"Hinokishin"

The term refers to any proactive and selfless action taken to make repayment for God's constant providence. The Chinese characters that could be applied to it suggest that the term means "making contributions each day to God." Hinokishin is an active embodiment of the faith of a Tenrikyo follower. The Doctrine of Tenrikyo (p. 59) puts it this way:

As our perception of the divine blessings in every event grows keener day by day, our gratitude to God the Parent comes to be expressed in our attitude and in our actions. This is taught by God the Parent as hinokishin.

The Mikagura-uta, The Songs for the Service, contains the following references to hinokishin:

There is nothing so trying as illness;
So from now on, I, too, will devote myself to hinokishin.

III:8

A single word can be hinokishin.
I simply sprinkle My fragrance around.

VII:1

Husband and wife working together in hinokishin;
This is the first seed of everything.

I behold more and more people coming from the world,
And bearing straw baskets in hinokishin.

Forgetting greed we work in hinokishin.
This becomes the first fertilizer.

XI:2-4

The important teachings on hinokishin are all included in these verses. The joy we feel at being freed from the suffering of illness may naturally inspire a spontaneous act expressing our gratitude to God. Even "a single word"--which refers to "sprinkling the fragrance of the teachings"--can be hinokishin. Also, when a husband and wife bring their minds together and perform hinokishin in a manner that is free of greed, they are planting and nurturing seeds of happiness. Moreover, even a small act of hinokishin, such as carrying earth in a straw basket to help with construction, can be a precious expression of gratitude for God's providence, and, when many people join together in such an activity, it can contribute significantly to the realization of God the Parent's ideal world.

Historically, hinokishin often took the form of offering labor, through which followers sought to express their gratitude for the providence of God. They contributed their labor at construction sites of Church Headquarters and those of local churches. In addition, they helped with the day-to-day work of their local churches--which is quite in keeping with the meaning of "hinokishin," that is, "daily contribution." Hinokishin has become an indispensable aspect of followers' lives of faith.

In the Home of the Parent, the construction of the Place for the Service, which was undertaken in 1864, was the first recorded hinokishin activity. Other notable early hinokishin activities included the 1881 construction of the Kanrodai and the 1892 remodeling of Oyasama's mausoleum, which involved the entire Tenrikyo community. In a sense, the history of Church Headquarters' construction--including the construction of the Main Sanctuary and the Foundress' Sanctuary as well as the ongoing Oyasato-yakata building-complex project--may be seen as the history of hinokishin.

Construction-related hinokishin in the Home of the Parent has been enthusiastically promoted as activities for the entire Tenrikyo community especially during the periods associated with the anniversaries of Oyasama, observed once every ten years.

Hinokishin also plays an extremely important role in religious and spiritual training offered by Church Headquarters at the Home of the Parent. This was especially true with regard to Tenrikyo Seminary's Special Course--which was founded in 1909 for the purpose of training Tenrikyo instructors--and remains so even after that course was reorganized in 1941 as Shuyoka, the Spiritual Development Course. It is worth noting that Shuyoka conducts some kind of hinokishin activity almost every afternoon as part of the curriculum throughout the duration of the three-month course. In addition, several times a week it provides an opportunity to take part in cleanup hinokishin at the Main Sanctuary early in the morning or in the late afternoon.

Hinokishin has not only been conducted in the Home of the Parent or at local churches. Since the early days, hinokishin activities such as those performed at public facilities and in disaster-stricken areas have also been organized on a regional level, for example that of a diocese or a district. To this day, such hinokishin is widely promoted as regional activities.

Records show that regional hinokishin began in the late 1880s, when large numbers of followers contributed their labor toward road development projects in Nara Prefecture in the spirit of "mutual help" based on the Tenrikyo teachings. Another instance of early regional hinokishin is the relief efforts carried out by followers from different districts of the Kanto region in the aftermath of the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake. We may also note that students of Tenri School of Foreign Languages undertook relief hinokishin in areas affected by the 1925 Okutango Earthquake. Since then, Tenrikyo has responded to almost every major natural disaster--whether an earthquake, a storm, or a flood--by organizing a hinokishin corps to provide relief work, which has attracted attention from society at large.

A drive to organize the Disaster Relief Hinokishin Corps in every diocese in the country started in 1969. Since that time, Church Headquarters and the dioceses concerned have been working closely to conduct training and improve and maintain the corps' readiness for disasters.

Hinokishin activities performed in public places, such as parks, hospitals, and other care facilities, have taken root in the local communities and are becoming widely appreciated at a time when health and social needs are steadily increasing.

A key driving factor behind proactively reaching out to local communities is the annual Tenrikyo Hinokishin Day, which involves the entire Tenrikyo community.

(This article was first published in the April 2006 issue of TENRIKYO.)