This year’s Tenrikyo Nioigake Day, which was held in commemoration of its 70th anniversary, was observed from September 28 through 30. In 1932, Tenrikyo Nioigake Day was originally promoted as “Tenrikyo Street Speech Day” by the Young Men’s Association and the Women’s Association, and this year marks the 70th year following that initial step.
Over the past six years, the Mission Department has been encouraging followers to distribute leaflets to every household in Japan under the slogan “Sprinkling the fragrance of the teachings to all families.” Nearly 12.6 million leaflets were prepared for missionary activities to be held by churches as well as dioceses and districts during the entire month of September, which has been designated as “Nioigake Month.” Many Yoboku and followers throughout Japan and elsewhere made the most of Nioigake Day to add the finishing touch to their Nioigake Month, and they engaged in missionary activities by doing door-to-door missionary work, spreading the name of God the Parent, and making street speeches, to do the foundation work for the upcoming 120th Anniversary of Oyasama.
A total of 1,491 staff members of Church Headquarters participated in missionary activities in Senboku New Town in Sakai, Osaka, during the three-day period of Tenrikyo Nioigake Day. On the morning of September 28, Director-in-Chief of Administrative Affairs Masahiko Iburi addressed the staff members of Church Headquarters who assembled to head for Senboku New Town. He said, “Let us visit each house politely in high spirits and sprinkle the warmth of our hearts.” There is only one church in this town comprising about 150,000 residents living in 53,000 households, so it is very difficult for the church members to reach out to all the households only by themselves. Therefore, the staff members of Church Headquarters have been taking the responsibility for helping them distribute leaflets to all the households in the town since 1998. On that day, they spent two hours doing door-to-door missionary work in the town, and after that many of the participants performed hinokishin by picking up litter and weeding at some parks and welfare institutions. Also, during the three-day period, 257 followers who live in the district engaged in missionary activities such as spreading the name of God the Parent on the streets and giving street speeches at train stations.
Not only churches and districts but also the chapters of Tenrikyo associations spread the fragrance of the teachings on Nioigake Day. The members of Shinjuku Chapter of Tokyo Diocese Young Men’s Association did clean-up hinokishin around Takada-no-baba Station, and after that some of the members made speeches while others handed out leaflets to passers-by.