Tenri Nursing School has received certification for its midwifery department from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, and the new department will open this April.

The nursing school, which had for some time been considering the possibility of founding a midwifery department, set up a preparatory committee in June 2002 and submitted an application to the ministry last summer.

The new department aims to train midwives based on the school's educational policy, which is to "nurture and train 'Yoboku nurses' who work toward world salvation." There are high expectations for the department since Tenri Nursing School's curriculum reflects the teachings of Tenrikyo, in whose history the "Grant of Safe Childbirth opened the path to all miracles of salvation."