Tsukiyomi-no-Mikoto
Tsukiyomi-no-Mikoto 月よみのみこと is one of the “ten aspects of God’s providence.” It appears fourth on a list of sacred names in Chapter Four of The Doctrine of Tenrikyo. It represents the protection of the male organ in addition to bones and support in the human body as well as the protection of support in general in the world at large.[1]
This aspect of God’s providence is often paired with Kunisazuchi-no-Mikoto, as seen in verses of the Ofudesaki (6:37, 11:71, 12:143).
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Sacred name
The sacred name Tsukiyomi-no-Mikoto has an antecedent in the Nihon Shoki known as Tsukiyumi-no-Mikoto[citation needed] written with the kanji 月読尊. (It may be noted that Tsukiyomi-no-Mikoto is usually written as 月よみのみこと in Tenrikyo literature.)
One explanation in the Tenrikyo tradition asserts that Tsukiyomi-no-Mikoto is named so because the male organ is used to push (tsuku or tsuki) in the darkness (yomi) at night.[2]
Representation in the Kagura Service
In the Kagura Service, the position of Tsukiyomi-no-Mikoto is reserved for a male administrative staff member of Tenrikyo Church Headquarters. A different dancer is assigned to the role each month.[3] The dancer representing Tsukiyomi-no-Mikoto stands in the northwest wearing a male tengu mask and an orca strapped on his back.
Form in the muddy ocean
According to the Truth of Origin, when God the Parent searched for materials to create human beings, an orca was summoned from the northwest. Upon consuming him and testing the flavor of his mind, God decided to use him as the instrument of the male organ, of bones and support.[4]
Form in the heavens
Tsukiyomi-no-Mikoto is represented in the heavens as the star Hagunsei (Alkaid). [5]
Ura-shugo or “indirect explanation of the divine providence”
Tsukiyomi-no-Mikoto is associated with Hachiman Bosatsu and Shotoku Taishi.[5]
External links
Notes/references
- ↑ The Doctrine of Tenrikyo, p. 31.
- ↑ Kontani, Hisanori. My Lecture on the Koki, the Divine Record, p. 19.
- ↑ Morishita, Saburo S. Teodori: Cosmological Building and Social Consolidation in a Ritual Dance, p. 123.
- ↑ The Doctrine of Tenrikyo, pp. 20–1.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 中山正善 Nakayama Shozen. 『こふきの研究』 Koki no kenkyu, pp. 119–20.
