The Action Day for the “Heart-Clean Campaign” was observed on Sunday, July 1. It was a sunny interval during the rainy season, and clean-up hinokishin activities were held throughout Japan under the slogan, “Let’s come together in thankfulness for the blessings and engage in hinokishin with fellow members.”
Tenrikyo Young Men’s Association has been promoting the “Heart-Clean Campaign” for 15 years. This campaign centers around clean-up hinokishin conducted in each district mainly by the members of the Young Men’s Association on every first Sunday. The purpose of this activity is to let participants share the joy of hinokishin with fellow members and reflect that joy in their communities, to rediscover members of the association through active invitation by each district, and to enrich the substance of community-based activities.
On the Action Day for the campaign, Ueno District Chapter of Mie Diocese held a clean-up hinokishin activity at a nursing home for the aged in Ayama, Mie. Seventy-five people, including 23 association members, participated in it. The chapter had been sponsoring a clean-up activity once a month, mostly at public facilities such as station squares and parks, but since other volunteer groups started to clean up those places, they asked the nursing home if they could do hinokishin there. The chapter is presently engaging in clean-up activities at the nursing home between June and September.
The head of the nursing home said: “There are many residents of this nursing home who feel very lonely because their families do not visit them very often. The spirited voices of the young people who were involved in the clean-up activities made our senior citizens cheerful. We really appreciate that aspect of their work, too.” Yoshikazu Kiyama, chairman of Ueno District Chapter, said: “In the future, we would like to conduct some goodwill activities for the residents. We also would like our chapter to be a group that fulfills the community’s needs.”
Fukushima District Chapter of Osaka Diocese sponsored a clean-up activity at the Hokko Yacht Harbor and an adjacent park on the Action Day. More than 70 people participated in it.
The Hokko Yacht Harbor was built in 1987 to provide the citizens of Osaka with a recreational facility for yachting and other marine sports, and Fukushima District Chapter has been conducting hinokishin activities at the harbor for 12 years. Keizo Ogura, former chairman of Fukushima District Chapter, said: “When the yacht harbor was established, I heard that there was a lot of litter on its premises. Then we realized there must be something we could do at the harbor.” Since then, the members of the chapter have been cleaning up the harbor once a month.
The deputy general manager of the yacht harbor said: “Since this yacht harbor is so huge, we cannot clean up the whole area by ourselves. We truly appreciate the cooperation of the Tenrikyo followers who clean up every nook and cranny every month.”
This year, many followers enjoyed clean-up hinokishin activities held at a total of 438 sites on the Action Day for the “Heart-Clean Campaign.”