Kunisazuchi-no-Mikoto
Kunisazuchi-no-Mikoto くにさづちのみこと is one of the “ten aspects of God’s providence.” It appears third on a list of sacred names in Chapter Four of The Doctrine of Tenrikyo. It represents the protection of the female organ in addition to skin and joining in the human body as well as the protection of joining in general in the world at large.[1]
This aspect of God’s providence is often paired with Tsukiyomi-no-Mikoto, as seen in verses of the Ofudesaki (6:37, 11:71, 12:143).
Contents
Sacred name
The sacred name Kunisazuchi-no-Mikoto has an antecedent in the Nihon Shoki known as Kuninosazuchi-no-Mikoto written with the kanji 国之狭土尊.[2] (It may be noted that Kunisazuchi-no-Mikoto is usually written as くにさづちのみこと in Tenrikyo literature.)
One explanation of in the Tenrikyo tradition asserts that Kunisazuchi-no-Mikoto was named so because of its color was that of the earth (zuchi or tsuchi).[3]
Representation in the Kagura Service
In the Kagura Service, the position of Kunisazuchi-no-Mikoto is reserved for a female administrative staff member of Tenrikyo Church Headquarters. A different dancer is assigned to the role each month.[4] The dancer representing Kunisazuchi-no-Mikoto stands in the southeast wearing a female mask and a turtle strapped on her back.
Form in the muddy ocean
According to the Truth of Origin, when God the Parent searched for materials to create human beings, a turtle was summoned from the southeast. Upon consuming her and testing the flavor of her mind, God decided to use her as the instrument of the female organ, of skin and joining.[5]
Form in the heavens
Kunisazuchi-no-Mikoto is represented in the heavens as the star Gensuke-boshi (Canopus).[3]
Ura-shugo or “indirect explanation of the divine providence”
Kunisazuchi-no-Mikoto is associated with Fugen Bosatsu (Samantabhadra), Daruma Taishi (Bodhidharma), Benten (Benzaiten or Saraswati), Musubi-no-Kami (a Kami of love and marriage), and “Obaku-san” (Manpuku-ji or main temple of Obaku Zen).[3]
External links
- Encyclopedia of Shinto: Amenosazuchi, Kuninosazuchi
- Samantabhadra Wikipedia: Samantabhadra
- Wikipedia: Bodhidharma
- Wikipedia: Benzaiten
- Wikipedia: Manpuku-ji
Notes/references
- ↑ The Doctrine of Tenrikyo, p. 31.
- ↑ 天理教青年会資料調査班 Tenrikyo Seinenkai Shiryochosa-han. 「教祖伝史料の検討『中山みきノート批判』」“Oyasama-den shiryo no kento: Nakayama Miki kenkyu noto hihan.” 『あらきようりよう』 Arakitoryo 149 (Fall 1987), p. 233.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 中山正善 Nakayama Shozen. 『こふきの研究』 Koki no kenkyu, pp. 118–9.
- ↑ Morishita, Saburo S. Teodori: Cosmological Building and Social Consolidation in a Ritual Dance, p. 123.
- ↑ The Doctrine of Tenrikyo, pp. 20–1.
