Anecdotes of Oyasama 199
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Anecdotes of Oyasama 199 presents the contents of "Just One," a selection from Anecdotes of Oyasama, published by Tenrikyo Church Headquarters in 1976. The content below appears on between page 156 and 158 of the print edition.
Text: English translation and original Japanese
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199. Just One Sei Honda, an official of the Heishin Shinmei-ko Confraternity, returned to Jiba in 1882 for the second time. She had chronic abdominal edema and her stomach was beginning to swell. Oyasama told her when She saw her condition:
From that day on, Sei could not stay still when she thought of all the dust that she had accumulated during her past three lives. Despite her swollen stomach, she went forth every day to do missionary work. Sei poured water over herself even on the coldest days in winter before going out. As people gradually began to come to her in increasing numbers, she would offer water in the sake offering-bottle at the altar and then give it to them. By this means marvelous healings took place one after another. For several years, she went forth with zeal to do missionary work. But in the autumn of 1886, when she was forty-nine years of age, her abdominal edema became worse until she was in critical condition. She suffered so much that she alternately said, "Please let me sit up," and, "Please let me lie down." Hisakichi Hashida, who was the head of the confraternity, returned to Jiba. Through the arrangement of Gisaburo Nakata he was granted an audience with Oyasama, who said:
So Hashida hurried back to Kobe. For three days and three nights, day and night, six times in twenty-four hours, he performed a special prayer service for her recovery.[1] The third day came but there was no sign of improvement. Another series of the special prayer service was performed for three days and three nights, but her condition became worse. From the sixth day on, she clenched her teeth and slept for twenty-eight days as if she had been dead. During this period she was given sacred water daily, and three sacred sugar candies were cooked and given to her through a bamboo tube three times a day. The doctor refused to come, saying, "She will die this time." However, during those twenty-eight days she urinated so frequently that it must have been over twenty times a day. On the morning of the twenty-eighth day, her younger sister, Sue Nadatani, was changing Sei's clothes. Sue noticed that her sister's swollen stomach had shrunk to its normal size. She was so astonished that she shouted out. Hearing Sue's voice, Sei opened her eyes for the first time and looked around. Sue asked, "Can you hear?" Sei spoke for the first time, "How thankful I am! How thankful I am!" A thin rice gruel was cooked and given to her. She ate two mouthfuls and said, "It is delicious. How thankful I am!" She then ate two bowls of the gruel with some pickled plums. She ate grated yam next. Day by day Sei regained her strength. But she was just like a baby, wetting the bed, and her memory was very short. About a month later, Kichigoro Kataoka, another official of the confraternity, returned to Jiba in her place to report it. He was granted an audience with Oyasama, who said:
Sei had lost her memory completely. When sewing a kimono, she would make mistakes in the measurement. She could no longer play the shamisen, she was that bad. But within two or three years she gradually began to understand things, and from the fourth year she was so blessed as to lead a normal life. Thus, Sei was given a second life at the age of forty-nine, and she lived on for thirty years to the age of seventy-nine, devoting herself to saving others with yet greater zeal.
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一九九 一つやで 兵神真明講周旋方の本田せいは、明治十五年、二度目のおぢば帰りをした。その時、持病の脹満で、又、お腹が大きくなりかけていた。それをごらんになった教祖は、
と、お言葉を下された。それから、せいは、三代積み重ねたほこりを思うと、一日としてジッとしていられなかった。そのお腹をかかえて、毎日おたすけに廻わった。 せいは、どんな寒中でも、水行をしてからおたすけにやらせて頂いた。だんだん人が集まるようになると、神酒徳利に水を入れて、神前に供え、これによって又、ふしぎなたすけを続々とお見せ頂いた。こうして、数年間、熱心におたすけに東奔西走していたが、明治十九年秋、四十九才の時、又々脹満が悪化して、一命も危ないという容態になって来た。そして、苦しいので、「起こせ」とか、「寝させ」とか言いつづけた。それで、その頃の講元、端田久吉が、おぢばへ帰り、仲田儀三郎の取次ぎで、教祖に、お目にかかり、事の由を申し上げると、教祖は、
と、仰せ下された。そこで、端田等は急いで神戸へもどり、夜昼六座、三日三夜のお願い勤めをした。が、三日目が来ても、効しは見えない。そこで、更に、三日三夜のお願い勤めをしたが、ますます悪くなり、六日目からは、歯を食いしばってしまって、二十八日間死人同様寝通してしまった。その間毎日、お神水を頂かせ、金米糖の御供三粒を、行平で炊いて、竹の管で日に三度ずつ頂かせていた。 医者に頼んでも、「今度は死ぬ。」と言って、診に来てもくれない。然るに、その二十八日間、毎日々々、小便が出て出て仕方がない。日に二十数度も出た。こうして、二十八日目の朝、妹の灘谷すゑが、着物を着替えさせようとすると、あの大きかった太鼓腹が、すっかり引っ込んでいた。余りの事に、すゑは、「エッ」と、驚きの声をあげた。その声で、せいは初めて目を開いて、あたりを見廻わした。そこで、すゑが、「おばん聞こえるか。」と言うと、せいは、「勿体ない、勿体ない。」と、初めてものを言った。 その日、お粥の薄いのを炊いて食べさせると、二口食べて、「ああ、おいしいよ。勿体ないよ。」と言い、次で、梅干で二杯食べ、次にはトロロも食べて、日一日と力づいて来た。が、赤ん坊と同じで、すっかり出流れで、物忘れして仕方がない。 そこで、約一ヵ月後、周旋方の片岡吉五郎が、代参でおぢばへ帰って、教祖に、このことを申し上げると、教祖は、
と、仰せ下された。 せいは、すっかり何も彼も忘れて、着物を縫うたら寸法が違う、三味線も弾けん、という程であったが、二年、三年と経つうちに、だんだんものが分かり出し、四年目ぐらいから、元通りにして頂いた。 こうして、四十九才から七十九才まで三十年間、第二の人生をお与え頂き、なお一段と、たすけ一条に丹精させて頂いたのである。
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Additional Materials
- Blogging Anecdotes of Oyasama 199 Tenrikyology.com
- This Month’s Message: Face It Squarely Tenrikyo Online
- Living Words: Just Thank God Tenrikyo Resource Blog
