Otonobe-no-Mikoto
Otonobe-no-Mikoto をふとのべのみこと is one of the “ten aspects of God’s providence.” It appears eighth on a list of sacred names in Chapter Four of The Doctrine of Tenrikyo. It represents the divine working (sewa 世話) of pulling out the child from its mother during childbirth as well as pulling forth in general in the world at large.[1]
This aspect of the providence is explicitly mentioned in Ofudesaki verse 6:38 and referred to as the “the primary instrument for the crops” in verse 12:144.
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Sacred name
The sacred name Otonobe-no-Mikoto has an antecedent in the Nihon Shoki known as Otomabe-no-Mikoto written with the kanji 大苫辺尊. [2] (Otonobe-no-Mikoto is usually as をふとのべのみこと in Tenrikyo literature.)
According to Hisanori Kontani, the "Oto" of the sacred name Otonobe-no-Mikoto means Ofuto or “very thick and big” and nobe means to “draw out something with a long, thick and unbreakable rope.”[3]
Representation in the Kagura Service
In the Kagura Service, the position of Otonobe-no-Mikoto is reserved for a male administrative staff member of Tenrikyo Church Headquarters. A different dancer is assigned to the role each month.[4] The dancer representing Otonobe-no-Mikoto stands in the west wearing a male mask and has a sash connecting his wrist to the mask of the dancer representing Omotari-no-Mikoto.
Form in the muddy ocean
According to the Truth of Origin, when God the Parent searched for materials to create human beings, a black snake was summoned from the southwest. Upon consuming him and testing the flavor of his mind, God decided to use him as the instrument for pulling forth.[5]
Form in the heavens
Otonobe-no-Mikoto is represented in the heavens by the evening star (Venus).[6] [6]
Ura-shugo or “indirect explanation of the divine providence”
Otonobe-no-Mikoto is associated with Fudo Myo-O (Acala), Kobo Daishi (Kukai), and En no Gyoja.[6]
External links
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. 234.
- ↑ Kontani, Hisanori. My Lecture on the Koki, the Divine Record, p. 63.
- ↑ Morishita, Saburo S. Teodori: Cosmological Building and Social Consolidation in a Ritual Dance, p. 123.
- ↑ The Doctrine of Tenrikyo, p. 21.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 中山正善 Nakayama Shozen. 『こふきの研究』 Koki no kenkyu, pp. 122–3.
