The Ofudesaki (おふでさき or 御筆先, "Tip of the Writing Brush") is the most important scripture in Tenrikyo. It is one of Tenrikyo's three scriptures (sangenten 三原典), along with the Mikagura-uta ("The Songs for the Service") and the Osashizu ("Divine Directions"). A 17-volume collection of 1,711 waka poems, the Ofudesaki was composed by the foundress of Tenrikyo, Miki Nakayama, from 1869 to 1882.
The Ofudesaki as composed by Miki Nakayama is also the primary sacred scripture of most Tenrikyo-derived religions, including Honmichi, Honbushin, Kami Ichijokyo, among others.
Etymology and meaning The name Ofudesaki can be split into three smaller segments. O is an honorific prefix, fude translates to "brush," and saki translates to "tip."A Study of the Ofudesaki, xvi. Thus, the Ofudesaki has been referred to in English as The Tip of the Writing Brush.This has been Tenrikyo Church Headquarters standard translation of the term; see Ofudesaki (6th ed.), A Glossary of Tenrikyo Terms...etc. It was even once referred to as "The Book of Revelations" in early English Tenrikyo literature.For one example, see Kotani's My Lecture on the Koki, the Divine Record, p. 59. It is a convention in Tenrikyo literature to write Ofudesaki in hiragana (おふでさき) as opposed to kanji.
Nakayama's intention for the Ofudesaki is explained in the scripture itself:This is a world constructed on reason. So I shall press upon you everything with the reason in verse. / I shall press, though not by force or word of mouth. I shall press by the tip of My writing brush. / It is all very well if you err in nothing. But should you err, I shall inform you by verse. (Ofudesaki I:21–23)
History Background The inscription of Part I of the Ofudesaki reads, "From the 1st month in the 2nd year of Meiji, the year of the Serpent",Ofudesaki (English translation, 6th edition), p. 1. which means that the composition of the Ofudesaki began sometime in 1869 according to the Gregorian calendar. This year saw the end of the Boshin War, a civil war between the ruling forces of the Tokugawa shogunate and those seeking to return political power to the Imperial Court, and the beginning of the Meiji Restoration, a period of modernization and reform for the Empire of Japan.
The inscription continues with the words, "An old woman of 72 years." The ‘old woman’ refers to Miki Nakayama, who at that point had been allegedly possessed by a god for about three decades. In 1853, she had the Nakayama family's main house dismantled and sold and had the remaining rice fields mortgaged a couple of years later.Tracing the Model Path: A Closer Look into the Life of Oyasama, p. 322 In 1864, a carpenter from Ichinomoto Village named Izo Iburi visited Miki Nakayama, and as a gesture of gratitude, constructed a place where followers could pray, laying down the foundation for the structure known today as Tenrikyo Church Headquarters. From 1866 to 1869, she taught her followers a prayer service.A Glossary of Tenrikyo Terms, p. 250.
Composition An oral account of the writing of the Ofudesaki has been recorded in a Tenrikyo supplementary text (jungenten 準原典) known as the Anecdotes of Oyasama. A follower named Shirobei Umetani recalled Miki Nakayama saying: You know there is the Fudesaki. What do you think of it? The seventeen parts of the Fudesaki were not completed in a short while. God spoke into my ears, saying, ‘Do not look at any writings, even the charge book from a bean curd shop.’ I wondered why. Then God said, ‘Brush, brush, take up the brush.’ I took the brush up for the first time at New Year’s when I became seventy-two years old. And when I took the brush up, My hand moved by itself. From heaven, God did it. After what was to be done was finished, My hand became numb and it could not be moved. God said, ‘Calm Your mind, and read this. If You find something You cannot understand, ask Me.’ I added brush strokes when I found something I could not understand. That is the Fudesaki.Anecdotes of Oyasama (trans. 1977), p. 16.
One of the scribes was believed to have been Miki Nakayama's son Shūji (秀司).
The seventeen parts of the Ofudesaki were written as follows (brackets indicate that the date is based on assumption since no date is inscribed):
Part Month and year inscribed on the cover of each part Year (Gregorian) Nakayama's age Number of verses Part I From the 1st monthJapan began to use the Gregorian calendar in Meiji 6, replacing the lunisolar calendar. So the day before 1 January of Meiji 6 (corresponding exactly with the year 1873) was not 31 December, but 2 December of Meiji 5. This change of calendar is made clear in the Ofudesaki translation in the switch from ordinal numbers to Julian names. See A Study of the Ofudesaki, xvii–xviii. in the 2nd year of Meiji, the year of the Serpent 1869 72 years old 74 verses Part II The 3rd month in the 2nd year of Meiji, the year of the Serpent 1869 72 years old 47 verses Part III From January in the 7th year of Meiji, the year of the Dog 1874 77 years old 149 verses Part IV April in the 7th year of Meiji 1874 77 years old 134 verses Part V May in the 7th year of Meiji 1874 77 years old 88 verses Part VI From December in the 7th year of Meiji 1874 77 years old 134 verses Part VII February in the 8th year of Meiji 1875 78 years old 111 verses Part VIII May in the 8th year of Meiji 1875 78 years old 88 verses Part IX June in the 8th year of Meiji 1875 78 years old 64 verses Part X June in the 8th year of Meiji 1875 78 years old 104 verses Part XI June in the 8th year of Meiji 1875 78 years old 80 verses Part XII [About the 9th year of Meiji] [79 years old] 182 verses Part XIII [About the 10th year of Meiji] [80 years old] 120 verses Part XIV From June in the 12th year of Meiji 1879 82 years old 92 verses Part XV From January in the 13th year of Meiji 1880 83 years old 90 verses Part XVI From April in the 14th year of Meiji 1881 84 years old 79 verses Part XVII [About the 15th year of Meiji] [85 years old] 75 verses
Nakayama composed over half of the total number of Ofudesaki verses (i.e. Part III to Part XI) in the years 1874–1875.
Exterior volume In addition to the manuscripts kept at her residence, Nakayama produced manuscripts that were given to individual followers. The term "exterior volume" (gesatsu) comes from an inscription written by the Maegawas (Miki's birth family) in Sanmaiden Village on the cover of one of the manuscript portions that Nakayama gave to them on 18 June 1874. She presented them to the Maegawas as a gesture of gratitude for making the kagura masks that were to be used in the prayer service she taught her followers. The inscription reads, "An exterior volume. Written by God. Written in Her seventy-seventh year." The Maegawas used the term to distinguish the portions they received from Nakayama from the original Ofudesaki kept at her residence, even though their portions were also in Nakayama's handwriting. The second Shinbashira (leader of Tenrikyo), Shozen Nakayama, later adopted the term to refer to the 14 verses that were written in Miki Nakayama's handwriting and given away. Though these verses are considered to be the unnumbered verses of the Ofudesaki, they are not published with the Ofudesaki.A Glossary of Tenrikyo Terms, p. 92-3.Shozen Nakayama, Gesatsu Ofudesaki no kenkyu.
Publication Though Miki Nakayama had completed the Ofudesaki in 1882, the scriptures were not printed until 1928. Until then the Ofudesaki was only available in the form of hand-copied manuscripts.A Glossary of Tenrikyo Terms, p. 249
In March 1883, the local police visited the Nakayama residence and attempted to confiscate the Ofudesaki manuscripts so that they could be destroyed. However, Shinnosuke Nakayama, the grandson of Miki, claimed that two women at the residence, Omasa and Osato, had already burned them in compliance with a patrolman's order.Tracing the Model Path, p. 150 Thereby the Ofudesaki manuscripts remained intact, and have survived to this day.Tracing the Model Path, p. 111.
In 1939, Tenrikyo Church Headquarters announced the change of its doctrine and ritual, under pressure to comply with the demands of State Shinto. Copies of the Ofudesaki and the Osashizu (Divine Directions) were recalled from local churches, and the Ofudesaki was not allowed to be preached until the end of World War II. With the adoption of the Constitution of Japan in 1947 and the establishment of freedom of religion in Japan, Tenrikyo Church Headquarters was legally allowed to restore its scriptures to their original form and disseminate them freely. On 26 July 1948, an Ofudesaki with interpretive explanations was published and offered to all local churches.Tenrikyo: The Path to Joyousness, p.72-77
Since then the Ofudesaki has been translated into a number of languages.Tenrikyo International Website (in English) A trial translation was published in series in the journal Fukugen from 1946 to 1947. The first edition English translation was published in 1971, and the sixth edition (the most recent as of 2017) was published in 1993. A volume containing the English (sixth edition), Japanese, and romanization (2nd edition) was published in 1998.
Content
The main theme of the Ofudesaki has been described as "a development toward the perfection of Tsutome, the Service, through which, alone, human salvation can be realized."Inoue and Eynon, A Study of the Ofudesaki, xix. To that end, the Ofudesaki addresses other themes such as the purpose of human existence, the definition of good and evil, the cause of illness, the relationship between God, humans, and the universe, socio-ethical principles, and eschatology.Inoue and Eynon, A Study of the Ofudesaki, xxiv. Much of the text contains millenarian themes.
The Ofudesaki addresses these themes in different ways. Sometimes the verses employ simple metaphors and allegories.A Study of the Ofudesaki, p. xx. Other times the verses are instructions originally intended for specific people in Miki Nakayama's day.For example, in Part I, Shuji, Miki Nakayama's eldest son, was instructed through the verses to change his marital situation. See Tracing the Model Path, 123–127.
Outline Below is an outline of the Ofudesaki summarizing all of its verses, based on Nakayama Shōzen's .Nakayama, Shōzen (2010). Thoughts on a Thematic Outline of the Ofudesaki (Tenrikyo Overseas Department, Trans.). Tenri, Japan. (Original work published 1968) (Japanese title: おふでさき拝読の手引き)
Part 1: Introduction Verses 1–9: Introductory verses (compare the Yorozuyo) Verses 10–20: The Service and its blessings Verses 21–23: Definition of the Ofudesaki Verses 24–44: Illness, dust, and replacing the mind ("matters within") Verses 45–50: Seeking the "path" Verses 51–54: Illness, dust, and replacing the mind ("matters within") Verses 55–57: Introductory verses Verses 58–74: Arrangements for settling matters within Part 2: The Kagura Service, for settling illness, etc. Verses 1–5: The time for and the meaning of the Service Verses 6–8: Hastening the gathering of the Service performers Verses 11–24: Drawing forth the Service performers and cleaning the Residence Verses 25–30: Purifying the pond in the high mountains Verses 31–47: Kara and Nihon Part 3: Sweeping the dust away Verses 1–14: Cleaning the Residence, how to purify the heart, and gathering the Service performers Verses 15–19: The providence in the beginnings of origin and Oyasama Verses 20–27: Purify the mind and have faith in Oyasama Verses 28–39: How to purify the mind (how to ponder, how to be awakened) Verses 40–47: A thing lent, a thing borrowed, and single-hearted salvation Verses 48–91: Hastening the gathering of the Service performers and sweeping the heart for this purpose (the high mountains, useful timber, the central pillar, God and the high places, Nihon and Kara) Verses 92–100: Illness and dust; the natural term of life Verses 101–119: Sweeping the dust from those close by, the Kanrodai