Ananaikyo


Ananaikyo is a Shinto-based derived from Oomoto. Ananaikyo was established by Yonosuke Nakano on April 1949 in Shimizu, Shizuoka. It is currently headquartered in Yokosuka in Kakegawa, Shizuoka.

History

The religion's founder was Yonosuke Nakano 1887–1974), who was originally an Oomoto practitioner. Nakano was influenced by Shinto priest and spirit medium Honda Chikaatsu and Honda's disciple Nagasawa Katsutate. Honda and Nagasawa taught a type of meditation practice known as chinkon kishin, which is also practiced in Shintō Tenkōkyo and Oomoto.
On April 4, 1949, Nakano founded Ananaikyo in Shimizu, Shizuoka. Ananaikyo's original headquarters in Shimizu was located less than 100 meters from Yamanashi Kasamori Inari Jinja, the Shinto shrine where Nagasawa Katsutate had spent most of life practicing at.

World Religion Congress

During the mid-1950s, Ananaikyo held a series of World Religion Congress meetings at its headquarters in Shimizu, Shizuoka. Reports were published for each of the eight congresses from 1954 to 1956.
  • 1st–3rd World Religion Congresses – 1954
  • 4th–6th World Religion Congresses – 1955
  • 7th–8th World Religion Congresses – 1956
Shin Negami was the president of the Ananaikyo International Headquarters during the mid-1950s when the congresses were held.

1960s–present

Beginning in the 1960s, Nakano started to focus more on the international development NGO that he had founded,. After his death in 1974, his adopted daughter Nakano Yoshiko became the religious leader of Ananaikyo. Nakano Yoshiko resigned in 1982 to focus on being President of OISCA International. In May 1983, Nakano Masamiya became Ananaikyo's third religious leader. Since the 1980s, Ananaikyo has not regained the international prominence that it had once enjoyed during the 1950s and 1960s, partly because the religion's leaders, who had become highly involved with the non-religious NGO OISCA International, did not want OISCA to be publicly associated with a religion and thereby potentially harming the NGO's reputation. As a result, Ananaikyo leaders stopped organizing international events and restricted chinkon kishin for experienced members only, whereas in the past the general public could openly participate in Ananaikyo's chinkon kishin.
During the 21st century, Ananaikyo moved its headquarters from Shimizu, Shizuoka to the Yokosuka area of Kakegawa, Shizuoka.

Spiritual lineage

Ananaikyo's Spirit Studies lineage is as follows. Each successor would continue the teachings of his or her teacher after the teacher's death or resignation.
  1. Honda Chikaatsu
  2. Nagasawa Katsutate
  3. Nakano Yonosuke
  4. Nakano Yoshiko
  5. Nakano Masamiya

    Beliefs and practices

Ananaikyo's teachings, practices, and texts closely resemble those of Oomoto. The supreme God of the universe in Ananaikyo is known as the Great Spirit of the Universe, or uchū tairei.
The name Ananaikyo, along with its corresponding kanji gloss 三五教, originates from Oomoto. Numerous passages in the Reikai Monogatari, written during the 1920s and 1930s by Onisaburo Deguchi, use Ananaikyo to refer to the Oomoto religion. The term ananai refers to a thick rope that is attached to the bell of a haiden.
The kanji characters used to represent the name Ananaikyo literally mean "three five religion", with "three" representing the triad of the sun, moon, and stars, and "five" representing the five elements of wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. Thus, "three and five" represent the teachings of both heaven and earth. The "three" in Ananaikyo can also symbolize the three new religions that Ananaikyo was influenced by, namely Oomoto, Guiyidao, and the Baháʼí Faith, while "five" refers to five established world religions, namely Buddhism, Confucianism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Nakano's familiarity with Guiyidao and the Baháʼí Faith comes from his time as an Oomoto follower before World War II, when Oomoto leader Onisaburo Deguchi had frequent contact with the two religions during the 1920s and 1930s.
Like Oomoto, Ananaikyo considers all world religions to be of the same divine origin. Young reported that Ananaikyo's main worship hall in Shizuoka gave recognition to Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Shinto.
Ananaikyo does not preach any worldly benefits, but rather places an emphasis on harmony with nature. The main scripture of Ananaikyo is, which consists of 13 volumes.
The main deities revered are:
In Ananaikyo, a type of meditation called chinkon kishin, also known simply as chinkon, is practiced. Chinkon kishin was originally practiced in Oomoto, and is restricted to Ananaikyo followers who have been members for at least three years.
A chinkon stone is required to perform chinkon kishin in Ananaikyo. The chinkon stone must be a small, spherical black stone collected at Shimizu's Miho Pine Forest, from which a forested sandō leads to Miho Shrine where Nagasawa had been a head priest at. Finding a suitable stone can often take several hours, and the search is supervised by an Ananaikyo senior member.

Observatories

Unusually for a Shinto-derived religion, Ananaikyo is known for building several astronomical observatories in Japan, since Ananaikyo states that "astronomy and religion. In 1957, an observatory was built on Kanukiyama in Numazu, Shizuoka Prefecture but was later demolished in 1973 due to opposition against the new religion from locals. Other observatories built by Ananaikyo, many of which are now defunct, include:
Japanese-language publications by Yonosuke Nakano include:
  • 三五の教義
  • 産業の宗教
  • 人類完成の歓び
  • 霊観した幽界
  • 世界救済の大道
  • 日本人の和を願う

    ''Reikai-de Mita Uchū''

The Reikai-de Mita Uchū is a series of 13 volumes published by Yonosuke Nakano from 1965 to 1967. The first few volumes were also published in the 1950s. Occasionally, some volumes in the series are also titled Reikai-kara Mita Uchū. The volumes in the series are:
  • 霊界から見た宇宙 – Volumes 1–4: The Universe as Seen from the Spirit World
  • 天文 – Volume 5: Astronomy
  • 本命の宗教 – Volume 6: The Foremost Religion
  • 霊・神・人 – Volume 7: Spirit, God, Humanity
  • 金木・菅曽・太祝詞 – Volume 8: Prayers
  • 精神産業と産業精 – Volume 9: Religion and Industrial Spirit
  • 高天原に神留坐す – Volume 10: God in Heaven
  • 霊学・霊智霊覚・神人合一 – Volume 11: Spiritual science, spiritual wisdom, spiritual awareness, union of God with humanity
  • 人類の繁栄と平和への道 : 精神と知識科学 – Volume 12: The path to human prosperity and peace: Mind and science of knowledge
  • 大教育・精神教化 – Volume 13: The Great Education, Spiritual Education

    English translations

A few of Nakano's books have been translated into English:
  • The Ananai: A Journal for Truth Seekers
  • ''Religion and Industrial Spirit''