science

Kanrodai

Kanrodai is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Kanrodai rather than just read about it. In short: The kanrodai (甘露台 / かんろだい) ('stand for the heavenly dew', or lit. 'sweet dew platform') is a sacred entity in Tenrikyo and Tenrikyo-derived Japanese new religions, including (but not limited to) Honmichi, Honbushin, Kami Ichijokyo, Tenri Sanrinkō, and Daehan Cheolligyo. Tenrikyo, as well as a few of its schisms such as Daidōkyō (大道教), considers the kanrodai to be a physical pillar.

Key takeaways

Kanrodai belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Kanrodai to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Kanrodai from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The kanrodai (甘露台 / かんろだい) ('stand for the heavenly dew', or lit. 'sweet dew platform') is a sacred entity in Tenrikyo and Tenrikyo-derived Japanese new religions, including (but not limited to) Honmichi, Honbushin, Kami Ichijokyo, Tenri Sanrinkō, and Daehan Cheolligyo. Tenrikyo, as well as a few of its schisms such as Daidōkyō (大道教), considers the kanrodai to be a physical pillar. However, later Tenrikyo-derived schisms such as Honmichi, Kami Ichijokyo, and Tenri Sanrinkō give a new interpretation in which the kanrodai is embodied as a living person. Honbushin has installed a small stone kanrodai on Kamiyama, a mountain in Okayama, and also recognizes a human kanrodai who is the son of its founder Ōnishi Tama. The first kanrodai was built in 1873 by Iburi Izō at Nakayama Miki's residence.

Origin The concept of the kanrodai was first taught by Nakayama Miki, the foundress of Tenrikyo, in 1868. In 1873, she instructed her disciple Iburi Izō, who was a carpenter by trade, to make a wooden kanrodai. Before the location of the Jiba was identified in 1875, the wooden kanrodai was kept in the storehouse where Nakayama Miki resided. According to Nakayama Miki, the real kanrodai is to be made of stone. As a result, the current wooden kanrodai at the Jiba is sometimes known as a "model kanrodai" (甘露台の雛形, kanrodai no hinagata).

Tenrikyo

In Tenrikyo, the kanrodai (甘露台) is a hexagonal pillar in the Divine Residence (Oyasato) of the Tenrikyo Church Headquarters in Tenri, Nara, Japan. It marks the Jiba. Adherents believe that when the hearts of human beings have been adequately purified through the Service, a sweet dew would fall from the heavens onto a vessel placed on top of the stand. Since 1875, there have been several different kanrodais installed at the Jiba.

June 1875: After Nakayama Miki identified the sacred spot of the Jiba on 26 May 1875 (lunar calendar date), a two-metre high wooden kanrodai, which had been made two years ago in 1873 by Iburi Izō, was installed at the Jiba. 1881: Construction of a stone kanrodai began. Stones were quarried from a nearby village called Takimoto (滝本), located on the Furu River (布留川) about two kilometers east of the Nakayama residence. However, construction stopped after only two tiers were made, and the police confiscated it in 1882. A pile of pebbles marked the Jiba afterwards. 1888: A wooden board kanrodai with two tiers was built and placed at the Jiba. 1934: A complete 13-tier hinagata (雛形, or "model") kanrodai measuring approximately 2.5 metres high was built and placed at the Jiba. It has been regularly replaced on special occasions. July 2000: Most recent replacement of the kanrodai, as of 2005 The kanrodai itself is not worshipped. Rather, the kanrodai serves as a channel through which God the Parent is worshipped. In Tenrikyo, due to the sacrosanct nature of the kanrodai, photographing the kanrodai is prohibited. The following verse from the Mikagura-uta is the most commonly sung verse that mentions the kanrodai.

あしきをはらうてたすけせきこむ / いちれつすましてかんろだい Ashiki o harōte, tasuke sekikomu / Ichiretsu sumashite Kanrodai. Sweeping away evils, hasten to save us. / All humankind equally purified, the Kanrodai.

Honmichi In Honmichi, the kanrodai is a living person and is thus also referred to as the Kanrodai-sama (甘露台様). The religion's first kanrodai was its founder Ōnishi Aijirō. After his death, his grandson Ōnishi Yasuhiko became the kanrodai. Every year, Honmichi followers celebrate "the establishment of the human kanrodai" (甘露台人のおふみとめ, Kanrodai nin no o-fumitome) to commemorate their founder. Adherents of Tenri Sanrinkō, which split from Honmichi, also followed the tradition of Honmichi by revering their leader as the living kanrodai. Currently active religious organizations derived from it include Kanrodai Reiri Shidōkai and Ōkanmichi.

Honbushin

Honbushin recognizes both physical and human kanrodais. After Honbushin's founder Ōnishi Tama died on September 1, 1969, religious authority was passed onto her son Takeda Sōshin (武田宗真), who was proclaimed as the new Kanrodai-sama (甘露台様) succeeding Ōnishi Aijirō. In Honbushin, the kanrodai is placed outdoors, rather than indoors in a building as in Tenrikyo. Other than the main stone kanrodai, multiple "model" (wooden) kanrodais can be placed in different locations, unlike in Tenrikyo where only one kanrodai can be placed only at the headquarter's jiba. Honbushin's main kanrodai is located in a shrine on the summit of Kamiyama (神山), located southeast of the city center of Okayama. It is a small outdoor hexagonal stone pillar, with a much larger vertically standing stone disk installed behind it, and a torii gate in front of it. The location of the kanrodai is known as kanrodai-no-ba (甘露台の場) (lit. 'place of the kanrodai'). This is symbolically represented in Honbushin's official logo, the Peace Mark (平和マーク). The logo consists of a kanrodai inside a circle representing the blessings of God, who is known as Kami-sama (神様). There is also a large outdoor wooden kanrodai at the Honbushin International Center in Mililani, Hawaii, United States. The actual main kanrodai (i.e., the kanrodai on the summit of Kamiyama) must be made of stone, whereas all of the other kanrodais are only considered to be models and are thus made of wood. Honbushin followers chant the mantra Namu Kanrodai (南無甘露台) to honor the kanrodai.

Kami Ichijōkyō In Kami Ichijōkyō, the religion's founder Yonetani Tamasuisen (米谷玉水仙) is revered as the human kanrodai (人間甘露台, ningen kanrodai).

Daidōkyō Daidōkyō (大道教), a Tenrikyo splinter group founded by Iida Iwajirō (飯田岩治郎) in 1897, has a stone pillar called a shinbashira (真柱) rather than a kanrodai inside its main temple building called Shinbashira-den (真柱殿) in Ando, Nara. The stone kandorai is usually covered by a bamboo curtain.

Daehan Cheolligyo Unlike in Japanese Tenrikyo, Daehan Cheolligyo's adherents in South Korea directly pray to the wooden kanrodai fixtures (while the one in the headquarters in Uijeongbu is much bigger) that are installed within the main halls of respective churches, instead of mirrors from Shinto traditions, during the localized services appropriate for the Korean social environment.

Kōmyō Kamu Tama Jingū

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Kanrodai

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Kanrodai claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Kanrodai before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Kanrodai ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Kanrodai

In research: Kanrodai appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Kanrodai in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Kanrodai is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Geographical centres, Japanese religious terminology, Mythological objects, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Kanrodai outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Kanrodai in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Kanrodai means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Kanrodai out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kanrodai in simple terms?

Why does Kanrodai matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Kanrodai?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Kanrodai.