Tenri Kami no Uchiake Basho


Tenri Kami no Uchiake Basho was a Tenrikyo-based shinshūkyō. Among the religious traditions derived from Tenrikyo, it is one of the pre-1951 Religious Corporation Law traditions that were generally unknown to the Japanese public at that time. However, Tenri Kami no Uchiake Basho gave influence to the creation of another Tenrikyo-influenced religious tradition called Tenri Kami no Kuchiake Basho, in which its legacy is more significant than the original Tenri Kami no Uchiake Basho.

Origin of name

The name, Tenri Kami no Uchiake Basho, can be translated as the place where the truth of the kami/god of Tenri is conveyed from a verse in Ofudesaki, with one of the phrases that bears the connotation of truth-conveying originally expressed as uchiwake in Hiragana. The element, Uchiake, is a native Japanese reading and the original verb can reasonably be a dialectal or uncommon reading of a verb, buchiakeru in which it means to speak frankly or to open one's heart with the additional religious context of expressing the act of conveying to the receivers with ideas or words. The Japanese particle, no, in the name can be replaced with the kanji, 之, without changing the pronunciation.

Early history

It was founded in 1934 by the foundress, Watanabe Yoso, who had been a follower of Tenri Sanrinkō. Her religious title was Masako Kanrodai, in which it denoted the reverence of the status of her being a human being who experienced divine revelation. Watanabe Yoso's own religious organization became active right before the closure and the eventual revival of Tenri Sanrinkō by Katsu Hisano that occurred in 1935.

Lack of recognition

Not much about this religious organization is known possibly due to the very short duration of activity and possibly due to the sparse amount of documentation about its foundress, doctrine, and its history during its existence. Tenri Kami no Uchiake Basho was a religious organization that was not mentioned in the late 1930s pertaining to the violation of the Peace Preservation Law, as Honmichi, Tenri Kami no Kuchiake Basho, Tenri Sanrinkō, and Sanri Sanfukugen were the four prominent Tenrikyo-based organizations that faced negative consequences.
A book that slightly covers the background history of Tenri Kami no Uchiake Basho was published in 2019. However, the book mainly discusses its other spin-off new religion, Tenri Kami no Uchiwake Basho.

Legacy

The following two religious organizations were founded by former Tenri Kami no Uchiake Basho followers.
Tenri Kami no Kuchiake Basho is the ancestral religious organization of the currently active religions Ōkanmichi and Kanrodai Reiri Shidōkai, both of which are headquartered in Tochigi Prefecture, in addition to Kanrodai that is based in Tokyo.
Its sister sects, Kami Ichijokyo and Sekai Shindokyo are considered to be the surviving successors of Tenri Sanrinkō that are active today.