Social Welfare
Universal brotherhood and mutual help
Based on the teachings of universal brotherhood and mutual help, Tenrikyo has been conducting social welfare activities since the early years of its history. The start of Tenrikyo’s social welfare activities was marked by the 1910 establishment of Tenrikyo Yotokuin (now Tenri Yotokuin) Children’s Home. At the time of the opening of the children’s home, the first Shinbashira composed the following verse: “Loving the children of others in the same way you love your own, please nurture them accordingly, followers of this path.” This verse has since been promoted as the guiding principle for Tenrikyo’s social welfare activities.
Tenrikyo’s social welfare work has expanded to include a wide variety of activities focused on addressing social problems in modern society. For example, Tenrikyo takes an active role in fostering children, organizes blood donation drives, takes care of people who are afflicted by leprosy, and provides alcohol abuse counseling services. In an effort to respond to problems confronting an aging society with a declining birth rate, Tenrikyo followers have been actively carrying out hinokishin activities at social welfare facilities. Striving to nurture and train missionaries who will engage in salvation activities for people struggling to cope with physical, psychological, or social problems, Hinokishin School was established in 1980.