On January 4, the Shinbashira, Zenji Nakayama, delivered his New Year’s Address at the New Year’s meeting of Tenrikyo Church Headquarters conducted in Dining Hall 2. The meeting was attended by 643 participants, including resident officials of Church Headquarters, head ministers of directly supervised churches, superintendents of dioceses, members of the Assembly, committee members of Tenrikyo associations, and heads of Tenrikyo facilities.
Before the address, Director-in-Chief of Administrative Affairs Zensuke Nakata offered New Year’s greetings to the Shinbashira on behalf of the congregation. In his greetings, Rev. Nakata said that, as some restrictions related to COVID-19 were lifted last year, various activities gradually restarted and many overseas followers were able to return to Jiba. Mentioning that Instruction Four had been announced last year, he said that we have now entered the first year of the “three years, one thousand days” season. Describing this period as crucial for the path, he said, “We intend to set about taking a step forward in high spirits without being late for the season of spiritual growth in the hope of receiving blessings that will allow us to brightly advance forward during the current challenging times.”