astronomy

Tenrikyo creation myth

Tenrikyo creation myth is a astronomy 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 Tenrikyo creation myth rather than just read about it. In short: The Tenrikyo creation myth is central to the Tenrikyo religion. The narrative was conveyed by the foundress Nakayama Miki in writing through the Ofudesaki and orally to her early followers.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

The Tenrikyo creation myth is central to the Tenrikyo religion. The narrative was conveyed by the foundress Nakayama Miki in writing through the Ofudesaki and orally to her early followers. After compiling the scriptures and the manuscripts left by early followers, Tenrikyo Church Headquarters formalized and published the narrative in chapter three of The Doctrine of Tenrikyo, titled "Truth of Origin" (元の理 moto no ri). In Tenrikyo, Izanagi-no-Mikoto and Izanami-no-Mikoto are the equivalents of Adam and Eve in Abrahamic religions. According to The Doctrine of Tenrikyo,

God gave the sacred names of Izanagi-no-Mikoto to the model of man, the seed, and Izanami-no-Mikoto to the model of woman, the seedplot. To the divine principles of these instruments, God gave the names Tsukiyomi-no-Mikoto and Kunisazuchi-no-Mikoto, respectively.

Synopsis The world began as a muddy ocean, which God found tasteless. God decided to create humans in order to see them live the Joyous Life. Looking through the muddy waters, God found a fish and a serpent which could serve as models of husband and wife respectively. After God convened the couple and received consent from both of them, God promised the couple that in a number of years, they would be returned to the place of original conception and be adored by humanity. God convened several other animals from various directions, such as an orc from the northwest. God received their consent, tasted them to determine their natures, and bestowed each of them with a sacred name and a particular function in the human body and in the world. For example, the orc was given the name Tsukiyomi-no-Mikoto (月読命) and the function of the male organ and support; Tsukiyomi-no-Mikoto was the divine instrument of the model of man, Izanagi-no-Mikoto (伊邪那岐命). After all of animals and their respective names and functions were settled, God consumed the rest of the loaches in the muddy ocean and made them the seeds of humans. Then God inserted the seeds into the body of Izanami-no-Mikoto (伊邪那美命), the model of woman, over three days. After three years and three months, Izanami-no-Mikoto gave birth to as many children as there were seeds. The first set of children were born half an inch tall and grew to three inches before dying to be reborn, and the second set of children were born the same height and grew to three and a half inches before dying to be reborn.their father, Izanagi-no-Mikoto, also withdrew from physical life. The third set grew to four inches, and their mother Izanami-no-Mikoto, believing that in time the children would grow to five feet, died contentedly. The children, yearning for their mother, died to be reborn. Then, humans were reborn as various animals such as worms and birds. Then all died except for a she-monkey, who gave birth to ten humans at a time. As the humans grew taller, the number of humans conceived at a time was reduced to two and then to one, while the tides, the earth, the sun and moon gradually took shape. Finally, humans were taught for 6,000 years in wisdom and 3,999 years in letters.

Composition The creation narrative first appeared in writing in 1874, when Nakayama Miki composed Part III of the Ofudesaki. The narrative was described in more detail in Part VI (verses 29–51) and continued to be explained in fragments in the parts thereafter. However, Miki also conveyed the narrative as part of talks she would deliver to her disciples regarding her teachings. She had her disciples write down what they remembered of her talks and submit them to her for her approval. In the end, she never approved any of the manuscripts, so her followers did not regard them as canonical in the same way as the scriptures – namely the Ofudesaki, Mikagura-uta, and Osashizu. The manuscripts that have survived are collectively referred to as kōki (こふき or 後紀). The precise meaning of the term kōki is ambiguous and followers have interpreted the term using various kanji. Early followers commonly referred to the manuscripts as "ancient records of the muddy waters" (泥海古記 doroumi kōki), though there were other contemporaneous interpretations such as "later record" (後記), "radiant story" (光輝), and "meritorious record" (功記). Nakayama Shōzen, the second Shinbashira, has suggested "oral record" (口記), contrasting with the Ofudesaki which he considered to be a "literal record." The official English translations of the Ofudesaki and The Life of Oyasama render the term as "divine record." The Doroumi Kōki (泥海古記) is not widely circulated today, although a reprint was published in 2016. The Doroumi Kōki was also consulted by Ōnishi Aijirō, the founder of the Tenrikyo splinter religion Honmichi.

Interpretations In the latter half of the twentieth century, scholars began to publish interpretations of the creation narrative based on various disciplines such as ethnology, cosmology, philosophy, comparative mythology, psychology, and biology.

See also Creation myth Japanese creation myth Doroumi Kōki

References

Citations

Bibliography Inoue, Akio (1998). "On the Significance of Interdisciplinary Studies of Moto-no-Ri". Women and Religion. Tenri International Symposium '98. The Center for Women and Religion, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley: Tenri Yamato Culture Congress. pp. 335–339. Matsumura, Kazuo (1998). "The Koki Story and the Femininity of the Foundress of Tenrikyo". Women and Religion. Tenri International Symposium '98. The Center for Women and Religion, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley: Tenri Yamato Culture Congress. pp. 359–397. Nakayama, Shōzen (1957). Kōki no kenkyū こふきの研究 [Study on kōki] (in Japanese). Tenri, Japan: Tenrikyo Doyusha. Tenrikyo Church Headquarters (1993). The Doctrine of Tenrikyo. Tenrikyo Church Headquarters. Tenrikyo Church Headquarters (1996). The Life of Oyasama, Foundress of Tenrikyo. Tenrikyo Church Headquarters.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Tenrikyo creation myth

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Tenrikyo creation myth claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, 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 Tenrikyo creation myth 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 Tenrikyo creation myth 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 Tenrikyo creation myth

In research: Tenrikyo creation myth appears in astronomy 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 Tenrikyo creation myth 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: Tenrikyo creation myth is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Creation myths, Japanese mythology, Religious cosmologies, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Tenrikyo creation myth 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.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Tenrikyo creation myth” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Tenrikyo creation myth in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Tenrikyo creation myth 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 Tenrikyo creation myth out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Tenrikyo creation myth in simple terms?

The Tenrikyo creation myth is central to the Tenrikyo religion. The narrative was conveyed by the foundress Nakayama Miki in writing through the Ofudesaki and orally to her early followers.

Why does Tenrikyo creation myth matter?

Because it connects several astronomy 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 Tenrikyo creation myth?

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 Tenrikyo creation myth.