1949.