Tenrikyo Boys and Girls Association is promoting the “Children’s Hinokishin for Summer Vacation” program in lieu of the Children’s Pilgrimage to Jiba for the 184th Year of the Teaching, which had to be cancelled this summer. The aim is to have the association members practice hinokishin with a sense of gratitude based on the understanding that it is all thanks to the workings of God the Parent that we are able to live each day in good health.
In order to support this program, the Children’s Hinokishin Center was opened on July 26 on the north side of the Information Center in the Sanctuary precincts. The center is visited by groups of church members and families every day.
After receiving an explanation of hinokishin through a picture-story show at the center, a group of children moved to the corridors of Church Headquarters, for their hinokishin is mainly done there. Cutouts of Pikky and Ribbon greeted them at the area where wiping cloths were prepared. The children energetically engaged in hinokishin with their parents and friends.
The center is also holding a fun event called “Oyasato Riddle and Walk: Search for the Missing Friends!” Under the summer sky, the participants can enjoy solving riddles while visiting checkpoints set up around the Sanctuary precincts.
The center is open every day until August 31 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (except on August 15 and 26 when the hours are from 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.). The center is also distributing a pamphlet for the association members entitled “A Worship Guide.”
In addition to this, the Boys and Girls Association is undertaking initiatives to nurture children in the Home of the Parent through various activities such as the “Exhibition of Children’s Arts and Crafts” and the “Summer Sansai-no-Sato (Tenrikyo’s youth outdoor activity center) Day Camp.”