The close association between this pilgrimage site and the religion of Tenrikyo that is encountered both through intellectually based study of the faith and also lived engagement with it is a key means through which its shared history and lived traditions are encountered and made part of both the broader social group and also that of the individual, as was demonstrated in relation to the emotionally evocative account of the foundress' physical passing. This shared intellectual, emotional, and embodied connection to a common history, and the place in which it occurred, is an influential mechanism through which one is, or becomes, a member of the faith and of its social collectivity<fnref n="551" />. For the core social actors of TEC, most of whom were from Japan, this connection was very strongly rooted in the experiences they and their family had in Tenri City. Even for members of the “TEC community” who were not “core members” of the group and often were not Japanese, it was still common to have spent time in Tenri City<fnref n="552" />. Thus, at TEC and in the Tenrikyo community, this strong connection between the faith’s history and the faith’s locational center was an important binding component of the group that was largely developed and based in this pilgrimage town, then transferred to the location on which my research was focused, where it was also developed. Through this multi-local development, a multidirectional construction of followers’ relationship to the faith, and the maternal figure of the foundress, becomes apparent through the interplay between imaginative, experiential, and emotional factors.

*Staying in one's followers' dormitory, fostering connectedness with one's lineage and a Tenrikyo mode of communal life*

As noted in the previous subsection, staying together in communal housing is a prominent experiential factor of staying in Tenri City, as it is in numerous other Tenrikyo contexts. While in Tenri City, followers<fnref n="553" />, including core members of the “TEC community,” generally stay at the

<footnote n="551">⁵⁵¹ Though for some members of the Tenrikyo diaspora located in other locations for whom returning to Tenri City was difficult, generally due to distance and economic constraints, such as those derived from their country's economic standing in the global market of exchange rates being low, this connection to the pilgrimage site was often contained mainly in the realm of the imaginary rather than through their personally lived experiences.</footnote>

<footnote n="552">⁵⁵² In comparison to followers in certain other locations, this was facilitated through the conversion rate of the Euro in the global economic market</footnote>

<footnote n="553">⁵⁵³ And other connected individuals.</footnote>
“followers’ dormitory” (*tsumesho*) of their lineage-based grand church. These dormitories are dispersed throughout the central part of Tenri City and serve as their “home away from home” while there. As Kouame (1995) clearly explained, “These inns do not only offer lodging and food to pilgrims; they are also an opportunity for them to experience, for a few days, an intense communal life (meals taken together, collective room ...)<fnref n="554" />.” The experience of staying at a followers’ dormitory invariably included this communal character. Most often, followers ate<fnref n="555" />, bathed<fnref n="556" />, and slept<fnref n="557" /> in close proximity to others staying at the same dormitory. This was a prominent component of staying in Tenri City and thus, of one’s Tenrikyo socialization. In coming to Tenri City, one was not only taking part in the religious sphere that occurred in the central area of this pilgrimage town surrounding the Jiba, but also in this residentially situated communal mode of Tenrikyo sociality that was also present in numerous other locations, thereby creating an experiential connection between these physically distant Tenrikyo contexts.

Though most core members of the “TEC community” occasionally stayed overnight at TEC with other members of this European-based group for various occasions through which their connection to TEC and its social world was deepened, when in Tenri City, they most often stayed separately in their respective grand church dormitories. Thus, while in Tenri City, the group with whom they were in closest physical and social proximity was not that of fellow European-based followers, but rather people connected to the vast lineage-based network of their own grand church and its connected subculture, just as it was for members of the “TEC community” when staying at TEC. While at TEC, I occasionally heard the grand church lineages of followers, and the locations of their dormitories in Tenri City, discussed among people. Along with this topic

<footnote n="554">⁵⁵⁴ Original text: Ces auberges n’offrent pas seulement le gite et le couvert aux pèlerins ; elles sont aussi l’occasion pour eux de faire l’expérience, pendant quelques jours, d’une intense vie communautaire (repas pris en commun, chambre collectives...)</footnote>

<footnote n="555">⁵⁵⁵ These followers’ dormitories offer the possibility to take meals in their designated dining areas during specified times.</footnote>

<footnote n="556">⁵⁵⁶ At these followers’ dormitories, those staying there bathe in single-sex communal bathing areas at specified times of the evening. This is reflective of the fact that single-sex bathing facilities are a normalized component of Japanese culture by means of clothing-free, single sex communal baths (which are often hot springs) being a common activity of relaxation for Japanese people.</footnote>

<footnote n="557">⁵⁵⁷ Most often, followers stay in shared rooms.</footnote>
serving as a source of conversation, it also helped root them in a precise social group and an exact
place of belonging in this religious city through their association with a particular followers'
dormitory.

The connection that followers had to these grand church dormitories was more than socially and
spatially based, it was also economic. While these followers' dormitories were partially financed
through the 1000 yen<sup>558</sup> that people paid per night when staying there, they also were funded in
part by the grand churches they were linked to, which were in turn financed through donations
made by followers of their respective lineages. Most commonly, this donated money arrived to
the grand church dormitories by means of followers giving economic offerings to their "home
site<sup>559</sup>," which then gave a portion of this money to its parent church, and then subsequently to its
parent church if there were more links in its lineage before reaching its grand church. This grand
church, then, used a portion of this offered money for its followers' dormitory and also passed a
portion of the money to Tenrikyo Church Headquarters, which, as mentioned previously,
financed TEC.

The diagram hereafter provides a visual representation of this flow of money. It is important to bear in mind when referring to this diagram that for the sake of simplicity, it only displays several sites of worship and several followers connected to each site. In reality, the lineage of any grand church includes many more sites of worship than are displayed in this diagram which exist in numerous layered patterns of parent and child sites, along with far more followers making economic offerings at each site than are depicted in this illustration. Furthermore, the existence and flow of money represented through dollar signs is a very approximate depiction of the actual proportional giving and transfer of money. In this simplified visual representation, the lines with dollar signs depict money that is offered by followers to the site at which they are rooted and then from one site to another, with the arrows indicating the direction of this economic transfer.

<footnote n="558">558 Approximately 10€ in 2016 when I conducted my fieldwork in Tenri City.</footnote>

<footnote n="559">⁵⁵⁹ In Tenrikyo, this money is commonly understood as money offered to God the Parent.</footnote>
<figure><img src="image_31.png" /><figcaption>Figure 8: Flow of monetary offerings between sites.</figcaption></figure>

Among the multiple ways through which followers were connected to these dormitories, it was the personal experience of staying there that was most common. During my time in Tenri City, I mainly stayed in the followers’ dormitory that the Sugimotos’ mission station was connected with, accompanied by Yuko Sugimoto<fnref n="560" /> and the Sugimotos’ adolescent son<fnref n="561" />. Through my time at this dormitory, I, too, developed a familiarity with it and with certain people I met and got to know while there, i.e. fellow members of “my” lineage. Contrary to followers who repeatedly came to Tenri City over prolonged periods of time, in my case, this familiarity was not later extended and developed. For followers who came to this religious town on multiple occasions, such connections with both the dormitories themselves and with people found at them was

<footnote n="560">⁵⁶⁰ Similar to most married Tenrikyo women, Yuko’s familiarity with and connection to this dormitory was one that began in adulthood when she came to have this dormitory as her Tenri City-based site of residence when she married Mr. Sugimoto and thus became part of his home site of worship and its connected lineage.</footnote>

<footnote n="561">⁵⁶¹ In my observations, the Sugimotos’ assistance in helping me organize my trip and accompanying me during was in accordance with a broader pattern of the spiritual parent(s)⁵⁶¹ of followers structurally under their care who were relatively new to the faith and “returning” to Tenri City for the first time to arrange and often accompany them for much or all of the trip.</footnote>
strengthened and served as a contributing component to their overall relationship with Tenri City, the global experience of Tenrikyo, and with their own grand church lineage.

These followers' dormitories were a contributing component to the multi-group rootedness in which European-based followers were connected to both TEC and its community when on the European continent, and at times while in Tenri City, and simultaneously to another system of grouping, that of their grand church lineage. In this, the subcultures of these dormitories and their connected lineages often contained particularities that influenced the multitude of diverse perspectives found at TEC. As stated previously, the multiple lineages that members of the “TEC community” were rooted to contributed to the diversity found in the European Tenrikyo community. While the followers included in my study were mostly from the same religious background of Tenrikyo and largely from Japan, their particular Tenrikyo experiences and contributions to the scene of TEC were not uniform. This diversity was partially derived from their precise experiences of being in Tenri City, due to the subtle particularities of each followers' dormitory, along with other lineage-based particularities.

Although in theory these dormitories were meant to be followers' home away from home while in Tenri City, in practice, I observed a variety of relationships between the dormitories and the followers who stayed there. One's feeling of connectedness or disconnect to one's grand church, and in association its followers' dormitory, was influenced by multiple factors. Generally, in these grand church dormitories and other grand church lineage-based contexts, followers rooted to different “home sites” from the same lineage came together to form a greater social whole. Such moments of coming together facilitated shared moments that encouraged social connections between members of the wider grand church lineage and connectedly, identification with one's lineage.

For male Japanese followers born into the faith, their connection to their lineage, and its followers' dormitory, remained constant from birth until death, creating a life-long connection to this lineage-based social sphere. For a variety of other followers, notably most women<fnref n="562" /> and people who became followers of the faith later in life, their relationship with these lineage-based

<footnote n="562">⁵⁶² Women usually become part of their husband’s lineage upon marriage. As marriage is positioned as the ideal adult life model in Tenrikyo, most Tenrikyo adults are married.</footnote>
contexts was often less solidified and constant. While I was in Tenri City, several Japanese female followers born in the faith who I knew from TEC spoke to me about and sometimes showed me the followers' dormitory of their childhood lineage. Once these women changed church lineages upon marriage, although when in Tenri City they may see the people with whom they developed bonds through the time they spent together in the followers' dormitory of their youth, among other lineage-based contexts, they no longer shared this intimate residential space.

Similar to the traditional Japanese family structure, married women were repositioned from their natal residential site to that of their husband's. For some, this transition was made with ease, while for others, becoming at home in one's new "home" context was less simple. Important to underline is that women's social base and position in this religious world was regarded from an early age to most likely be less fixed than that of men's. Although generally subtle, this was an ever-present undercurrent of difference between male and female relationships to the religious world of which they belong.

Regardless of one's gender, this familial association with one's followers' dormitory was an important component of being in Tenri City and of one's relationship to one's grand church. To give an example of this that I encountered during my research, Ji-young, the Korean follower who regularly attended TEC, explained to me in an interview that she had many positive memories of being in Tenri City. This was not only because of its religious significance but also because trips there were often made with multiple extended family members going at the same time in which their time in this pilgrimage site also functioned as family reunions that took place largely in the followers' dormitory where they stayed together. She explained to me that through the time with her family that she spent there, her positive associations with the followers' dormitory and connectedly, the pilgrimage town of Tenri City, were strengthened. For Ji-young, similar to other followers, her relationship to this religious context and the social scenes she took part in while there were very much interconnected.

During my two years of fieldwork, Ji-young returned to Tenri City twice. One of these visits was made as an addition to a work trip to China that coincided with the 130th anniversary of Oyasama leaving the world in physical form. Thirty-six members of the European Tenrikyo community and multiple members of her "home site" in Korea, including multiple relatives, travelled to Tenri
City to commemorate this important occasion, to which a subsection is dedicated in the next chapter. While in Tenri City for this event, she stayed in the followers' dormitory of her grand church as she usually did and spent time mainly with people linked to her "home site" rather than with followers she knew through TEC. In this, we see an example of the dual-leveled connectedness that many members of the "TEC community" had to their "home site" and its connected grand church lineages and to TEC through time spent staying in both sites and being involved in both associated social contexts.

To offer a contrasting example of the relationship many non-Japanese members of the “TEC community” had with their followers’ dormitory and the grand church with which it was linked that showcases a contributing factor to the largely two-tiered nature of the “TEC community,” I will discuss the much more limited connection that members of Bordeaux Kyokai generally had with “their” followers’ dormitory in Tenri City. As explained previously, the French followers rooted to this relatively new Tenrikyo church came to know the faith as adults<fnref n="563" />. This was different than most Tenrikyo followers in Japan and also in countries where there has been a significant historical presence of the faith, such as the US and Brazil for which its presence is strongly linked to earlier waves of Japanese immigration and also countries such as South Korea and Taiwan for which Tenrikyo’s significant presence is connected with Japanese colonization in these regions. Often the families of followers in such countries have been rooted to the same “home site” for multiple generations⁵⁶⁴, making their connection to their grand church and its connected members a multi-generational one closely linked to their family history.

Contrastingly, these French followers did not have a historically developed familial relationship to the religion nor to the pilgrimage town in which it is based. Moreover, these French followers were, de facto, not Japanese nor from a culture that contains the concept of lineages as that typified in the Japanese household (*ie*) system. This negated the bridge of cultural familiarity that rendered this prominent component of lived engagement with the religion more familiar and relatable to Japanese people not raised in the faith than to analogous non-Japanese people,

<footnote n="563">⁵⁶³ This is particularly true for adult males. During my research, I encountered multiple American and Brazilian female followers who were married to men not born in the faith and thus remained rooted in their "home site" of birth.</footnote>
particularly those from cultural backgrounds significantly different from that of Japan, such as
that of France and other countries strongly associated with Western European culture<fnref n="565" />.

As discussed in chapter six, an important contributing component among numerous members of Bordeaux Kyokai to their lack of identification with their grand church in Japan was that the lineage system of Tenrikyo did not bear the same resonance in the Western cultural framework in which they were situated as it did in a Japanese one. Relatedly, for most non-Japanese people who came to know the faith in France, or elsewhere in Europe, their connection to Tenrikyo was generally one that was principally conceptualized to be, and in practice, through the site(s) of worship in Europe with which they were connected. This was most often TEC, and for followers in the UK, Tenrikyo UK Centre, and their “home site” in Europe for those who had one. Such “followers,” who were deemed as such largely through their association with a particular lineage-based site, were encouraged, and often did on at least one occasion, travel to Tenri City, often for the named reason of attending the nine Besseki lectures required to become a Yoboku, which I discuss in further detail in the next chapter.

On such “pilgrimage” trips, they usually stayed at their lineage-based followers’ dormitory and also commonly included in their visit to Japan visit(s) to the parent church(es<fnref n="566" />) of their “home site.” Despite the inclusion of interactions with their broader lineage on these “pilgrimage” trips, such lived experiences were generally minimal in relation to their overall engagement in the religion in Europe, and in most instances, did not result in a significant sense of belonging in or connection to their broader lineage. This difference was a notable contrast between the lived experience common amongst Japanese followers in which, while they were connected with TEC and the broader scene of Tenrikyo in Europe, they were also simultaneously connected with and involved in their own church lineage, principally situated in Japan.

Through not taking part with frequency or over long periods of time in the highly integrational experience of staying in followers’ dormitories in Tenri City, one’s embeddedness in the broader

<footnote n="565">⁵⁶⁵ I would like to note that I am aware that this is a vast generalization which was not unanimously true in all contexts.</footnote>

<footnote n="566">⁵⁶⁶ I put the option of plurality in parentheses because sometimes, such as in my own experience, it was arranged for these visits to include both the direct-parent site of one’s “home site” and also the grand church of one’s lineage when these sites were not one and the same.</footnote>
Tenrikyo culture constructed through this experiential means was consequentially limited. At TEC, the continuance of this mode of sociality was largely brought about through members of the “core TEC community” who had spent significant periods of time in the formative context of Tenri City that included these communal living quarters. This was also true for the punctuated presence of visiting Tenrikyo followers, most often from Japan, who had in like manner spent significant periods of time in Tenri City, which included the experience of the communal life of dormitories, that rendered them partial “insiders” at TEC despite being new to this particular center.

In parallel, through becoming more embedded in the social world of TEC, and by participating in events such as the seminar for which one stayed at the center and became part of its social world for at least a moment in time, one became more of a “local” in the broader sphere of Tenrikyo that was partially constructed and reproduced through these influential core members of the group. Conversely, followers who had spent significant periods of time in Tenri City, which included as a component staying in the followers’ dormitories, along with time spent in other contexts that involved a largely parallel mode of sociality and operation, were rendered “local” to the greater realm of Tenrikyo and thus to the inner-realm of TEC, even when they were new to this particular context. Through this, the existence of the two-tiered “TEC community” was encouraged by means of a Tenrikyo mode of socialization and integration that was developed partially by means of exposure to this Tenrikyo mode of communal residentiality.

*Spending time at “parent sites” of one’s lineage as a complementary component of “returning” to Tenri City*

Often contained in the broader experience of followers, including but not limited to members of the “TEC community,” traveling to Tenri City from outside Japan was a visit to the branch church and/or grand church with which they were linked via their church lineage. These visits experientially connected followers to another pointedly Tenrikyo residential context and to their specific church lineage. Going to these sites could generally be associated with one of several categories. The first was that of a follower returning to their “home site” where they were raised and still organizationally rooted. As stated previously, many of the core members of the “TEC community” were Japanese followers from Tenrikyo church families in Japan with a member of
the family, most often the father, serving as its head or their family serving in a supportive role to
the church. For such individuals, and among married individuals, particularly males, returning to
the church at which they were raised often meant returning to their natal home.

For others, a visit to church(es) of their lineage in Japan was a journey to site(s) that people with whom they were closely connected were also closely connected. Most often for more exteriorly positioned members of the “TEC community” who had partially or fully embraced the Tenrikyo faith via a lineage-based site in Europe, a visit to Japan for the purpose of going to Tenri City often included a visit to the parent branch church and/or grand church of the lineage-based site to which they were rooted in Europe. Usually in doing this, they were visiting a site that the head family of their European-based mission station<fnref n="567" /> was closely rooted to in a manner analogous to going to the home of the close friends and/or family members of the connecting individual, meaning the mission station family based in Europe. The third category of visit to churches of one’s lineage in Japan was the case of followers who were born and raised in the Tenrikyo faith, though not in a church family, in which their visit to lineage-based site(s) in Japan were to site(s) that they had been connected to throughout their entire lives, though in a less connected manner than the first category of people whose families were based at Tenrikyo churches.

To discuss the component of visits to lineage-based site(s) in Japan as a part of the broader
experience of “returning” to Tenri City from outside Japan, I will primarily use my own
experience of visiting multiple lineage-based sites that was included in my one and a half months
of fieldwork in Japan. My own experience of these visits was representative of that of overseas
followers going to Tenri City that, in like manner, included additional lineage-based sites outside
of this pilgrimage town. I spent the majority of my time in Tenri City but also visited the parent
branch church of the Sugimotos’ Paris-area mission station for approximately a week, the parent
grand church of that church for approximately three days, and the familial home and branch
church where Yuko was raised for approximately a week, though it should be noted that she is no
longer classified as a member of this household nor of this lineage.

Although my visits to these three sites were motivated by my research, the inclusion of visiting
the parent branch church and/or grand church of the lineage-based site to which one is rooted was

<footnote n="567">⁵⁶⁷ Or in the case of Bordeaux Kyokai, “church.”</footnote>
a commonly included component of an individual “returning” to Tenri City. This component of my fieldwork was also illustrative of the broader familial and lineage-based frameworks in which core members of the “TEC community” were simultaneously closely connected with TEC and with their own church lineage, with these two socio-religious spheres composed of different social actors and based on different continents. I will use my experience of visiting the branch churches at which Mr. Sugimoto and Yuko were respectively raised to offer a window into this sphere’s role in the overall Tenrikyo sphere and more specifically, that of the “TEC community.”

The first of these two lineage-based sites I will discuss is the one where Mr. Sugimoto was raised and that the mission station in France I attended Monthly Services at for two years was overseen as its “parent church.” This branch church, where one of Mr. Sugimoto’s two brothers<fnref n="568" /> and mother continued to reside at the time of my visit, was partially analogous to the residential world of TEC as it was composed of numerous people living together, in this case three extended families, sharing a largely communal life. At both TEC and this branch church, included in this communal life was the twice daily performance of the Service, the sharing of meals, a shared conception of members of the group making joint efforts toward the functioning of the greater “household” group, and the shared goal of making efforts for the path of Tenrikyo. In my direct observations and as I heard expressed by multiple members of this group, as well as by others in reference to them as exemplary of a Tenrikyo model, each member of this three-family group made efforts for the path in different ways which came together to construct a greater whole.

For example, Mr. Sugimoto’s brother, a highly energetic unmarried man in his sixties, often did door-to-door missionary work in the area where this branch church was located. His efforts were aimed at both working to maintain and increase people’s involvement in the Tenrikyo faith for those already connected to it, and to spread the faith to others who were not yet connected to it. Mr. Sugimoto’s mother, a woman in her eighties, had spent a significant portion of her life pulling weeds from the grounds surrounding the church so that it would be aesthetically pleasing to others as hinokishin. This was noted to me with implied praise to be evidenced through her hunched-over back that was largely caused by many years of being bent over for this manual task.

<footnote n="568">⁵⁶⁸ Mr. Sugimoto’s other brother lived in the Los Angeles area where he headed a lineage-based site and was also highly involved in the L.A., Californian, and North American Tenrikyo scenes.</footnote>
Mr. Sugimoto and his other brother were both making efforts to spread the faith, and their specific church lineage, to others through their overseas mission stations in the Paris and Los Angeles areas<fnref n="569" />. Their presence in these overseas locations was encouraged and facilitated by the former head minister of this parent church who himself had wished to live abroad but had not been permitted to do so by his father because of he was the successor of this position. In this, we see a partially analogous example of the head “parent(s)” of TEC in which the head(s) of the site played a significant role in directing the lives of those under their authority.

The other family who lived at this branch church in a supportive role also contributed to the collective efforts of this lineage-based site. The senior member of this family during the time of my research was the middle-aged mother of two adult sons who had been born at another lineage-based site but came to live at and be a part of this branch church as an adolescent due to the relational dynamics between the groups. It was this woman who was in charge of preparing meals around which this multi-familial group would gather in the large dining hall adjacent to the branch church's sanctuary. The lives of both of her adult sons were also focused on making efforts for the path of Tenrikyo. One of her young adult sons had spent time in Australia as a visiting missionary in a role largely similar to the young adult residential missionaries at TEC, and during my time in Japan, went to live at “our” followers’ dormitory for several months to provide assistance as hinokishin. Her other son at this time was with his wife in another town to spread the path of Tenrikyo and their branch church’s specific membership, largely through conducting door-to-door missionary work.

The head family of this branch church was composed of three generations. The head minister was a man in his forties who had spent time abroad in the US during his undergraduate studies, further adding to the internationality of this three familied branch church group. His wife was a woman in her thirties who occupied a supportive role in the church in accordance with the ideal role of wife by providing foundational support to the overall running of a Tenrikyo site and familial household in collaboration with her husband, thereby enacting a “two-in-one” relationship. Her occupying a foundational role in the running of this church was facilitated through their two

<footnote n="569">⁵⁶⁹ I heard very little about Mr. Sugimoto's married sister, who if married to a Tenrikyo follower, normally would no longer belong to the Sugimoto household nor to their church lineage.</footnote>
young children attending day care, thereby allowing her the time to attend to numerous tasks in support of the church. While most Japanese mothers of young children, including Tenrikyo followers, were stay-at-home mothers, this woman's utilization of daycare demonstrated that there was not a sole model of how one's occupation of a role can be assumed. The role of the acting head minister's parents, who previously served as the church's head and head wife, was largely similar to the senior parents of other multi-generational Japanese households in which their position in the group remained elevated while their responsibilities were significantly diminished.

This collectively functioning multi-family branch church was similar to the residential world of TEC, and to a lesser degree, the less fixed residential world that came about annually during the seminar and other gatherings that occurred at TEC. In such contexts, the presence of similar structural elements encouraged the construction of this shared foundational core element in those present, particularly those closely connected with such sites, such as their residents. As indicated previously, many of the core members of the “TEC community” were raised in such collectively-oriented Tenrikyo churches where this type of communal living structure and mode of collaborative efforts made toward the path through particular enacted means was already part of their habitus, thereby rendering their reinforcement of this model through their reproduction of it at TEC a normalized continuation of this social model. It also rendered the social model recreated at TEC a familiar scene to Tenrikyo followers coming from Japan who were closely connected to the religion amidst a greater locational context of being abroad in Europe. In this, a strong sense of belonging was encouraged amongst such individuals in this specific context and social world amidst a broader realm of being in a “foreign” context.

My visit to the other branch church I spent approximately one week at was atypical to followers not born in the faith “returning” to Tenri City from outside of Japan as it was not to a branch church or grand church of the lineage I was officially rooted to via the Sugimotos’ mission station in France. Rather, it was the familial home and branch church at which Yuko Sugimoto was born and raised, though she was no longer officially regarded as a member of upon her marriage. Despite Yuko no longer officially being a member of this church lineage or familial group and living in France, she remained closely connected with her natal home via distance, through
prioritizing that her French-born children spent time there every year<fnref n="570" />, and through returning herself to spend time there every other year.

At the time of my visit, her father served as its head minister, as he had throughout the majority of Yuko's life. Before him, his father had served in this role, and continued to live in this household for many years afterwards in accordance with the traditional multi-generational Japanese household structure. Several years after my visit, the eldest of Yuko's two younger brothers (the eldest son of the family) assumed the role of this branch church's head minister at the age of approximately forty. As is standard in Tenrikyo tradition and in accordance with the prominent position of peak moments of celebration in both Tenrikyo and Japanese culture, an important ceremony for this transitional occasion was held for which a significant number of people were in attendance, including Yuko's maternal grandmother and the mother of the newly appointed head wife, both of whom traveled to be present for this important event<fnref n="571" /> from other regions of Japan where they were living. The celebratory culmination of this event was exemplary of the important place that such gatherings held in the globality of lineage-based sites and the broader Tenrikyo context that occurred in Tenri City. This contributed to a greater pattern in Tenrikyo of ebbs and flows of more lively and more quiet moments that rendered an established mode of operation among Tenrikyo followers in Japan, particularly those closely connected to it, as was the case of most core members of the “TEC community.” As discussed previously, this encouraged a punctuated pattern of increased and decreased activity to also be normalized at TEC, largely via these core social actors, thereby encouraging a trans local continuity between TEC and Tenrikyo sites elsewhere.

This overarching similarity between Tenrikyo sites was accompanied by diversity between sites and, in the case of TEC, the presence of diversity within this specific context. Included in the insights I gained into my broader research context of the “TEC community” through my visit to this branch church in combination with my visit to the branch church where Mr. Sugimoto was

<footnote n="570">⁵⁷⁰ Visits back to Japan by her children usually occurred during their summer vacations and also included participation in the Children's Pilgrimage to Jiba festival that I discuss in the next chapter.</footnote>

<footnote n="571">⁵⁷¹ I specifically mention the presence of these women because it demonstrates that a strict model of singular (most often patrilineal) household and church membership was not followed, allowing rather for the maintenance of connections with family members with which one was not technically considered a member of the same household or church lineage.</footnote>
raised was the diversity present between individual “home sites” and individual church lineages.
More specifically, some aspects of the church where Yuko grew up, such as precise
interpretations of certain parts of the faith and certain components of how the Service was
performed, differed from the branch church she became a part of upon marriage. Should I have
only visited the branch church where Mr. Sugimoto was raised, and to which I was officially
rooted, it would have been easy to draw erroneous conclusions about how Tenrikyo branch
churches in Japan are operated.

Such inferences that could be made from exposure to only one's own "home site" and connected
lineage were not unique to my position as an "outside" researcher. In speaking with Yuko several
weeks after our shared time at her natal home and church, while at her husband's natal home and
church where she was classified a member, she discussed her surprise when she initially came to
this church via marriage. In coming to her newly acquired "home site<fnref n="572" />," she discovered that
numerous components of how this church was operated and moreover how the Service was
performed differed from what she had been exposed to through her own familial branch church.
Included among these differences was that, for example, at Yuko's natal church both males and
females served as performers in the daily Morning and Evening Services whereas at the natal
church of her husband, only males served as performers in this twice daily Service. Another
variation was the slight kinesthetic differences in how the Service itself was performed at these
two churches.

This latter difference was something I heard mentioned by young adult TEC residents who had
previously been principally associated with one church lineage throughout their lives before
coming to live at the multi-lineage site of TEC. These kinesthetic variations in how the Service
was performed, along with other differences that existed between Tenrikyo churches and church
lineages were part of the experience of being at this inter-lineage center. Such differences were
largely reflective of the fact that Tenrikyo followers<fnref n="573" /> (particularly males) commonly attended

<footnote n="572">⁵⁷² At this time, the Sugimotos' mission station in the Paris area had yet been founded.</footnote>

<footnote n="573">⁵⁷³ This is particularly so among followers in Japan as they are generally more easily able to attend the "home site" to which they are officially rooted and spend time in other contests of their lineage, such as the grand church of their lineage and its followers' dormitory in Tenri City, than many followers outside of Japan (or otherwise away from where their officially designated "home site" is located).</footnote>
the lineage-based site of worship to which they were rooted throughout their lives and for
multiple generations, and other sites of its lineage with less regularity. Through this, enacted and
enunciated differences were developed and transferred between members of the group, many of
which were imparted by its leadership and circulated within the social collectivity, constructing
and establishing differences between individual lineage-based sites of worship and also the
broader realm of church lineages over time.

The transition to a new familial and church lineage was partially an immediate transfer that occurred upon marriage, after which women usually would be organizationally considered part of their husband's group. In the traditional Japanese model that is still commonly practiced in church-based Tenrikyo families, this commonly translated to the woman moving into the physical household of her husband's family, attending the site of worship to which she was newly rooted, and being included in its lineage<fnref n="574" />. Their transfer to a new familial and lineage-based group was also a gradual state of integration based largely in their acquired knowledge, embodied familiarity, and normalization of the practices of the group(s) they joined.

At TEC, the subtle kinesthetic differences often observable in how the Service was performed by
those in attendance, among other differences present, was not a hindrance in the construction or
existence of a “community” at this site. In fact, such differences were a common and established
part of this inter-lineage “community” as members were most often also active members of a
lineage-based site of worship. It was their concordance with the group’s practices, that included a
component of diversity, which established their belonging in the “TEC community.” Relatedly,
this was an important factor in the ease with which Tenrikyo followers coming from other
locations, particularly Japan, became integrated members of the social context on which my
research is focused.

Although such newly arrived individuals were, by default upon arrival, not long-term attendees of TEC nor long-term members of the “TEC community,” they were enculturated members of the broader culture of Tenrikyo, which as previously discussed, was intermeshed with Japanese culture from which Japanese followers were, de facto, enculturated members. For such Japanese

<footnote n="574">⁵⁷⁴ This includes, for example, staying at the followers’ dormitory of her new lineage when in Tenri City and attendance of the Monthly Service at the grand church of her new lineage.</footnote>
followers, it was common to have been heavily involved in Tenrikyo contexts, such as having
been brought up in Tenrikyo churches, participated in academic schooling and religious trainings
in Tenri City, and/or otherwise spent significant amounts of time in this pilgrimage city and other
pointedly Tenrikyo contexts. Thus, although their familiarity with TEC and with most people
connected to this center had not been constructed over a significant period of time<fnref n="575" />, the acquired
knowledge, embodied kinesthetic modalities, and habituation to and normalization of the
practices had most often already been constructed in them.

Conversely, non-Japanese people, including numerous long-time followers of the faith and
individuals of other nationalities born and raised in the religion, often remained more peripheral
to the social core of the “TEC community.” This was evidenced through linguistic indications
such as, for example, as previously noted, the employment of the pronoun “they” rather than
“we” to refer to this core community and, often to the broader world of Tenrikyo that was based
physically, administratively, socially, and via the country of nationality and residence of most of
its followers primarily in Japan. This was a significant factor to the largely two-tiered nature of
the “TEC community” in which there was simultaneously a larger social world which involved a
complex combination of its interconnected social actors with diverse connections to the religion
of Tenrikyo, the site of TEC, and to each other, and also a commonly present distinction between
members of this social collectivity of the former and latter mentioned categories<fnref n="576" />. Although not
entirely, an important part of this distinction was constructed through these lineage-based sites of
worship in Japan to which most core members of the “TEC community” were closely connected.
Another important contributing factor was the amount of time and the types of engagement spent
in this pilgrimage town, which often occurred through participation in trainings and special
events held there, as I discuss in the next chapter.

<footnote n="575">⁵⁷⁵ Sometimes some social connections may be already present through time spent together in other locations, most commonly Tenri City, and through social connections via others with which they are linked.</footnote>

<footnote n="576">⁵⁷⁶ I would like to note that the distinction between these two categories was not absolute and depending on the particular scene taking place and the particular social actors involved, there was sometimes a lack of absolute adherence to this two-tiered social model.</footnote>
Chapter ten: Spending time in Tenri City for education and events, cultivating experiential familiarity and togetherness

a. Religious and academic trainings that contribute to the personal construction of followers and their relationship to the pilgrimage town and to the religion

*The ongoing return to Jiba for organized reasons*

In addition to followers' connection to Tenri City via time spent there for the Monthly Service and/or independent visits, as indicated immediately previously, another important experiential component of the religion directly linked to this pilgrimage town was time spent there for structured trainings and events apart from the Monthly Service. Because Tenri City (or more specifically, the point of the Jiba) was considered to be the home of one's original parent and one's own original hometown, one did not need a specific reason to go to Tenri City. In practice, however, coming to Tenri City was often paired with a specific motivation. It was common for the followers included in my study, particularly those positioned as core members of this group, to have spent time in this pilgrimage town for various religious trainings, academic pursuits, and special events. The existence and participatory experiences of taking part in such events and trainings was not only present in Tenri City, but also at TEC via their promotion, discussion and the embodied experience that followers carried with themselves from this pilgrimage town.

Throughout my research, calls for attendees of TEC to participate in various events held in Tenri City were included in both the bi-monthly TEC newsletter and also announced verbally at the end of TEC Monthly Services, as were similar announcements for events that were held locally at TEC and ACFJT. It was common for members of the “TEC community” to have had (or be having at present or in the anticipated future) important components of their selves formed in Tenri City via religious and academic schooling experiences, thereby positioning this pilgrimage town as an active component of the greater realm of TEC. Arguably, the experience of attending the nine identical Besseki lectures and then undergoing the important ritual through which one becomes a “Yoboku” was the most important contribution to the construction of the self that occurred in this religious town and the overall context of Tenrikyo. It is for this reason that I begin this chapter by bringing the reader’s focus to this structured formation of the Tenrikyo self.
Acquiring the distinction of “Yoboku,” “becoming a member” in Tenri City

As mentioned previously, becoming a “Yoboku” was often equated by followers<fnref n="577" /> with becoming a full “member” of the religion. Though in the Tenrikyo faith the term “Yoboku” contained a dual meaning, its sense as conveyed in the previous sentence was the most common modern usage of this term and referred to the acquired title of this designation through specific structured steps exclusively possible in Tenri City. To begin my discussion on the attainment of this Tenrikyo-specific category of spiritual identity, I include an explanation of the term “Yoboku” provided on “Tenrikyo Resource Wiki<fnref n="578" />.”

Yoboku

Yoboku ようぼく・用木, translated as (useful) timber in the English translation of the Ofudesaki, has been generally defined as a person “who comes forward to serve God the Parent.” The original meaning of the word Yoboku referred to a piece of wood to be used as material for a building or craftwork. It happens to be one of several construction-related metaphors Oyasama used to refer to individuals who were to participate in the reconstruction of the world into the world of the Joyous Life.

The term Yoboku eventually came to be used to refer to a Tenrikyo missionary or, more specifically, a person who has received the sacrament of the Sazuke as a result of Tenrikyo's post-war restoration effort to bring the religious organization and its practices closer to what Oyasama taught.

"Yoboku" as a category of Tenrikyo member

Tenrikyo once had the following three-tiered classification of its membership: 信徒 shinto (believer), 教徒 kyoto (adherent), and 教師 kyoshi (instructor). When *The Constitution of Tenrikyo* was revised in 1959, this classification system was replaced with 信者 shinjo (follower), ようぼく Yoboku, and 教人 kyoto (lay minister). The classification of Yoboku thereafter came to be defined as a follower who attended the nine Besseki lectures and received the truth (sacrament) of the Sazuke.

<footnote n="577">⁵⁷⁷ And others that have a somewhat limited amount of exposure to the religion.</footnote>

<footnote n="578">⁵⁷⁸ Tenrikyo Resource Wiki is an online resource compiled by English-speaking Tenrikyo followers, many of whom are US-based.</footnote>
According to *A Glossary of Tenrikyo Terms*:

"It may be noted that this definition of the term 'Yoboku' was introduced purely for the sake of convenience. As far as the Ofudesaki is concerned, the significance of being Yoboku is to serve in God's work of salvation as the instruments of Oyasama." (Tenrikyo Resource Wiki 2014)

In my observations, followers were often not familiar with how and/or when the term “Yoboku” came to have the significance it held as a specific category of follower one acquires the designation of through the above-described structured means. Rather, I often heard it discussed as a “given” part of the religion in which its dual meanings and historical reasons for such were omitted. In practice, becoming a “Yoboku” was largely equated with a rite of passage through which one becomes a full member of the religion. Although this was not the “true” meaning of what it is to be a Yoboku, this ascribed meaning was a common delineator in people’s level of perceived and practiced implication in the religion.

Historically, the “miraculous salvation” (*fushigina tasuke*) of the Sazuke<fnref n="579" /> healing ritual was the main attraction drawing new followers to the religion. Both the healing ritual itself and the rites required to become a Yoboku capable of administering the Sazuke were centrally important parts of Tenrikyo during the time of my study. In practice, outside of official contexts, such as an included component of the European Seminar and at the end of the Monthly Service, the actual frequency with which this healing ritual was employed was less common than what one may expect based on the central role it held in structured settings and discourse. Regardless of the frequency of its application in the daily lives of followers, it was a central part of the faith and of being a follower of it. Illustrative of this was that the Service and the Sazuke were often cited as the two main components of Tenrikyo.

For many followers born in the religion, attendance of the nine Besseki lectures and obtaining the status of Yoboku was largely associated with coming of age and becoming full adult members of the religion. Thus, for a significant portion of the greater Tenrikyo population, and for many

<footnote n="579">⁵⁷⁹ The Sazuke is a centrally important component of Tenrikyo. Initiated members, known as “Yoboku” (literally: useful timber,) administer a ritualized healing prayer to people with physical ailments. During interviews, I often heard that the Yoboku is not the one healing the person from their physical ailment, but rather that they simply serve as a conduit through which the foundress or God the Parent travels through them to work on the inner heart of the recipient, which can thereby heal their external physical ailment.</footnote>
members of the “TEC community,” the experience of acquiring this designation was a shared formative experience and connectedly, the identity of being Yoboku was a collectively shared element between them. Houseman’s (2004: 76) assertion that if a ritual action is efficacious, it irreversibly affects ordinary intercourse in perceptive ways and that a discriminatory, identity-bestowing process whose ends (the initiated) are the means of its own reiteration to be the essence of initiation is pertinent in relation to the act of acquiring the status of Yoboku. As explained previously, this status was often associated with particular capacities in the faith and additionally, was a common term of reference in calling upon “Yoboku” to engage in certain positively framed behaviors and dispositions, with the implication being because they had acquired this status and had been transformed through the process of acquiring it, that they should be up to the task in relation to their spiritual identity. I include below an excerpt from a sermon delivered at the end of a TEC Monthly Service<sup>580</sup> that described the acquisition of this designation in more detail. I also include a related excerpt from The Doctrine of Tenrikyo.

Generally, anyone over the age of seventeen may take part in the Besseki lecture at the Jiba. This lecture lasts about an hour and a half. Its content represents Tenrikyo's fundamental teachings, i.e. the Truth of Creation, the meaning of the Service, the Model of Oyasama, the meaning of the Jiba, the ten protective functions of Oyagami<sup>581</sup> and the eight mental dusts. These different points are indispensable for the Tenrikyo faith. After having attended the Besseki nine times, if one wishes, one will have the glory of becoming a yoboku by receiving the principle of the Sazuke from the Shimbashira, as a substitute of Oyasama, in her sanctuary<sup>582</sup>. The yoboku is no longer a mere believer. Becoming a yoboku means being at a higher level than a mere devotee in which Oyasama can be served by working for the salvation of humanity by transmitting the Sazuke.

Nowadays, followers returning to the Jiba from foreign countries can take part in the lecture nine times in a single trip. (But these nine times are not consecutive, there must be a day taken off.) This is a rule established especially for those who cannot easily return because they are too far away. Normally we can only listen to this lecture once a month. Therefore, it takes nine months for us to receive the principle of the Sazuke. It is taught that a time equivalent to that of the growth of an embryo in the womb is necessary for it to be accorded to us. After which the principle of the Sazuke is given, in other words, we are

<footnote n="580">580 TEC Grand Service of October 2007</footnote>

<footnote n="581">581 God the Parent</footnote>

<footnote n="582">582 The rite of bestowing the Sazuke occurs inside a room adjacent to the foundress' sanctuary. (Morishita 2001: 137).</footnote>
regenerated. To become yoboku is to regenerate oneself in the present life. It is a precious
event. (Nagao 2007<sup>583</sup>).

A follower thus called forth returns to the Home of the Parent and attends the Besseki lecture. As one progresses through the sessions, one gradually sweeps away the dusts by virtue of the truth of the teachings, corrects one's conduct and, finally, the mind becomes clear. The desire to be saved becomes a desire for the salvation of others. This is when the truth of the Sazuke is bestowed and the mind is reborn.
(The Doctrine of Tenrikyo 1993: 67<sup>584</sup>).

The method of infusing the individual with the teachings and the faith through repeated exposure to nine identical Besseki lectures was similar to other learning contexts of the religion and the general experience of being involved in it, in which repeated exposure to core aspects of the religion was a primary means through which the faith was transmitted to and cultivated in the individual. Key examples of this include the rote memorization of the Eight Dusts and Ten Providences of God the Parent that was included as a component of the European Seminar, and the Service ritual in which performance of, or exposure to, the ritual rather than intellectualization of, or belief in, it was of central importance. In these examples, we can see that the principal means through which these important components of the faith were transferred to the individual was via experiential exposure; “being” or “becoming” Tenrikyo was not a one-time endeavor but rather a prolonged imbuing of the religion by the individual. Included in this was the process of

<footnote n="583">583 Original text : De nos jours, les fidèles des pays étrangers qui rentrent au Jiba, peuvent y assister neuf fois au cours d'un seul voyage. (Mais ces neuf fois ne sont pas consécutives. Il doit avoir un jour de repos.) C'est un règlement établi spécialement pour ceux qui ne peuvent y retourner facilement car ils demeurent trop loin. Normalement nous ne pouvons l'écouter qu'une seule fois par mois. Par conséquent il faut neuf mois pour que nous puissions recevoir le principe du *Sazuke*. Il est enseigné qu'une durée équivalente à celle de la croissance d'un embryon dans la matrice est nécessaire, pour qu'il nous soit accordé. Après quoi nous sera accordé le principe du *Sazuke*, autrement dit nous nous régénérons. Devenir *yoboku*, c'est se régénérer dans la vie présente. C'est un événement précieux. Généralement, n'importe quelle personne de plus de dix-sept ans, peut assister à la lecture du *Besseki* au Jiba. Cette lecture dure environ une heure et demie. Son contenu représente l'enseignement fondamental de Tenrikyô, c'est à dire la Vérité sur la Création, la signification du Service, le Modèle d'Oyasama, la signification du Jiba, les dix fonctions protectrices d'Oyagami et les huits poussières mentales. Ces different points sont indispensables pour la foi de Tenrikyô. Après avoir assisté neuf fois au *Besseki*, s'il le désire, il aura la gloire de devenir *yoboku* en recevant le principe du *Sazuke* part le Shimbashira, substitut d'Oyasama, dans son sanctuaire. Le *yoboku* n'est plus un simple fidèle. Devenir *yoboku* signifie se trouver à un degré plus élevé qu'un simple fidèle et que l'on peut servir Oyasama en travaillant au Salut de l'humanité en transmettant le *Sazuke*.</footnote>

<footnote n="584">584 As a reminder, this text is used as part of the curriculum in the European Seminar and similarly in numerous other Tenrikyo trainings.</footnote>
attending the nine Besseki lectures necessary to take part in the rite through which one underwent
this religious transformation of identity and position in the faith.

Acquiring the important designation of “Yoboku” was strongly connected with being in Tenri
City as it was only in this location that it was possible to attend the Besseki lectures and undergo
the transformational rite through which one acquired this categorical title. In this, there was a
concrete connection between “being/becoming Tenrikyo” and being in Tenri City where the faith
and the location at which it is based were shown to be largely intersecting spheres. It was
common for followers to come to Tenri City specifically for the purpose of listening to the nine
Besseki lectures and to undergo the rite through which one became a “Yoboku.”

As noted previously, followers in Japan could only attend one of these nine lectures per month,
whereas overseas followers were allowed an exemption to listen to these nine lectures in a
condensed period of time due to the time and money involved in coming to Tenri City from
overseas. The goal of these lectures was not simply to intellectually convey the information
contained therein but to “settle the teachings” in the hearts/minds of those attending them. This
spiritual “settling of the mind” through experiential repetition was conducted through a particular
framework. The word “besseki” translates in English to “separate seat/ special seat.” As I heard it
explained by numerous followers, this term is used to convey the experience of listening to these
lectures in a special setting apart from that of the everyday, which in practice was in a quiet room
used specifically for this purpose. Moreover, the framing of this transformative experience of the
faith’s teachings was viewed as an important undertaking extended to the overall experience of
attending them. Firstly, in order to attend them, an application form which included one’s “home
site” and church lineage with written support via a signature, or name stamp<fnref n="585" />, from a
supervising individual in this lineage was required. This, as indicated previously, was one of the
reasons that the young French woman of Bordeaux Kyokai, Nathalie, needed to have an official
“home site” in order to fulfill her wish to become a Yoboku. In this, we can see that being
affiliated with a particular “home site” was a required component of being a “full member<fnref n="586" />” of

<footnote n="585">⁵⁸⁵ In Japan, personalized name stamps are often used in place of a signature.</footnote>

<footnote n="586">⁵⁸⁶ “Full member” is meant to refer to how this category was often conceptualized in practice rather than in official Tenrikyo discourse.</footnote>
the religion as without one, there were important components of the religion one could not
engage in.

Furthermore, prior to being able to listen to these lectures, one was required to take the "Besseki pledge"<fnref n="587" />, aimed largely at situating the attendee in a particular psychological framework imbued with sacrality, sincerity, and receptivity. The experience of taking this pledge contributed to the positioning of their attendance as a significant undertaking that one should approach with reverential sincerity. This preparatory pledge was said in front of a Tenrikyo official clothed in Tenrikyo robes, thereby visually reinforcing its being part of a larger Tenrikyo ceremonial framework. These officiants each individually received followers in a large room that for this purpose accommodated multiple interviewer/ interviewee pairs to engage in this structured interpersonal directing of intention. The room in which this took place was located in a building in the central area of Tenri City approximately ten minutes by foot<fnref n="588" /> from the Main Sanctuary specifically for these metamorphic lectures in which the physical space where this pledge was said and the Besseki lectures were attended later was an important component in the overall experience of this transformative endeavor. Through this, yet another connection between the religion of Tenrikyo and the physical space of Tenri City was demonstrated.

In practice, attendance of these nine lectures required neither attention to, nor retention of, the
teachings contained within. It was simply required that one be physically present in the room nine
times that these lectures were delivered, which was confirmed through the stamping of an
attendance card each time it was attended. It is interesting to note that this card combined the

<footnote n="587">⁵⁸⁷ We call God the Parent, Tenri-O-no-Mikoto. God the Parent is God of Origin, God in Truth, who created human beings and the world where there was no form. God the Parent revealed the divine will to humankind through Oyasama as Shrine. It is due to Oyasama that we learned of the will of God the Parent for the first time. Oyasama is Miki Nakayama. God the Parent created human beings to see their Joyous Life and share in it. Thus the Joyous Life is the goal of our existence. I have come to know of God the Parent through the guidance of * and have learned of the divine will. And because I desire to understand it more clearly and to fix it in my mind, I have returned to Jiba at this time. We are taught that the Jiba is the place where God the Parent resides and where the Service for universal salvation is performed. I desire to learn the teachings of God the Parent thoroughly at Jiba, to follow the Divine Model of Oyasama with adoration, and to bring satisfaction to God the Parent and happiness to others. (*) Here, people reciting the pledge state the reason they came to know of the teachings. Examples: (1) name of the person who guided them to the teachings or invited them to the Besseki lectures, (2) "my parents' faith," (3) "illness," or (4) "personal problems."</footnote>

<footnote n="588">⁵⁸⁸ This is a very approximate depiction of the actual distance based on my recollection which may not be fully accurate of the time required to walk between these locations.</footnote>
seemingly antithetical components of a sacred experience (becoming a Yoboku), with a
regulatory administrative component (the official verification of one's attendance through official
documentation). In the process of becoming a Yoboku through gradual transformation via these
lectures, it was not the intellectual reception of the information that was central. Although this,
too, was framed as important. Rather, it was the physical presence of attendees at these lectures
that was of primary importance, as reflected in the fact that the prerequisite to undergo the sacred
rite through which one became a Yoboku did not necessitate any level of mastery of the
information contained therein but simply to have been physically present for its deliverance.

It was somewhat common to hear from Yoboku who had undergone this rite as a young adult talk
about having slept during parts of these lectures. Often included in this narrative was that they
were initially not interested in attending the Besseki lectures and only did so because it was
expected of them by their Tenrikyo families. Although, as was often stated in such accounts, they
initially did not regard the lectures as interesting or important and thus fell asleep in them similar
to what they might do in a class lecture they were not interested in attending. As they went
through the process of listening to these lectures, their heart was changed and they more clearly
understood the importance of these lectures and the path of Tenrikyo.

The first time someone told me that they had fallen asleep in these sacredly framed lectures, I was
quite surprised as I had assumed that out of situationally required politeness and ascribed
importance that directed attention would be accorded to these lectures. Although sleeping in them
was viewed as far from ideal, there were occasional indications that from a commonly held
perspective, lack of consciousness for parts of their lecture attendance did not completely negate
their involvement in them. One expression of this was conveyed to me during an interview with a
Japanese woman living in Europe who was a core member of the “TEC community” and whose
formative experiences in the religion included having studied at Tenri University, which is
located in Tenri City, and (of course) having undergone the experience of becoming a Yoboku.
During this semi-structured interview, our discussion took many directions, including my
expressed surprise and intrigue that I had heard people talk about having fallen asleep in these
lectures and indirectly posed the question of if the type of information conveyed through the
Besseki lectures was not based exclusively in intellectual learning but also understood to be
conveyed through other types of learning.
She paused on this question, expressed positively that she regarded this perspective as interesting and insightful, and said that she thought it could. She then linked this means of learning to a statement she heard from one of her Tenri University professors who was highly implicated in the faith, that although he does not like for his students to sleep in his university classes, when they do, he continues to teach with the perspective that although he is not conveying the information to their awake selves, he is talking to their souls. As suggested by this woman during our interview, this differentiation between one's waked self and the more profound level of the soul was directly transferable to the emphasis placed on people's presence at these Besseki lectures and the lack of prohibition for attendees to sleep during its deliverance. Although their intellectual selves were not actively engaged in receiving the conveyed information when they were asleep, other parts of their selves remained to receive them.

Relatedly, a middle-aged female follower of Japanese ancestry from Brazil who I got to know during a shared trip to our mutual grand church for its Monthly Service told me about an important experience she had during a Besseki lecture she attended as a young adult. While largely in a state of sleep, she saw the foundress and was reassured through her kind and maternal presence as the teachings were conveyed via the appointed Besseki orator. It was not exclusively through the intellectual transfer of information via the spoken contents of the lecture to the intellectual and awake mind of the recipient that was contained in the overall experience of learning, but also learning via their soul that did not require a wakeful state to be touched.

As these lectures were largely in practice, though not in doctrine, a means through which followers became “full members” of the faith and furthermore, an experience in the religion accorded particular attention and importance, the experience of attending these lectures and the multiple means through which their attendance was understood to be transformative is illuminative to the structure of the faith and how the development of people was understood. The broader spectrum of learning that spanned beyond the realm of the purposefully engaged intellect was similarly present in other structured components of the faith, such as the Service ritual, as discussed previously. This strongly suggests that the overall experience of followers' involvement in and with the religion is not simply mediated by the intellect. People were also understood to learn and develop through the body and the soul, with these aspects of the person positioned as highly interrelated in the faith. Among these other forms of learning was that of the
sensorial, embodied experience that I have integrated into various components of my overall
discussion and analysis of the multifarious social collectivity on which my research was focused.

*Religious trainings in Tenri City: constructing understandings of and personal relationships to the faith and the pilgrimage town in which it is based*

Beyond the Besseki lectures, other religious trainings that took place in Tenri City, such as the three-month spiritual training program of Shuyoka, also comprised part of the lived experiences of many followers included in my study, particularly among those I position as being part of the “core” of the “TEC community.” In thinking of people’s relationship with Tenri City, it is important to include not only theological components of the site, but also the moments of people’s lives that take place there. Such experiences contribute to shared associations with various parts of the town and the types of trainings that take place there, which include pointedly religious trainings and also largely secular academic programs, both of which hold an underlying “fragrance” of Tenrikyo modes of thinking and operation which then become part of those who take part in them. In addition to the educational programs providing at least some instruction on the Tenrikyo faith, another commonality was the communal experience of living together in shared dormitories, whether in followers’ dormitories where individuals stay for most religious trainings that are the focus of this subsection, or in the student dormitories for high school and university academic programs that are the focus of the next subsection.

The experiences at these religious trainings were then transported from Tenri City to TEC by
those who participated in them and contributed to the “Tenrikyo mode of sociality” and the
relationship between the faith and the town that was discussed in the previous chapter. The
various spiritual training programs described in this subsection are just a sampling of the training
programs available in Tenri City that followers, including many involved in my study, spent
prolonged periods of time attending, acquiring a tangible closeness with the place and with the
theoretical, ritual, and interpersonal teachings conveyed in them. The global experientially based
formation acquired through their participation was facilitated, in part, by the simple fact that these
trainings provided a specific reason for spending prolonged periods of time in this religiously
focused town. This was reflective of the fact that in Tenrikyo culture, similar to as in Japanese
culture in general, operating under the framework of engaging in a specific structured activity,
such as taking part in a training, was accorded a much higher level of normalization and
legitimacy than simply spending prolonged periods of time in a particular location for the overall
experience of being there without a specific activity toward which directed efforts are being
made. While at the rate of 1000 yen<fnref n="589" /> per night to stay in a followers’ dormitory, it would be
economically feasible for many people to spend several months in Tenri City on their own,
people generally spent prolonged periods of time there only for specific reasons, the far most
common was training programs.

The most frequently attended and discussed of these religious trainings was Shuyoka: the three-month “spiritual development course” referenced numerous times previously that followers commonly took at some point in their lives, often but not exclusively when young adults. I commonly heard Shuyoka referenced by followers as a particularly pivotal moment in obtaining both a greater understanding of and intimacy with the faith and a greater understanding of themselves, others, and the world. Often, it served as an important life event that they carried within themselves thereafter wherever they went, including to TEC and the other European locations where the key social actors of my study lived.

In this intensive three-month program, participants would engage in the study of doctrinal, historic, and ritual components of the religion during the first part of the day and in organized hinokishin activities during the latter part of the day before retiring to their respective grand church dormitories. During my time in Tenri City, I somewhat frequently saw groups of Shuyoka participants engaging in communal hinokishin activities, such as landscaping work, throughout this pilgrimage town, along with others engaging in similar efforts, who were pointed out to me by Yuko and Mr. Sugimoto's brother, each of whom accompanied me for a portion of my time there. I also otherwise saw groups of Shuyoka attendees partially identifiable through their wearing black happi coats<fnref n="590" /> at various places in the central religiously focused area of the town. Most such groups were composed of Japanese participants, but during my time there, there was also a large group of Brazilian followers, most but not of whom appearing to be of Japanese

<footnote n="589">⁵⁸⁹ Approximately 10€.</footnote>

<footnote n="590">⁵⁹⁰ Wearing a happi coat did not invariably signal the person was a Shuyoka participant because they were worn by a significant portion of followers in this central, religiously focused area of Tenri City for a variety of reasons.</footnote>
descent, taking part in the program in the Portuguese language who were often more vivacious than their Japanese counterparts. I had the opportunity to speak with some Shuyoka participants while having lunch in one of the large cafeterias in the central area of Tenri City, as I often did, and also one participant at the followers' dormitory where we were both staying.

As mentioned several chapters previously, the format of this religious training that included theoretical, ritual, and hinokishin practice alongside communal living was largely mirrored in the Tenrikyo European Seminar held at TEC. The partially parallel nature of these two religious trainings was one of numerous contributing factors of the experientially derived similarity between Tenri City and the European center at which my research was primarily based. As the majority of the key social actors of TEC had taken part in Shuyoka, and other trainings in Tenri City, their orchestration of this European program was often based on their acquired experiences that occurred there, thereby linking the two locations and experiences.

In addition to Shuyoka, another training that many core members of the “TEC community” helping to put on the European Seminar, particularly those serving as teachers, had taken part in was the “lay minister” training. Though this training was only two-weeks weeks in length, it was in accordance with the Tenrikyo model of organizational advancement in which completion of this course awarded the attendee with an increased official status within the hierarchical organization of the religion. Although both male and female followers included in my study had taken part in this training, it was a more prevalently held experience amongst males. This was partially reflective of the fact that males more commonly assumed leadership roles in the religion than women, though as noted previously, this was not an absolute rule.

In my European-based observations, little to no differentiation was made based on the attainment of this particular status but it remained an undercurrent in the religious world of Tenrikyo in Europe. For example, a certain number of followers based at a particular mission station needed to be “lay ministers” as one of the requirements to receive authorization from Tenrikyo Church Headquarters to become a “branch church.” Furthermore, though not strictly required by TEC, teachers of the theoretical portions of the European Seminar had often participated in this “lay minister” training and their having done so, in certain cases, functioned as an attributed qualification for their serving in this role. Although not all seminar instructors had completed this
training, nor conversely did all members of the “TEC community” who had completed it serve as seminar instructors, there was a connection between those who had participated in this and/or other religious trainings in Tenri City and those who served in more central roles at TEC.

Yet another religious training present in the “TEC community” via several of its female core members was a post-high school two-year religious training that covered topics similar to those conveyed in Shuyoka and the European Seminar, though in more depth. It also included additional topics deemed important to the overall educational training, including the study of other “world religions,” such as Christianity and Buddhism, which are explained in Tenrikyo to be previous teachings transmitted by God the Parent to humanity<fnref n="591" />. I would like to use this two-year religious training program as an opportunity to discuss the reasons that people participate in these programs that span beyond a desire to acquire increased knowledge and practice of the religion.

Just as the actual motivations to come to Paris on a missionary assignment varied and often existed beyond the scope of religious devotion, so too did the motivations of the young adults who went through this, and other, religious training programs. For example, one “core” woman of TEC who participated in this two-year training who I became close with over the span of my research told me that when she was younger, she would come each summer to Tenri City for the Tenrikyo Children’s Pilgrimage festival. She thought that the young adult participants of this religious training program were so “cool” (kakoii) when she watched their highly precise and uniform marching band-esque movements in the evening parade of the children’s festival. This inspired her to want to participate in the training program herself.

Though receiving inspiration through these “cool” parade performances was no doubt only a partial explanation of why she chose to participate in this program after high school, the “cool” bodily performances she cited were highly controlled movements practiced on a regular basis by its young adult participants. Through their enactment, both mental and bodily discipline were cultivated, becoming embodied in the participants through their repeated enactment over this two-year period. Similar to the practice of the Service ritual, these embodied manifestations of a

<footnote n="591">⁵⁹¹ The second Shinbashira was often credited with having explained that all religious teachings and scientific advances were conveyed to humanity by God the Parent.</footnote>
particular way of being were imprinted onto the participants who then transmitted this
incorporated demeanor to others of the greater groups of which they were a part. It should be
underlined in reference to this particular woman's example that it was precisely this embodied
way of being that attracted her to participate in this two-year training. Thus, one can infer that this
embodied demeanor was at least partially a purposeful cultivation of the self for her.

By taking part in this training, that included the disciplined movements displayed in their parade
performance as part of their regular kinesthetic training practiced in the central area of Tenri City,
and thus commonly seen, they were being trained in this positively regarded way of being that
was a motivating draw for this woman to participate. The connection between kinesthetic and
moral training in Tenrikyo holds a good deal of similitude with Bénéï's (2008) discussion of the
physical and moral training of primary school students in western India in which the prescribed
controlled immobility and stiffness students adopt during phenomenological experiences of daily
morning assemblies were expected to be enacted through their moral rectitude throughout the
school day. In this Tenrikyo training program aimed at forming young adults, and in like manner
in a variety of other Tenrikyo activities and prescribed or encouraged acts, becoming what
Tenrikyo positioned as an ideal person internally was partially shaped through the movements
that the body enacted, often with regularity, externally.

The two-year program that this woman participated in differed somewhat in both content and
student population from the graduate seminary program that the Yagishita siblings attended;
among other differences was that the graduate seminary program required the prerequisite of an
undergraduate degree while the other did not. Despite this and other differences between these
two and other such religious training programs, they all had as their goal the extensive formation
of participants who, ideally, carried the theoretical and experiential components of the training(s)
into their respective lives and the communities of which they were a part. As explained to me
numerous times throughout the span of my research (more commonly by female than male
followers), Tenrikyo is not something one can know\understand (*wakaru*) simply through
intellectually based thought but rather is something one comes to understand little bit by little bit
through action and experience. This is reflective of the fact that in Tenrikyo, learning does not
occur solely through the intellectualization of theological components of the faith, but also
through experiential components of it encountered and internalized through the body.
By taking part in such training programs, they were involving their whole selves in the fully encompassing experience of engaging with the religion. It was somewhat common to hear of influential moments and changes in perspective that occurred during such trainings outside of, but in relation to, the structured part of such programs. While in Tenri City for these trainings, not only were followers studying the religion through structured means, but they were also engaging all of their senses in the totality of the training and the town. The relationship between the structured formation of the trainings and the all-encompassing, though less direct, sensoriality of being in Tenri City operated in a circular manner. Their embodied engagement with this religious context influenced their study of the teachings and religious practice while simultaneously, their structured study influenced, and often amplified, their embodied experiences.

For example, during the same formational period that students were engaging in study of the theological significance of the Jiba in concert with the account of how this sacred point came to be revealed and how the Main Sanctuary built around this point was subsequently constructed through the diligent efforts of followers, they were also taking part in the “classic” hinokishin activity common to such trainings of cleaning the floors of the external corridors of this centrally important building by using cloths to wipe them down by hand. Their exertion in doing this coupled with the posture of being bent down for this task was reinforcing a disposition of humbled dedication to the faith through their bodily efforts, paired ideally with their intention of doing this in service of others as an expression of thanks to God the Parent (i.e. hinokishin). This contributed in most cases to their cultivated reverence for and feelings of closeness to the sanctuary, the sacred point of the Jiba (and thus God the Parent), the faith, and other people connected to this religious world.

Conversely, their intellectually based study of the faith, and moreover the numerous aspects of it connected directly to this space, contributed to how their efforts were conceptualized, and thus, experienced. Each of these formative elements contributed to the expansion of feelings directed toward and familiarity with the other. Similarly, while they were engaging in class-based study of the Service ritual, they were also engaging in the twice daily Morning and Evening Services over which the Shinbashira and other important religious officials presided and that generally
hundreds of followers<fnref n="592" /> participated in, thereby contributing to the sensorially rich sights, sounds, reverberations, and kinesthetic sensations included in the experience. In this coupling of experiential and intellectually based learning, each formational means was contributing to how the other was understood, encountered, and externalized, thereby strengthening both.

While students were taking part in such trainings that also included the importance of living harmoniously with others, which was taught as a key reason God the Parent brought about human existence and that this pro-social modality is a central component of what will bring about, and constitute, the salvific state of the “Joyous World,” they were living in the shared housing facilities of either their followers’ dormitory or in a dormitory they shared with their training cohort. Through this, they were sharing their living space with others who were also taking part in a concentrated engagement with the religion, and thus, also likely to have Tenrikyo teachings and Tenrikyo culture in the forefront of their behavioral modality and mindset, further immersing students in this lived interaction with this religious world.

Being in such contexts further encouraged the inculcation and deepening of their lived connection to the faith through the coupling of their embodied selves via lived experience and their intellectual selves by means of “book learning” in which they were practicing what they were studying and studying what they were living. The amplifying two-directional mirroring and reinforcement of being in Tenri City or, to a lesser degree, another Tenrikyo space such as TEC, and engaging in study and other pointedly formative activities of the faith was an important means through which the intellectual selves and the embodied selves of followers were both inculcated with the religion and bonded with the physical religious setting in which this training occurred. This highlights an important structured means through which followers were endowed with their understandings of and lived connections to the faith, and connectedly, to Tenri City.

Although neither attendance of such trainings nor a “return” to Tenri City is required to qualify as a “member” of Tenrikyo, the dual connection of having studied the religion and engaged in lived experiences with it, which ideally includes time in this pilgrimage town, are generally two methods of learning through which followers come to know the faith, with each amplifying and reinforcing the other. As demonstrated in previous chapters, this dual means of engaging in and

<footnote n="592">⁵⁹² Or, possibly more.</footnote>
becoming increasingly linked with the faith that included both mental and bodily engagement is
common to formative contexts of Tenrikyo. This two-part reception of religious influence is
amplified through this religiously focused location and engaging in the faith there. Further
demonstrating the role that Tenri City plays in Tenrikyo contexts elsewhere, such as TEC, was
the impactful role trainings held there had in shaping many of its followers and thus, the overall
socio-religious spheres of which they are a part.

*Schooling in Tenri City: an experiential connector between TEC and the pilgrimage town via members of the TEC community*

Such prolonged periods of time spent in Tenri City for the pointed purpose of the formation of one's self also included academically focused learning, most notably the religion's two private boarding high schools and its university. Similar to the spiritual training programs that involved staying in communal dormitories, attendance at these schools included collective housing for students in the form of school dormitories, thereby rendering the experience of attending one of these schools also an all-encompassing one. These academic institutions were a key reason that followers spent prolonged periods of time in Tenri City, through which experiential connections were formed with numerous aspects of the city, the sacred sites located there, and with fellow members of the larger Tenrikyo scene. These relationships often became long-term social connections that spanned over physical and social spaces, including TEC and the European context of Tenrikyo, contributing to a dispersed network of "core" followers. Over the duration of my fieldwork, I slowly came to learn of the prevalence of such experiences among many of the core members of the "TEC community." This fostered an experiential commonality between them and a connection to the greater Tenrikyo social world.

Among the Japanese followers who came to TEC as missionaries<fnref n="593" />, it was highly common to
have attended one of the two Tenrikyo-affiliated boarding high schools located in Tenri City:
Tenri High School (Tenri Kōkō) and Tenri Gaguen High School (Tenri Kyōkō Gakuen). The latter
included a stronger religious emphasis and was the more commonly attended of the two schools
by the core members of TEC. Though not a requirement, students who attended these boarding

<footnote n="593">⁵⁹³ And in two cases, the children of missionary families born in Europe.</footnote>
high schools, particularly the latter with its more pointed religious focus, were often from Tenrikyo church families, as were most core members of the “TEC community.”

In addition to the two Tenrikyo high schools, Tenri City also hosted Tenri University, a private university attended by both followers and non-followers, including a significant portion of the core social actors of TEC. For followers, the period of generally four years of undergraduate studies was included in their multitude of experiences in this pilgrimage town. The time these individuals spent in Tenri City for academic education, along with other periods of time spent there, contributed to their having a deepened relationship with this religious town and the religion itself through the memories and experientially based associations formed there. Among the followers connected to TEC, and in the Tenrikyo scene in general, the real-life connections formed with Tenri City via prolonged periods of time spent there, such as during high school and/or university, through which tangible connections with this city, the sacred sites contained there, and the religion contributed to the existence of a common base between them which encouraged their connectedness and were a factor in their coming together to form a “community.”

These schools were not only present in my fieldwork through the memories of those who attended them many years ago, but were also part of the ongoing transnational story of TEC. From my own vantage point, this ongoing connection was most pronounced through the oldest son of the Sugimoto family, Masa. Masa left France during my fieldwork at the age of fifteen to attend Tenri Gagukuen High School, before going on to attend Tenri University. Masa's path of pursuing his studies in Tenri City was similar to the path his father took over thirty years previously, when he also received his high school and university education in this pilgrimage town, before going on to engage in Tenrikyo-based work in California and then in France.

Masa was part of the “TEC community” from birth. His high school attendance halfway around the world in Tenri City was a present part of the “TEC community” in various ways. One example was the goodbye party held at TEC just before his departure that was attended by Tenrikyo followers of the “TEC community,” many of whom had seen him grow up and also by some of the non-Tenrikyo people I include in the greater “TEC community,” such as numerous young adult connected to TEC and its social world via ACFJT. This moment of coming together
to send this young man off showcased this young man's familial connection to the “TEC community” and also the ongoing connection between TEC and Tenri City. Another example of the interconnectedness between the “TEC community” and Masa’s time of study at this Tenrikyo high school took place when I was with members of the “TEC community” in Tenri City to participate in the Children’s Pilgrimage to Jiba festival. Our group crossed paths with Masa while he was getting ready to perform in the festival parade with his school’s Taiko drum club that he had joined earlier in the year, thereby allowing us a window into this new period of his life. I discuss this instance in more detail slightly later in this chapter.

The multilocality of many followers included in my study, and of the greater collective whole of
the “TEC community,” that was based (often among other places) in both Tenri City and at TEC
was developed through spiritual and academic training programs that drew a significant
proportion of its core members to spend prolonged periods of time in Tenri City. Through this,
we can clearly see that the construction of the “TEC community” was partially fostered through
its core members sharing a common experiential and theological base. In addition to such
structured religious and academic trainings that drew followers to this pilgrimage town, another
principal draw that encouraged their presence and thus, their experientially based incorporation of
the religion, were special events that encouraged followers to come together in this religious
homeland. The remainder of this chapter is dedicated to a discussion of these events.

b. *Connecting with the greater Tenrikyo sphere via special events*

*The 130th anniversary of Oyasama's withdrawal from physical life: celebrating in Tenri City and via distance at TEC, two layers of engagement by the TEC community*

During the two-year span of my fieldwork, the largest, most important, and most anticipated
special event was the 130th anniversary<fnref n="594" /> of Oyasama’s withdrawal from physical life. This was
one instance in the larger whole of the religion that included large commemorative celebrations

<footnote n="594">⁵⁹⁴ Each tenth anniversary of this event is commemorated. During the three years leading up to it, followers are encouraged to make extra efforts for the path of Tenrikyo. It was less than one year before this anniversary that I switched my research topic to Tenrikyo in Europe after I was exposed to it in some depth through my acceptance of invitations to come to various religious trainings and gatherings, which I do not view as merely coincidental timing due to the internal emphasis on increasing one’s efforts to lead others to the path during this time.</footnote>
of the foundress' passing every ten years. These ten year anniversaries comprised not only a
single celebratory event held in Tenri City on the day itself, but were also significant events for
Tenrikyo followers around the world both in the time leading up to the anniversary and on the
day itself. In the time leading up to this commemorative event, followers were encouraged to start
making additional efforts for the path of Tenrikyo 1,000 days<fnref n="595" /> prior to this day<fnref n="596" />, through
which, as is explained in official discourse, both the spiritual maturity of the person making the
efforts and the path of Tenrikyo can grow.

For the important commemorative ceremony held in the Main Sanctuary on the 130th anniversary
of this pivotal event that occurred on January 26, 1887, thirty-six people from Europe "returned"
to Tenri City to participate in its celebration. In the bi-monthly TEC newsletter, published in
French, Japanese, and English<fnref n="597" /> (Bulletin "infoTEC" March-April 2016, n. 307, Feb. 26, 2016),
that included discussion of this commemorative event, it is stated that, "36 Europeans from
France, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Germany made a pilgrimage to Ojiba<fnref n="598" />
out of their love for the everliving Oyasama." Most of these "Europeans<fnref n="599" />" were, in fact,
Japanese Tenrikyo followers who engaged in structured efforts to spread the faith in Europe, such
as TEC staff and mission station families. This is reflective of a general theme I observed of
depicting the "European" presence at TEC and in contexts connected to this center in a way that
suggested that the presence of "European" followers was greater than it actually was if defined by
country of birth, nationality, or familial cultural background.

<footnote n="595">⁵⁹⁵ Or three years, as I heard commonly said during the first part of my research.</footnote>

<footnote n="596">⁵⁹⁶ At TEC, for example, the goal of administering the Sazuke a set number of times during this period was put forth by the center's head. The progress of this goal was reported in the bi-monthly TEC newsletters during this period in which along with the current number of times the Sazuke was tallied to have been administered by TEC followers, followers were encouraged to continue their efforts to administer this healing gift and to report the number of times to TEC so that their attempts could be added to the tally.</footnote>

<footnote n="597">⁵⁹⁷ Somewhat after this edition of the newsletter, I heard from the acting secretary of TEC (a young man from Japan who, similar to visiting ACFJT missionary teachers, was staying at TEC on a several year assignment) that the (non-Tenrikyo) person who had been helping translate the newsletters into English would not be doing this anymore. I offered to do the translations into English if it would be helpful, which he accepted. I thus helped with them during my fieldwork and occasionally thereafter when asked.</footnote>

<footnote n="598">⁵⁹⁸ The "o" at the beginning of "Ojiba" is a Japanese honorific prefix.</footnote>

<footnote n="599">⁵⁹⁹ I put quotes around "European" to reflect that most of these people were, in fact, Japanese people living in Europe.</footnote>
This occurred, for example, by referring to Japanese followers based in Europe simply as people
"from" these European countries, which while technically true at the times in question, it eclipsed
the fact that these individuals were often Japanese followers born and raised in the faith. Many
but not all of them held official Tenrikyo positions in Europe, such as hosting a lineage-based site
in their home and/or serving as TEC/ACFJT staff. Thus, for most coming from Europe, due to
their official positions, they were there not only asprivate followers but to varying degrees also
asrepresentatives of the sites in Europe which they headed or were closely associated<fnref n="600" />. This was
in agreement with the general tendency of core members of the "TEC community" to "return" to
this pilgrimage town more commonly than people situated in more of the periphery of this group,
thereby serving as connectors between these two contexts and the social actors included in them.

Also included in this text was that, “A day earlier, on the 25th, 29 followers from the Europe
group gathered at the North worship hall<fnref n="601" />. After performing the seated service, they earnestly
participated in the hinokishin cleaning of the eastern corridors<fnref n="602" /> with cloths especially made for
this occasion by the Europe Women’s Association.” Worthy of highlighting for my thesis is both
their coming together to engage in the “classic” hinokishin activity of polishing the corridor
floors of the Main Sanctuary and that they used cloths made specially for this purpose by the
Europe Women’s Association, which was another way the “TEC community” was connected to
this important commemorative occasion while in Europe.

My own participation in this anniversary celebration took place at TEC on the calendar date of
this occasion of January 26 but was connected to Tenri City and the members of the “TEC
community” who were there for this important event. At this European center, there was a 10 am
(French time) Seated Service performance held in unison with what had occurred in Tenri City,
starting at 10:30 am (Japan time), eight hours ahead of France<fnref n="603" />. Considering the intense lead-up
to and importance placed on this event that I observed during the initial five months of my

<footnote n="600">⁶⁰⁰ This theme of a select individual or individuals serving as the representative of their greater group was demonstrated in various instances throughout my research.</footnote>

<footnote n="601">⁶⁰¹ This is one of the four wings of the Main Sanctuary facing the point of the Jiba.</footnote>

<footnote n="602">⁶⁰² of the Main Sanctuary</footnote>

<footnote n="603">⁶⁰³ Japan does not practice daylight savings time. This difference in time zones is reflective of the difference during the winter months.</footnote>
focused fieldwork, I was a little surprised by the brevity and simplicity of the anniversary celebration held at TEC that was commemorated by a performance of the Seated Service led by Eriko Kawakubo<fnref n="604" />, while her husband was in Tenri City for the event in accordance with his representative role. After this brief commemorative ritual in the sanctuary of TEC, refreshments of chocolate cake, chips, and beverages were enjoyed in the small dining room of the center located on its ground floor by the small collection<fnref n="605" /> of people who came to the center for this occasion as we passed around two photos sent by the “European” group in Tenri City which showed them posed together in front of the sanctuary where the foundress is understood to dwell in spiritual form.

For the small group gathered at TEC, it was largely what those with whom we had social connections, and extendedly Tenrikyo followers in general, were doing halfway around the world in Tenri City that was the main event in which we were participating, despite our physical distance from it. Our connection to what was occurring in this pilgrimage town was brought to us in large part through the photos of those with whom we were linked who were there but also, according to the faith, through uniting our hearts with the point of the Jiba and the hearts of others also directing their hearts toward this point. Through this, we can see that although TEC and Tenri City are physically located half-way across the world from each other, they are, in practice, intricately connected.

*The International Young Men's Association Hinokishin Corps: creating a transnational male space of social connection and religious engagement*

Although my participation in the 130th anniversary of Oyasama's passing from physical life was at a distance from Tenri City, during my fieldwork in this pilgrimage town, several important international events were held there which drew members of the “TEC community,” along with many others. This allowed me a closer look at the assemblage of dispersed followers coming together for special events in this pilgrimage town. To offer a vignette of the type of international Tenrikyo gatherings that occurred semi-regularly in Tenri City that united followers of the

<footnote n="604">⁶⁰⁴ As a reminder, Eriko Kawakubo was the head wife of TEC. Similar to many other head wives, she was often charged with leading rituals when her husband was not available to lead them.</footnote>

<footnote n="605">⁶⁰⁵ Approximately 18 people were at TEC for this commemorative occasion.</footnote>
transnational Tenrikyo scene, I describe in this and the following subsections of this chapter the
several international events that occurred during my time there. The first of the several
international events that occurred during my time in Tenri City was the 9th "International Young
Men's Association Hinokishin Corps." This international assortment of Tenrikyo Young Men's
Association members<fnref n="606" /> came together in Tenri City to perform communal hinokishin activities
chiefly comprised of physically arduous tasks<fnref n="607" />. For this event, young adult male Tenrikyo
followers came to Tenri City from multiple international locations, such as the US and Brazil, but
which also included numerous young men coming from Europe who were connected to TEC.

As a woman, I did not participate in this male event myself but did gain knowledge of it through
conversations with male followers I knew from Europe who did. In their discussions of the event,
their discourse focused not only on their hinokishin efforts via the labor they provided but also on
the experience of coming together with other diasporic Young Men's Association members. In
coming together for this hinokishin event, social connections were formed and strengthened both
between the individuals and between their respective groups.

Upon my slight suggestion that Young Men's Association activities might provide a context of
male bonding that took place while talking with an approximately thirty-year-old European-born
man about the event, he proceeded to explicitly discuss the comradery and ease with which a
variety of topics were discussed during the all-male hinokishin event focused on physical labor.
He noted that none of these topics involved women, despite the fact that some of the young men
were thinking of finding someone, evidenced in the fact that shortly afterwards familiar faces
from this hinokishin event were seen at a speed dating event for English-speaking Tenrikyo
followers<fnref n="608" />. Interestingly, the explicit goal of this speed dating event was to be a meeting point

<footnote n="606">⁶⁰⁶ Generally in Tenrikyo, if one is a male follower between the ages of 15 and 40, one is a member of this association by default.</footnote>

<footnote n="607">⁶⁰⁷ I was in Tenri City at the time of this International Young Men's Association Hinokishin Corps and saw people I knew from Europe who were there chiefly to participate in this event, but did not participate in the event myself because as a woman, my presence would have been rather strange, as was explained to me by a male core member of TEC.</footnote>

<footnote n="608">⁶⁰⁸ Speed dating events are not a common Tenrikyo practice; this event was somewhat of a novelty organized by the wife of an American-based minister.</footnote>
for diasporic members of the Tenrikyo social collectivity, in this case specifically English-
speaking individuals seeking marital partners.

That this hinokishin event was a specifically male space, which by default excluded females, was something I discussed with the previously referenced European-born follower. Within the current model of Tenrikyo, based on both the foundress' teachings of gender equality and the notion of gender equality espoused in modernity and even more so in the West than in Japan, issues relating to gendered roles and spaces occasionally arose. One context among others in which this issue came up was the question of if the "Young Men's Association" should continue to be exclusively male or if in modernity, it should be open to all followers of appropriate age, regardless of gender. This follower's discussion of the social benefits of such male spaces was in the greater context of discussing this small controversy and his counterargument that the Young Men's Association was created for specific reasons and that this group's organization of hinokishin activities did not prevent other Tenrikyo activities from being organized for a more general audience. Thus, to him, this gender-specific group should continue to function as such as it did not prevent anyone from engaging in such activities themselves.

Despite this expressed view, activities organized by the “European Tenrikyo Young Men’s Association” were most often open to all interested young adults. This was noted to me several times throughout my research to be an adaptation to the French cultural context where young men and women prefer to engage in activities in shared spaces rather than maintaining a gendered separation between both the spaces they occupy and the activities in which they engage<fnref n="609" />. Though, when this European group joined with the larger international collectivity of Tenrikyo Young Men’s Associations, they conformed to the norm of this context being an exclusively male space. Thus, while the European Young Men’s association based at TEC was partially influenced by the less gendered social norms that were perceived as being at play in France, they were also influenced by the norms at play in the sphere of the larger Tenrikyo context. The difference between the gendered inclusivity that took place in Europe compared to the gendered exclusivity that took place in Tenri City for this Young Men’s Association event showcased the context-

<footnote n="609">⁶⁰⁹ In talking with followers and posing questions relating to gendered spaces and tasks, I often received reflections on how much of that comes from specifically Tenrikyo and how much is actually derived from Japanese culture which over time became mixed with Tenrikyo practices.</footnote>
dependent nature of much of my research population in which adaptations and changes in relation
to what is deemed best in a particular context were a routine component of my research. Although
in many ways, TEC was a transplanted rendition of Tenrikyo in Japan and the religiously focused
scene that took place in Tenri City, place and context-based adaptations were a routine
component of my observations.

*Tenri Forum: an international gathering of English-speaking followers, reuniting with members of a linguistically based sphere of Tenrikyo*

Several days after the International Young Men's Association Hinokishin Corps, an international gathering of English-speaking followers sponsored by the Tenrikyo Overseas Department titled "Tenri Forum" was held for the second time; its inaugural session was held ten years prior. The main purpose of this forum was for English-speaking followers to come together, connect with each other, and discuss "new frontiers" for the faith. According to the event's Facebook page, which was used as both promotion of the forum and a point of information and communication for registered participants: "Tenri Forum 2016 is an opportunity to examine ways to implement the teachings and engage in appropriate ministries in English-speaking parts of the world" (Tenri Forum, Facebook, 2016).

In a later section of its Facebook page, the intended purpose of the gathering was explained
through the following text:

We have just begun to renew our efforts so as to reach our next milestone after having just celebrated the 130th Anniversary of Oyasama. At this important juncture, we now want to critically look back on how we have been proceeding with what Tenri Forum 2006 sought as new frontiers in the mission. Tenri Forum 2016 will again provide the platform for which to examine ways to implement the teachings and engage in appropriate ministries for promoting the joy of life in English-speaking parts of the world. With opportunities to reconnect with old friends as well as make new ones, this special gathering yearns most of all to unite as many like-minds (as) possible from across the globe at the Home of the Parent so as to share ideas and experiences with regard to the manifold pathways of salvation.

During this two-day gathering, attendees stayed together in the international followers'
dormitories, forming connections with the greater English-speaking Tenrikyo community. In
contrast to the international gathering of young men, as a native English speaker, my participation
in this event was encouraged and viewed as “normal.” This was fortunate as it served as a valuable opportunity to learn more about the greater international community of Tenrikyo that TEC was connected with, which in the case of this forum was largely based in the US: one of several extra-European countries with which TEC was significantly linked<fnref n="610" />. During this forum, I made new social connections, primarily with followers coming from the US. Among them were people I had previously heard of both via their connections with people I knew through TEC and also for some, the role they played in the greater Tenrikyo scene that extended into TEC and ACFJT. I also reunited with the two followers based outside of Europe who I had gotten to know the previous summer in the English cohort of the European Seminar, which I discuss in more detail shortly.

Though Tenri Forum was only two-days long, many followers had come to Tenri City from outside of Japan to participate in it and it serves as an excellent example of the type of moments through which social connections between dispersed followers were formed and strengthened. It should be noted regarding these geographically dispersed connections that communications were exchanged via its Facebook page before and after the event, thereby extending the forum's socially linking capacity beyond the two days of the gathering itself. As I was a newcomer to this scene and was not yet socially connected to many of the participants, it was common for people I met to suggest we become connected via Facebook, which I invariably accepted. Through this, I increasingly saw the interconnectedness of English-speaking followers (and followers based in and/or linked to the North American and European Tenrikyo scenes) through our shared Facebook “friends,” and by means of publicly visible personal exchanges between these connected followers.

Similar to other participants, by taking part in this forum, I reunited with numerous Tenrikyo followers living far from me who I had gotten to know in other Tenrikyo contexts, most notably the European Tenrikyo Seminar which had provided my in-depth introduction to the religion and its social world a year prior. The first such reunion took place several days before the forum when I was coming back from the Evening Service held in the Main Sanctuary to “my” followers’

<footnote n="610">⁶¹⁰ The other two main countries outside of Europe with which TEC was linked was Japan and the Republic of the Congo.</footnote>
dormitory. While walking down a central pathway, I bumped into Kenta, the young Japanese man with whom I had participated in the English cohort of the European Seminar the previous summer<fnref n="611" />.

He was particularly surprised to see me in Tenri City because when we had participated in the European Seminar together, I was not a follower, was not very familiar with the religion, nor had I yet decided to focus my research on a Tenrikyo related topic. I was surprised to see him because, although I knew Kenta was from the city of Osaka, located approximately one hour from Tenri City, I was not expecting to cross paths with him. Over the span of my time there, I increasingly realized that such unplanned meetings were, in fact, often part of the experience of spending time in Tenri City. As planned, when I met him previously at TEC, he had returned to live in his natal city of Osaka, where I learned he had become a taxi driver. He was in Tenri City for the evening to visit friends and was planning to come back several days later to participate in the English Forum, where we would spend time together, catch up more, and reconnect like old friends, which was common in such Tenrikyo gatherings. First, though, he invited me to join him and his friends at a nearby *ikazaya* (Japanese pub) where we caught up and chatted and I met the other young adult Tenrikyo followers he was there with, thereby becoming increasingly connected to part of the broader interconnected social realm of Tenrikyo. This interconnection was exemplified through the fact that one of his Japanese friends who requested to add me as a Facebook friend had multiple Tenrikyo friends in common with me on this social networking site, several of whom were based in the US or Europe.

At the forum two days later, our English cohort of the previous year's European Seminar was further reunited through the presence of our instructor from Hawaii, Mary. We made a point of sitting together during the cafeteria lunch included as part of the program to chat and catch up. This shared moment was but one example of the continuity of social connections that developed and was sustained between disparate Tenrikyo followers. Moreover, this forum showcased how specific social spheres of Tenrikyo, in this case a linguistic (and largely geographic) sphere, were

<footnote n="611">⁶¹¹ Kenta did not attend the Evening Service in the Main Sanctuary that particular evening, which dispelled my notion that it was positioned as almost obligatory for all “serious” followers to do when in Tenri City and thus able to do so.</footnote>
constructed, sustained, and developed through pointed efforts to foster connection that were
continued over time and amongst geographically dispersed followers.

c. The festival of the “Children’s Pilgrimage to Jiba”: reuniting with a familiar context of joy and with members of the TEC community

Fostering connectedness with fellow members of the TEC community, Tenri City, and the faith through an annual children’s festival

Among the special events hosted in Tenri City that members of the “TEC community” participated in, the annual “Children’s Pilgrimage to Jiba” (kodomo ojiba gaeri) held on the central grounds surrounding the main Tenrikyo sanctuaries merits particular attention. It was a monumental event for many young followers who came to Tenri City, often annually, to participate in this elaborate children’s festival. Included in this ten-day event that groups, most often of lineage-based churches or overseas collectivities, usually participated in together for two or three days were carnival games, “fun-house” style activities, and an outdoor swimming pool, along with other activities aimed at fostering an entertaining event through which children would enjoy their time in Tenri City while learning about and practicing the teachings of Tenrikyo and developing positive relationships with others, with the religion, and with this religiously-focused location. Also included as one of the main festival attractions were impressive nightly parades in which many groups participated. These groups included those coming from overseas locations (such as TEC), various clubs from the schools in Tenri City discussed previously, and lineage-based churches.

For many Tenrikyo followers who grew up in Japan, as children, coming to Tenri City for the Children's Pilgrimage festival was often the highlight of their summer vacation and the main occasion in the year they came to Tenri City. For young followers living outside of Japan, the Children's Pilgrimage festival was also frequently a main reason that they came to Tenri City. As a result, the festival existed as a purposeful facilitator of children developing a familiarity, and in most cases positive memories and associations, with this sacred location from an early age. It is interesting to note that it was not only children raised in Tenrikyo families who participated in this festival; many non-Tenrikyo children were invited by and came with their Tenrikyo friends, which Tenrikyo children were encouraged to do, providing them with experience of making
efforts to share Tenrikyo with others from an early age. During the festival, I heard estimates that as many as half of the children in attendance were not from Tenrikyo families<fnref n="612" />. Demonstrating the common practice of inviting non-Tenrikyo children to this festival was that during the period of my fieldwork in Paris, I encountered multiple non-Tenrikyo Japanese people who told me they were familiar with the religion because they had been invited to participate in the Children's Pilgrimage festival as a child in Japan.

As previously explained, an important aim of the festival was for the children to construct positive memories and emotional states that they associate with Tenri City, and connectedly, the religion. Such associations acquired through participation in this festival usually became anchored in their early constructions of the self. This extended to many Tenrikyo children living in Europe. Every year, a group of children coming from Europe and their parents (most of whom were Japanese, with mothers significantly more present at this festival than fathers), as well as some adult followers without children of their own participated in the festival as a group. During the two days of their scheduled participation, they stayed together in the dormitory reserved especially for overseas followers, which was occupied by groups coming from various countries also there to participate in this festival, illustrating the transnational character of the event and of the religion.

Although Tenrikyo activities often did not look like obvious manifestations of “joy,” largely due to the serious facial expressions of the involved individuals, despite this emotional state being at the heart of the faith and its discourse, the children’s festival blatantly, and without much in the way of Japanese adult subtlety, featured a joyous exuberance. In this purposefully promoted emotional ambiance, Tenrikyo values such as gratitude, friendship, helping others, and joy through child-centric imagery, songs, activities, and discourse were explicitly put forth. (The two photos included at the end of this chapter offer a visual sampling of the atmosphere purposefully constructed at this festival.) By examining how Tenrikyo values and practices were presented to children, we can better see the idealized values and behaviors of the group through simplified or exaggerated representations. Thus, the emphasis on the values mentioned above are exemplary of the idealized values of the group. This festival was also demonstrative of the formative

<footnote n="612">⁶¹² The children not from Tenrikyo families who attend this festival are usually invited by Tenrikyo friends.</footnote>
experiences that helped shape the adults of the group into who they were as the festival had not changed much over the past several generations. Thus, although the TEC group's participation in this festival was only for two days out of the year, it was an experience that reverberated through the group in numerous ways.

During this annual event, various aspects of the faith were interwoven into the festival through which a deepened familiarity and positive association with the religion and the pilgrimage site where it took place was purposefully cultivated in participants. In the morning, for example, before participants scattered to various festival areas, they first assembled together in the Main Sanctuary for a Morning Service ritual held specially for those participating in the children's festival at a time later than the principal Morning Service held at the sunrise, followed by a short talk given by the Shinbashira. Thus, through participating in the festival, children were also developing an embodied familiarity with the Seated Service and with the sacred point of the Jiba around which the Main Sanctuary was constructed.

This familiarity was not conveyed through explanation but rather through first-hand participation. Although, for example, one can talk about the impressive effect and associated feeling that comes with clapping together four times in unison with hundreds or even thousands (depending on the day) of others sitting in the four wings of the sanctuary which face each other and the sacred point of the Jiba, first-hand participation in this ritual experientially impressed it upon participants. In the child-focused talk delivered by the Shinbashira following this ritual, numerous central components of the religion were discussed; for example, the fraternity of all humans, the importance of helping one another, and the importance of having fun and appreciating life, thereby setting the tone for the day and further instilling these aspects in those present. For some in attendance, these words would create lasting memories due to the specialness with which the festival was regarded, thereby imprinting their experience of it, which included numerous key elements of the religion, onto their forming selves.

All core members of the “TEC community” had participated in this experience, often as both children and adults, rendering it a common component of their imprinted experiences with Tenri City and with the religion itself. During the year of my participation in it, thirty-eight people coming from Europe, twenty of whom were children, participated together in this “European
group.” An explicit example of the importance that participation in this festival held in the formative experiences of many followers raised in the faith was conveyed to me by a Japanese follower who had been living for over a decade in the UK. On the incredibly hot and humid July day on which we were taking part in the TEC group’s participation in the festival, I was seated with most of the other adults of our European group under a canopied section of the area while the children played in a fun-house style carnival area for our allotted timeslot at this particular attraction.

The forty-something year old UK-based follower I was sitting by had brought her elementary school-aged son, along with two similarly aged children of a non-Tenrikyo Japanese friend living in the UK, to participate in the festival. She told me that when she was a child, she loved coming to this festival and had very good memories of it. She wanted her son to also have such an experience and later to have fond memories of it, and thus was motivated to bring him. For this woman, an explicitly stated motivation of coming to Tenri City for the Children’s Pilgrimage was not simply the momentary enjoyment of the festival but also the cultivation in her son of enduring positive memories of it and connectedly, the development of a familiarity with and positive feelings toward this pilgrimage site and the Tenrikyo religion.

*The presence at TEC of the Children's Pilgrimage: an example of the outstretch of events in Tenri City to TEC*

What is of primary importance for my thesis in relation to my discussion of the participation of many members of the “TEC community” in the Children’s Pilgrimage to Jiba and other events held in Tenri City was that moments of community formation occurred not only at TEC or even exclusively on the European continent but also elsewhere, primarily though not exclusively in Tenri City. Conversely, while the Children’s Pilgrimage to Jiba took place, as explicitly stated in its name, in Tenri City<fnref n="613" />, its presence extended to other Tenrikyo sites, including TEC, through multiple channels. The structured participation of the European group in this festival was not something that occurred exclusively during the two days of its collective participation in the

<footnote n="613">⁶¹³ This is because in common usage, “Tenri City” and “Jiba” are used interchangeably to refer to the pilgrimage town as it is chiefly to the sacred point of the Jiba located therein to which one is making a pilgrimage when travelling to this town.</footnote>
festival in Tenri City, but also extended to TEC and members of the “TEC community” at other
times of the year. For instance, starting in the early spring, there was an announcement of the date
that the group from TEC would participate in the Children’s Pilgrimage to Jiba in the bimonthly
TEC newsletters, accompanied with a request that parents “expecting to return to Jiba” with their
children over the summer participate in it. At TEC, during the months leading up to the festival, it
was a commonly discussed topic and part of the collective endeavors of the group despite being
something that would take place on the other side of the world, thus rendering participation in the
pilgrimage festival a local feature of TEC.

The personal connections between many of the central social actors of TEC were developed not
only through shared moments at TEC, but also in Tenri City. For most followers, the “Europe
group” was not the only possible group with whom they could participate in the festival as it was
common for lineage-based church groups<fnref n="614" /> to attend the festival together for several days of
organized participation, during which time they would stay together in the followers’ dormitory
of their grand church. In both the “Europe group’s” shared participation and also that of lineage-
based groups, taking part in the festival as an organized group served as a means through which
participants created shared memories that further linked them to each other and to the broader
social collectivity of which they were a part. Part of this linking was through the planning and
anticipation of this shared activity, as was participating in the shared experience.

A secondary example of the presence of this festival that extended to TEC was demonstrated
through the sonoral connection between the two contexts that proved to be an evocative link upon
my return to TEC after having participated in the children’s festival. This experiential connection
occurred through the music played throughout the festival that I heard again during my second
time participating in the European Seminar during our morning hinokishin tasks. While engaging
in these cleaning tasks at TEC with others through the Tenrikyo-esque modality of working
diligently in cheerful collaboration with others while this music played, I felt an embodied
connection to the scenes of the Children’s Pilgrimage festival that I had been immersed in shortly

<footnote n="614">⁶¹⁴ Some European-based participants take part in the festival both with the European group during its scheduled time of attendance and also with their lineage-based group, or in certain cases the lineage group of their mother before marriage, during the group’s separate scheduled time of participation.</footnote>
before. Through this, I was transported out of the locational specificity of TEC and into a broader
Tenrikyo experientiality.

The sensorial connection between the memories and associations acquired in this festival was facilitated through these *kawaiti*<sup>615</sup> (“cute”) Tenrikyo songs that were played on loudspeakers throughout the festival grounds and at various key moments of the festival, and also during our morning hinokishin efforts as TEC. As we were going about our communal morning chores, some TEC staff members were singing along with these upbeat songs that covered a variety of Tenrikyo themes, demonstrating their familiarity with them and further involving themselves in their reverberations through both listening to them and reproducing them through their vocal cords and breath. Although I am not sure if these particular songs date back to when these staff members participated in the festival as children or if they were introduced more recently, what was clear was that they served as a sensorial bridge between Tenrikyo contexts on opposite sides of the world. The notably feel-good Tenrikyo songs that I had assumed to be a vehicle of emotional imprinting unique to the Children’s Pilgrimage festival were serving to add cheer to another Tenrikyo context, in this case that of TEC. In this, one can see that particular emotional experiences and dispositions conveyed through these songs and the activities engaged in while listening to them linked disparate locations that belonged to a greater Tenrikyo culture.

*Reuniting with past and present members of the TEC community at the Children's Pilgrimage to Jiba: the continuation of a shared social world*

Not only were experiential links between disparate contexts part of participating in the Children’s Pilgrimage to Jiba, the festival also served as a context through which social actors connected to the “TEC community” were reunited with one another, thereby facilitating their continued connection. During the “European group’s” participation in the festival, we were reunited with numerous members of the “TEC community,” both past and present, who were living in Japan. In this subsection, I will discuss three such instances.

The first I will discuss was my own reunion with my former language exchange partner, Kanae,
who I hadn't seen in over a year and a half since she returned to Japan after finishing her

<footnote n="615">615 Kawaii is a Japanese word meaning “cute” which is now recognized internationally somewhat due to the predominance of this word in Japanese pop culture.</footnote>
scheduled term as a Japanese teacher at ACFJT. She came to Tenri City at this time from the Tokyo region where she had relocated for work following her return to Japan. While in Tenri City, she met up with the “European group” to spend time with a large segment of the “TEC community” that she had previously been very much a part of. People in the “European group” were glad, but not surprised, to see her. Such a reaction was similarly displayed when other people who had been actively part of the “TEC community” met up with us during our participation in the festival, demonstrating that this was a common component of being in this pilgrimage town, particularly for large organized events which drew many people.

Another notable reunion that occurred between our “European group” and a “member” presently based in another location was with Masae Yagishita<fnref n="616" /> who was taking part in the two-year graduate seminary. When we saw her, she was helping with the hands-on instructional practice of the Service instruments<fnref n="617" /> that took place in a large hall in one of the numerous buildings in the central, religiously focused area of the city that was being used for festival activities as a scheduled hinokishin task included in her participation in the seminary program<fnref n="618" />. Along with other young adults similarly dressed neatly in white polo shirts and dark slacks helping in a similar way, Masae worked one-on-one with children learning to play these instruments in a manner akin to the practice sessions to learn the instruments that I took part in at TEC during the European Seminar and also the Sunday *manabi* (practice) sessions.

Our reunion with Masae, who had been part of the “TEC community” since birth, occurred discretely in passing. This was in contrast to the more exuberant reunion that took place with

<footnote n="616">⁶¹⁶ As a reminder, Masae Yagishita was the youngest four Yagishita siblings to have helped orchestrate the English-cohort of the European Seminar the first year I took part in this program.</footnote>

<footnote n="617">⁶¹⁷ Only the “male” percussion instruments were placed out in this large room to practice. The “female” stringed instruments require more instruction and practice to gain a minimum ability to play and, moreover, are reserved solely for females in contrast to the percussion instruments, which are colloquially referred to as “men’s instruments” but were not specified by the foundress to be reserved for only one gender.</footnote>

<footnote n="618">⁶¹⁸ It is common for followers, particularly youth or young adults, to help with part of the festival as hinokishin, which is usually expressed as a particularly “fun” (*tanoshii*) and well-liked part of being at the festival. The older Sugimoto son who was attending high school in Tenri City, for example, joined his classmates by helping with a ninja\ water pistol obstacle course by shooting participants with water from a hidden spot of the course. The younger Sugimoto son helped distribute cool beverages to participants in the hot Japanese summer heat with a similarly aged group that his parents had arranged for him to join, as he had done for the past several years.</footnote>
Kanae the day before, which involved numerous members of our group engaging extensively in catching up and spending time with her. Masae was there to help with this task as part of the serious and focused two-year seminary program. As discussed previously, a diligent work ethic is highly valued in both Japanese and Tenrikyo cultures, particularly in contexts such as this one where such a demeanor was standard. Due to the context and the culture(s) in which she was operating, her lack of extensive attention accorded to the presence of our group was culturally prescribed and thus well received. Although our interactions with her at this time were limited and discrete, there was a subtle delight among members of our group in seeing this core young adult member of the “TEC community” engaging in this activity and developing as a person and as a follower of the faith.

This familial satisfaction in seeing her blossoming in the faith, and as a young woman, was evidenced through discreet attention directed toward her from members of our group paired with subtle facial indications and comments, such as that she was there, said with a subtle smile, often expressed mainly through the eyes, coupled with an indicative look in her direction, or that she looked “genki” (seemed to be doing well). Such expressed reactions to seeing her in this context suggested that the experience was regarded as positive for her personal development, and connectedly, her spiritual advancement on the path of Tenrikyo. Similar to other members of this group who took part in trainings and educational programs in Tenri City, Masae’s experience during this period of her life would later return with her to Europe and to the “TEC community.” Her life afterward would be a continuation of her experiences developed in Tenri City and conversely, her previously developed experiences in Europe were a part of her life in Tenri City, embodying a continuity and connection between the two locations.

The third reunion with a “member” of the “TEC community” living in Japan occurred during a particularly excited moment that showcased not only the social reunifications that happened in Tenri City and more specifically in this part of my thesis, during this festival, but also the collective emotionality that was often a present feature of this group. Throughout my fieldwork, the purposeful sharing of (most often “joyful”) emotions through bodily expressions of affective states was a commonly present feature of my research, including in this instance that occurred during a festive moment of behind the scenes parade preparations for the festival. I was with about thirty people coming from Europe, the majority but not all of whom were Japanese core
members of TEC. It was against the muggy, dark evening backdrop of Japanese summer, amidst
a carnival-esque excitement of illuminated parade floats that would soon make their debut. This
included our own scheduled time in the spotlight of the parade that we were awaiting, for which
we would perform a cheerful but simple choreographed dance number, albeit in only approximate
synchronicity, which we would later share laughs about, that we had learned the day before and
practiced numerous times together in preparation of the moment that was soon to come. It was a
communal moment of anticipation, thereby heightening our collective emotionality.

Dressed in bright blue “Tenrikyo Europe” t-shirts that we donned for the occasion<fnref n="619" />, with several people additionally sporting festive accessories such as Europe-themed costume hats and blue, white, and red pom-poms<fnref n="620" /> that were included for the convivial effect they could add to our t-shirt clad group, we assembled into a several-person-wide line, figuring out the best locations for everyone for our performance in the parade. Interestingly, several males of European or mixed Japanese-European descent were purposefully positioned at the front to emphasize the Europeanness of our group<fnref n="621" />. Similarly, others in our group of non-Asian ancestry were in like manner positioned in prominent positions, such as at the rear, further adding to the “non-Japaneseness” of our group amidst the broader, prominently Japanese collection of people present to showcase the contemporary global expansion of the religion. Some people knew the choreography better than others, and in preparation of the public moment soon to come, many were practicing it or reviewing certain parts through micro-versions of its gestures, often through collaboration with others.

Surrounding us were numerous other groups who were also readying themselves for the big
moment. We had already watched the parade the night prior which showcased numerous
groups<fnref n="622" /> on the bleachers that lined the path for this purpose and soon would have others watch
us. Some groups, similar to our own, would be exclusively on foot, representing their group

<footnote n="619">⁶¹⁹ Photos of our group’s performance in the parade are included at the end of this chapter.</footnote>

<footnote n="620">⁶²⁰ Blue, white, and red are the colors of both the French and British flags. These pom-poms were made several days previously by two core TEC women, along with their children and myself.</footnote>

<footnote n="621">⁶²¹ One of these European men was not a Tenrikyo follower, but was taking part in the festival with his non-Tenrikyo Japanese wife and their children as they had previously done multiple times</footnote>

<footnote n="622">⁶²² Each group featured in the parade was accorded one scheduled appearance during the entire ten-day event.</footnote>
through costumes and performances. Others would have parade floats, some with lights, that were included in this busy backstage scene. There was also a hubbub of sounds between the chatter that circulated within our own group, the loudspeaker announcements which accompanied each group as they came out from this backstage area followed by cheers from the spectators, and the other groups who like us, were preparing for the moment soon to come.

Significantly contributing to the exciting cacophony of sounds was the taiko drum group of Tenri Kyōkō Gakuen High School which the older son of the Sugimotos, who had left France earlier that year to attend this high school, was a member as his choice of extracurricular school activity<fnref n="623" />. For most of the people included in our “European group,” the last time they had seen this young man, who had been part of the “TEC community” since birth, was at the goodbye party held for him at TEC before his departure. In little time, he appeared to have grownup quite a bit, as I heard numerous members of our group comment on enthusiastically, and was embracing and apparently excelling in a sportive Japanese art that he had never done before.

In this brief moment, there was a shared familial pride that circulated among us in seeing him growing up and doing well in his new surroundings. Although he was the son of the Sugimotos, he was socially positioned as the figurative nephew/cousin of many members of the “TEC community” who were assembled together halfway around the world from where this group was primarily based. Extendedly though, not only were those close to him included in our excitement at seeing him with schoolmates atop their float, energetically preparing for their performance. As was common in numerous TEC scenes, and extendedly scenes of the broader Tenrikyo world, our group was accustomed to acting and expressing emotion in unison. In such group scenes, for example, it was common that when some would externally express joyful excitement and appreciation through clapping and cheering with an enthusiastic smile, others would join in even if they were not aware of, or included in, the source of the collective emotional state that was expressed outwardly through embodied indications, and then spread to others.

Through my participation in this festival, among other insights, I gained a deeper understanding of the closeness of the group on which my research was focused. This “European” group with

<footnote n="623">⁶²³ In Japan, participating in an extracurricular school activity is a standard part of the high school student experience.</footnote>
whom I participated in the festival came together from multiple European residential locations, including individuals outside of the Paris area who I had not yet met. It was evident that the Children's Pilgrimage was a special moment both individually for the participating children and adults, and also collectively for this European-based group in which the festival served to form and strengthen connections between them. Despite their dispersed residential locations and separate church lineages, they had enduring connections with the scene of Tenrikyo in Europe, TEC, and its connected multi-place-based community. This was but one of the multiple examples of how Tenri City served as an important place of community formation and connection for this European-based group.

<figure><img src="image_32.png" /><figcaption>Image 12: The European group coming out from the backstage area in the publicly viewable area of the parade. Photo courtesy of Masato Fujiwara.</figcaption></figure>
<figure><img src="image_33.png" /><figcaption>Image 13: The European group performing in the festival parade. Photo courtesy of Masato Fujiwara.</figcaption></figure>
**Conclusion: Transportations, adaptations, and social linkages: multiple layers of group construction and solidification**

*How is a community constructed between interwoven social spheres?*

As demonstrated, although my fieldwork was centered at TEC, as was my research population, neither were exclusive to this singular, precise physical location, but included, rather, multiple other sites connected in various ways to TEC that also constituted important parts of the ongoing story of the eclectic “TEC community.” This became a palpably evident feature of my “field site” over time, through spending several years with the conglomeration of diverse social actors who existed in multiple webs of connection to TEC and to each other, and which spanned across time, space, and even relationships to and understandings of the Tenrikyo religion that came together to constitute a greater interconnected social whole<sup>624</sup>.

The central question around which my thesis was constructed was how this collection of individuals came together to form a “community” despite their diversity and multiple ways of being connected to TEC and its associated social world. Some people’s membership in this “community” was clearly evident, namely those I referred to as “core” members of this group. For others, the question of if they should be positioned as “members” of the group or not was more complex. To a great extent, it was the existence of “core members” in multiple spheres of this community that served as an important basal linking feature of the broader group into which more peripherally positioned people were then included. By being connected to this social base, one was connected to its broader group. In this, it was not necessary for any one individual to be involved in all spheres of this multilayered social collectivity to be a part of its larger whole as “membership” was non-fixed and openly defined. Rather, one’s involvement often rendered the person, to varying levels and in various ways, part of the greater ensemble of this unbound community which spanned beyond a particular moment or singular place.

My thinking about the globality of the social world of TEC, with its regular, and diverse, inflow and outflow of actively involved group members as comprising a broad interconnected social

<footnote n="624"><sup>624</sup> My saying that the “community” feature of this collection of social actors was “obvious” is, as most anthropological assessments are, an informed interpretation on the part of the author (myself).</footnote>
entity despite its lack of being unified in a single place or at a single time was largely inspired by
Clifford's (1997, 1990, 1981) exploration of the concurrent development of surrealism and
ethnography that took place in Paris between the two world wars. Although much of the surrealist
movement occurred in Paris, its participants were to a large extent not statically or exclusively
based in the city. In like manner, it was not necessary for the collection of individuals connected
to and part of the "TEC community" to be at TEC at the same time or included in the same sphere
of this social world to be included in its interconnected greater whole. Often, its members
"traveled" between different spheres of the broader group, both physically and contextually,
thereby interlinking them.

Extendedly, Clifford (1997) also posed the question of in whose terms “local” is defined and
asserted that a common predicament in anthropological fieldwork is “local” informants who turn
out to be travelled individuals. In the context of my research, this is a highly pertinent question
and insight. Even though a significant portion of the “TEC community” was, over time,
transitional, the continual flow of people going to and coming from TEC was a constant feature
of this site. Some people included in this “community,” such as its “core members” living
elsewhere in Europe, were coming to TEC and actively included in its social world over
prolonged spans of time, possibly even for life<fnref n="625" />. Others were actively part of this “community”
for shorter periods of time, for example in the case of the young adult missionaries who came to
live at TEC, most often for several years while working at ACFJT. Commonly for such
individuals, their belonging in this group was concentrated during a certain segment of their life,
then significantly diminished thereafter, though not necessarily ended as the social bonds formed
at TEC were frequently continued after the implicated individuals were no longer at this
European center.

Through this, we can see that the “TEC community” included not only those at TEC at any given
moment or those presently coming with some regularity. It also included people who were
previously part of this partially place-based social world, through which they acquired a
familiarity with TEC and its “community” that they held in common with others who shared this

<footnote n="625">⁶²⁵ As TEC has only existed since 1970 and many of the core members of its community are younger or came to Europe after this time, it is not possible to say that their connection is “lifelong,” although for those born into core families of this group, it is likely to be the case.</footnote>
familiarity through time spent there and whose connections to members of the group were also
continued through sustained linkages that manifest themselves in other locations and in ways
beyond the physically bound site of TEC. This often occurred partially via distance and partially
through seeing each other on punctuated occasions, the most frequent place for these reunions
being Tenri City. For such individuals, despite no longer being at TEC, they remained connected
to its associated social world. As we could see, for example, through my former language-
exchange partner, Kanae, joining up with part of the "TEC community" for a day of this group's
collective participation in the Children's Pilgrimage to Jiba festival in Tenri City.

Moreover, while the “TEC community” was not exclusively bound to the physical site of TEC,
spending time at TEC was the primary means through which its “members” became included in
it. Thus, important to thinking about the construction and continuation of this social world is how
and why people came to this center, which for many was primarily for organized events and
activities held there, for which a commonly included component was the construction of a
purposefully warm and communal social ambiance in which anyone present could, and usually
did, become a group member, even if simply for a moment in time while there. As discussed
previously, in the model of welcoming individuals not born into the faith, the emphasis was often
placed on encouraging their presence, and when possible, sharing the religion and implicating
such newcomers in the faith as much as possible. It was most often their active presence, though,
that was primarily sought, which this collective sense of community encouraged.

I would now like to focus on several aspects included in this site that served both as solidifiers of
community formation and which rendered TEC, and its connected social world, concomitantly
reflective of “Tenrikyo culture” and of the French and European context in which it was situated,
thereby according it both a likeness with the broader realm of Tenrikyo and a specificity
associated with this specific site. As explored through numerous angles in this text, although TEC
can be viewed as a Tenrikyo site of worship at which a broader Tenrikyo culture was present and
ongoingly (re)produced, it was not identical to other Tenrikyo sites. One important contributing
factor to the difference between TEC and lineage-based sites that fostered TEC’s comparatively
less fixed and unbound character was that the social composition of lineage-based sites were
generally more fixed over time than TEC, which was in a constant state of flux from a
combination of TEC’s perpetually rotating residential staff, the inclusion of people regardless of
church lineage, and the diverse population connected to this site and included in its social world. These features encouraged a less defined boundary between who was and was not in its associated “community” for which ongoing change and fluidity were key features.

*TEC as a bridge to a broader “Tenrikyo culture” and a site of localized community construction*

In conjunction with the particularities of TEC, it was nonetheless a Tenrikyo site at which a partially non-site specific social and physical construction linked the experience and associated feelings of being at it to other Tenrikyo sites. In addition to comments made by followers indicating as such, this was also demonstrated by the ease with which visiting, or newly arrived followers adjusted to TEC. As previously demonstrated, this was in large part due to their high level of familiarity with Tenrikyo culture through their previous involvement in it elsewhere, rendering this broader mode of operation already part of their habitus before they ever came to TEC. The similarity between TEC and Tenrikyo sites elsewhere, though, was not all-encompassing. TEC had certain features that were unique to it, such as its multilingual character discussed later in this concluding discussion, the high level of diversity in nationalities represented at the center, and, as multiple Japanese followers told me, a more laidback character in comparison to how Tenrikyo settings in Japan generally functioned.

TEC was simultaneously a French and European Tenrikyo site and an oasis of Japanese and Tenrikyo cultures, with this latter aspect linking participants at this site to these broader spheres, which encouraged a sense of continuity and connection between Tenrikyo sites and contexts elsewhere (as well as Japan and Japanese culture) and TEC. Multiple Japanese Tenrikyo followers at TEC clearly explained the importance they attributed to this continuity for their well-being that was facilitated through their being at TEC and engaging in a “Tenrikyo mode of sociality” that took place there, for example by performing hinokishin tasks communally with others. These referenced Japanese Tenrikyo followers included both those living permanently or semi-permanently in Europe and also young adult followers in Europe for shorter stays, such as university foreign exchange students who found familiarity and a “home away from home” at TEC amidst their being abroad. Most commonly, such individuals told me that they liked being at
TEC because they felt at home there due to its similarity to Tenrikyo social environments of which they were a part in Japan.

To discuss this linking feature through more concrete means, I would like to now focus on the kitchen of TEC as an exemplary space of community formation and solidification that promoted group inclusion and a grounding connection to “Tenrikyo culture” for numerous women who engaged in communal efforts in a typically “Tenrikyo” manner of working together in this space. As explained previously, near the end of large collective meals at TEC, such as those held after Monthly Services, a small collection of women would assemble in the kitchen to put things away and wash dishes. Their relatively mundane domestic efforts were done amidst a generally jovial atmosphere filled with chit-chat and a Tenrikyo mode of cooperation that was similarly present in numerous other settings, such as during structured hinokishin activities at TEC and in other Tenrikyo contexts, and also in the scripted symbiotic passing of offerings to the altars from one ritual actor to another, as described in chapter seven. In addition to the necessary function of these chores that their efforts provided, their working collectively in the kitchen was an established component of TEC events that included meals which involved a particular rhythm and mode of sociality. Being in the kitchen for this collectively orchestrated task served as a time that women of the “TEC community,” most prominently “core” members, would come together in an informal context of domestic labor through which familial-like interactions between them were facilitated and which sometimes included newcomers or infrequently present individuals who were experientially included with ease into this inner context.

Many of these “core” women had known each other for numerous years, in some cases, numerous decades. During their time in front of dirty dishes after these meals, and similarly during their time preparing them, they would chat, catch up with one another, laugh, and share an informal “behind the scenes” time of togetherness. Though these communal tasks were not in the forefront of TEC events, they were an often-present component that served as an important contributor to the center’s broader social whole and the ongoing construction of a feeling of community. Throughout my two-year period of participant observation, I often gravitated toward the kitchen sink to wash dishes. Such scenes comprised a significant portion of my time at TEC, as they did for many core female members of the “TEC community” and also for some less centrally implicated women included, at least momentarily, in this social world. Through taking part in
these mundane domestic chores, we were engaged in an informal space of comradery through
which social relationships were built, maintained, and reinforced with other women also taking
part in these communal efforts.

I found it revealing that Japanese Tenrikyo followers who came to the center for the first time,
such as newly arrived students on exchange from Tenri University, would immediately jump into
helping with various types of chores at TEC, without being invited to do so. Their automatic
participation in these tasks demonstrated that helping with such chores, framed as "hinokishin,"
in a typically "Tenrikyo" manner which involved a high level of cooperation that was also present
in both ritual and other non-ritualized contexts at TEC and other Tenrikyo settings was a
naturalized component of being at a Tenrikyo site for those inculcated with "Tenrikyo culture."
The specific type of cooperation that occurred in such scenes was also reflective of another
central tenet of Tenrikyo, that of "mutual help" (tasuke ai) through the cooperative manner with
which such tasks were orchestrated that promoted these collective chores to serve as religiously
framed moments of togetherness. Through this, their embodied actions were a physical
manifestation of the religion's main teachings as well as an experiential linkage to both the social
world of TEC and a broader Tenrikyo way of being.

*The TEC Monthly Service as a connector to the wider realm of Tenrikyo through sensorial, material, and intentional factors*

To continue my discussion of the existence of a Tenrikyo ambiance at TEC, I would now like to
shift my focus to the sanctuary of TEC and the Service ritual performed there. By being at TEC
for its Service, meaning both its Monthly Service that was attended by a significant portion of the
"TEC community" or its daily Morning and Evening Services, which most often involved only
TEC residents, one was connected to the wider realm of Tenrikyo through multiple means. In
discussing this connecting feature via ritual engagement, I will focus principally on the Monthly
Service, but most features I discuss could also extend to its twice daily Services as well. A
principle linking feature of these Services was their sensorial coherence with Services performed
elsewhere via visual, auditory, and gestural components. This, in combination with how the
Service was conceptualized and engaged, promoted an important linking feature between
Tenrikyo sites and also between these sites and Tenri City, and moreover, the point of the Jiba located therein from which all humans are said to originate and toward which followers are taught to direct their prayers through this ritual and ideally also their bodies for “homecoming” pilgrimages.

Whether one was watching or taking part in the performance of a Tenrikyo Service at TEC, in Hawaii, or in Tokyo, the scene that unfolded would be largely similar. As a result, an association was evoked between disparate Tenrikyo sites and the scenes that took place at them amongst people who had been exposed to multiple such contexts. The visually transmitted similitude between the ritual spaces of the sanctuary at TEC and at other Tenrikyo sites, particularly the area on which the altars were located and the Service was performed<sup>626</sup>, was a key means through which their sensorial and experiential similitude was evoked amongst followers at TEC, who unanimously and axiomatically had been exposed to other Tenrikyo sites of worship as well. Further contributing to the visual congruence between dispersed Monthly Services was the sartorial uniformity of these performers being dressed in Tenrikyo ceremonial wear<sup>627</sup>, coupled with their execution of the highly scripted ritual gestures that are the same, regardless of location<sup>628</sup>. A principal difference in the visually transmitted scene of the Monthly Service at TEC and at most (or all) Tenrikyo sites in Japan was the presence of stools on which the instrumental and Seated Service performers at TEC were seated, in comparison to being seated on the ground in kneeling position in Japan. Also contributing to the small amount of visual distinctiveness between the monthly ritual performed at TEC and at Tenrikyo sites in Japan was the frequent presence of several visually non-Japanese performers<sup>629</sup> at TEC in comparison to in

<footnote n="626"><sup>626</sup> A notable difference, though, between the sanctuary of TEC and of most Tenrikyo sites of worship in Japan, was that at TEC folding chairs on which people sit replaced the tatami mats<sup>626</sup> in Japan on which Service Performers and attendees kneel. In Japan, performers of the Seated Service and the musical instruments kneel, while performers of the thirteen other Mikagura-uta songs perform the dances in a standing position both in Japan and at TEC.</footnote>

<footnote n="627"><sup>627</sup> There was some sartorial diversity present at a small number of Tenrikyo sites, generally as place-based adaptations for the location in which they were located. Generally, though, the ceremonial wear was the same, regardless of location.</footnote>

<footnote n="628"><sup>628</sup> This consistency excluded the first part of the Monthly Service performed around the Jiba on the 26th of each month.</footnote>

<footnote n="629"><sup>629</sup> “Visually non-Japanese performers” refers to followers not of Asian ancestry.</footnote>
Japan, where reflective of the country’s population, Service performers were usually unanimously Japanese.

Likewise, the auditory component of the Service was also similar at Tenrikyo sites throughout the world, principally through the Service songs and the ritual marker of reverentially clapping four times that is repeatedly enacted at numerous transitional moments throughout the ritual event, the latter of which also involving the active bodily participation of everyone in attendance. These aural components of the Service were not only relayed to the experience of those present via their ears and the connected registration of these sounds that was based in conscious thought, but also through the vibrations put out by these songs that were reverberated through the body. This rendered the connecting similarity between attending Services in disparate Tenrikyo sites one that was not only registered through the largely intellectually based experiential formators of sight and sound, but also through the more intimate bodily realm of sensation.

The felt bodily experience that was relayed to those in attendance (both those in the audience area and those performing the Service) further contributed to a solidification of the continuity between TEC and other Tenrikyo sites through the specific prescribed kinesthetic movements and *techniques du corps*, such as the manner with which the four reverential claps were executed with a subtle bow and for the Service performers, the manner with which the dances and the instruments were performed. Being part of the “TEC community” also meant being part of the broader Tenrikyo world and having one’s embodied self contribute to the reproduction of this transnational way of being. In this, as discussed by Bourdieu (1977), we can see that organizations, such as that of Tenrikyo, which exist at disparate locations, including TEC, create obedient bodies that reproduce existing conditions.

To continue exploring the connection between the Service at TEC and the wider Tenrikyo sphere via the physical, I would like to again briefly evoke the opening of the portal door of the altar dedicated to God the Parent which occurred at the beginning of each Monthly Service. This rather brief act was, in fact, a key component of the ritual. Although the significance of this ritualized act was rarely discussed, it is an interesting component of the Monthly Service in relation to the concept of social connectedness that is central to my thesis. As previously explained, at all Tenrikyo sites of worship throughout the world, “sacred objects” from the Jiba are housed inside
the altar to God the Parent, thereby conferring a metaphysical coherence between sites<fnref n="630" />.

Relatedly, constructed feelings associated with the sacrality of these sites, particularly their sanctuary spaces and the ritual of the Service performed identically at them, were also a non-place specific feature of these disparate Tenrikyo sites. Thus, regardless of which site of worship one was at, one was not only connected mentally/spiritually to other Tenrikyo followers throughout the world and to the Jiba, but also materially by means of the altars toward which this ritual is performed, or more specifically, via the sacred objects contained within that are regarded to share the same “essence” and origin.

Tenrikyo Services, whether they were held at TEC or elsewhere, moreover also functioned as a bridge to the wider realm of Tenrikyo through the “spiritual” understanding of the Service that most Tenrikyo followers held and connectedly, the intention with which those taking part in this ritual engaged in it. Whether in the more passive role of an observer while seated in the audience section or the more active role as a Service performer, followers were, at least ideally, uniting themselves with the Service performed around the Jiba. Connectedly, they were directing their hearts/minds toward uniting with the Jiba, God the Parent, the foundress, and with other followers doing the same, all of which are positioned in the faith as being highly interconnected. Thus, not only was the Service a key moment of unification amongst many locally living followers who regularly attended the Monthly Service at TEC, but it also served as a conduit of unification with the broader collection of followers in Japan and throughout the world, with the Jiba, and with the spiritual figures of God the Parent and the foundress who are theologically understood to dwell at that point<fnref n="631" />. Thus, although the TEC Monthly Service primarily involved locally living followers, it was also a chief connector between the specific context of TEC and the greater, partially non-site-specific Tenrikyo realm.

<footnote n="630">⁶³⁰ I heard that sacred objects are also placed in altars dedicated to Oyasama, but for my discussion, I will focus on those inside the altars dedicated to God the Parent.</footnote>

<footnote n="631">⁶³¹ In my observations, there was a lack of absolute clarity regarding if the foundress also dwells at the Jiba or in her adjacent sanctuary.</footnote>
*Factors of localization displayed in the TEC sanctuary that rendered it semi-place specific*

While TEC was largely similar to other Tenrikyo sites, it also had certain place-specific features, some of which were purposeful adaptations to the local context in which this center was located while others came about more on their own. In this subsection, I will focus primarily on several differences presented in its sanctuary. According to both my own observations and discussions with followers from a variety of Tenrikyo churches in Japan, there was often more openness toward negotiation away from tradition at TEC than in most Tenrikyo contexts in Japan. This constant negotiation through attempting to adjust traditions and practices to fit this European context, coupled with its generally less strict overall approach, was, in fact, a key feature of TEC.

An often-cited difference, for example, between the sanctuary of TEC and Tenrikyo churches in Japan was that, similar to the stools on the performance area, in the audience section, followers sat on folding wooden chairs, whereas in Japan, followers knelt on a tatami floor. This was reflective of the “traditional” manner of sitting and room style in these respective cultures. Although this may be a seemingly simple difference, I would come to realize it to be significant to the bodily experience of the Service in multiple ways, such as how the body is positioned when bowing to the altars, and in my own experience of engaging in both styles of sitting (or kneeling), how the vibrations from the percussion instruments, most notably the large taiko drum, entered and were felt in my body.

This experiential difference from sitting rather than kneeling, though, like most other adaptations made at TEC, did not significantly alter the content of the rituals performed in this space, nor the meaning followers ascribed to these rituals and to the space itself. Some followers, most commonly Japanese followers born into and raised in the faith, would choose to kneel in the back of the room due to their preference for this bodily position, thereby opening the possibility to do so to anyone who wished<fnref n="632" />. It should be noted, though, that the sensation of kneeling on the hard, wooden floor of TEC’s sanctuary was not identical to that of kneeling on a relatively softer tatami mat as was done in Japan. Thus, although the followers who chose to kneel in the back of

<footnote n="632">⁶³² I observed the young French woman, Nathalie, who participated in the European Seminar with me do this.</footnote>
the TEC sanctuary were somehow recreating the experience of being in a Tenrikyo sanctuary in
Japan through their posture, this experiential recreation was only partial.

Another difference at TEC was displayed through who in attendance was and was not enacting
the Service hand dance gestures. In contrast to the daily Morning and Evening Services
performed in the sanctuary which generally everyone seated in the audience area<fnref n="633" /> took part in
through the execution of its hand dance gestures, for the Monthly Service, the ritual dance
movements were “supposed to be” performed only by the Service’s designated performers in the
ritual space directly in front of the three altars and not by those in the audience section. In
practice, though, at TEC, there were usually a small number of people in attendance who joined
along with performing the hand dances, most commonly during the introductory Seated Service
portion of the ritual, while most reverently observed the performance on stage in accordance with
their prescribed non-performative role.

Most often, the individuals who actively took part in these ritual gestures from the audience area
were not born in the faith and furthermore, none were Japanese. Thus, their slightly different
approach to their participation in the religion was partially reflective of not having been brought
up in Tenrikyo culture, rendering its behavioral codes less innately part of them. Their bodily
participation in this ritual was usually enacted through a reduced form of the gestures, commonly
with only their hands or simply their fingers, rather than with their entire arms, as was done by
the ritual actors on stage. This was permitted, though not actively encouraged, by Mr. Kawakubo,
the acting head of TEC, who was charged with using his own discretion regarding to what extent
Tenrikyo rules and traditions must be strictly adhered to versus how much digression from these
rules and traditions should be allowed.

In Mr. Kawakubo's discussion of the injunction against audience members enacting the Service
dances during a Monthly Service that I heard him relate in a class of the European Seminar<fnref n="634" />, he
told us that although people in the audience section were not supposed to do this during the

<footnote n="633">⁶³³ I say “generally everyone” because there were occasions that non-followers were in the sanctuary for the Morning and/or Evening Service, such as on the day of the center’s annual charity rummage sale, who chose to abstain from taking part in this ritual performance.</footnote>

<footnote n="634">⁶³⁴ This class was during my second year of participation in this training for which I took part in the French-language cohort and was focused on the theoretical study of the Service dances.</footnote>
Monthly Service, it was something he could allow. He then added that if people were to perform
the remainder of the Mikagura-uta dances in a standing position, he would have to say something
because that would simply be too much. This insight was received a year after my research
became focused on TEC and was also immediately after my approximately one and a half months
spent in Japan for fieldwork. Although I did notice that during the TEC Monthly Service, the
subtle gestural enactment of these dances was only done by a small number of people in
attendance, and that none of these people were Japanese nor “core members” of the group, this
was the first time I heard it stated that their miniature performative accompaniment was not
actually supposed to be done.

For such individuals who acted outside the prescribed norms of this religious tradition, they were
in the process of becoming members of the group and its connected culture, not only through
learning the teachings of the religion, but also through slowly learning how to conduct their
embodied selves in numerous contexts. The shaping of these newcomers into fully integrated
“members” of the group concerned not only their social involvement in Tenrikyo contexts and
their practice of the religion, but also numerous other, often discrete, factors, many of which were
contained in and expressed through the body. “Becoming Tenrikyo,” or becoming a fully
integrated “member” of the group, was a gradual process inculcated through both direct
explanation and/or instruction, and also through the indirect method of exposure to norms and
practices via “initiated” individuals, such as the core members of the “TEC community.” Thus,
“initiated” individuals communicated through their own spoken and enacted example what it was
to be a “member” of Tenrikyo, not only in a strictly religious sense, but also a cultural one.

Despite the injunction against performing these sacred dance gestures when not a designated
Service performer which existed largely as an inferred social fact, I never heard this variation
outside the prescribed standard commented on, other than in the previously mentioned instance
during the seminar<fnref n="635" />. This was partially reflective of the cultural prohibition in both Japanese

<footnote n="635">⁶³⁵ It should be noted that I was often not viewed first and foremost as a “researcher,” despite my open declaration of this fact, but as a member of the group and as an individual (and more specifically, an American living in Paris who came to learn of and become involved with the religion rather recently), similar to the eclectic mix of numerous other individuals who came to be involved with the religion of Tenrikyo and TEC rather recently. Because I was not “core member of the group,” it is likely that polite discretion may have discouraged comments on the matter to be said in my presence that may have been said in more private contexts or between close individuals.</footnote>
and Tenrikyo cultures against speaking poorly of others or discussing their faults, which commenting on numerous individuals at TEC doing something they were “not supposed to do” could be deemed. The purposeful overlooking of this breech in ritual etiquette was also reflective of the welcoming context purposefully constructed at TEC in order for the diversity of people who came to this center to feel comfortable, at ease, and enjoy their time at the center and in applicable instances such as the one presently discussed, take part in the religion, thereby encouraging their positively viewed connection to the center, to the religion, and to each other.

The atypical allowance of people in the audience section actively taking part in these ritual gestures was just one example of the constant negotiation at TEC regarding how much of the religion's traditions and regulations (both official and unofficial) should be adhered to and enforced, versus how much fluidity and difference should be allowed in this French (and European) context. This was principally motivated by the goal of appealing to local audiences and spreading the faith to them. Excessive prohibitions placed on what people in attendance could and could not do were recognized to risk being perceived as excessively restrictive, thereby potentially rendering their participation in Tenrikyo activities and events (including its rituals) less appealing, which would be counterproductive to one of the center's main aims: sprinkling the fragrance of the faith to others.

Another example of the less strict approach to the orchestration of Monthly Services at TEC in comparison to that typical of Tenrikyo contexts in Japan was in regard to the question of punctuality versus tardiness. At TEC, there was usually a handful of people who would slowly trickle into the sanctuary after its official Monthly Service start time of 10:30 am. Excluding some people dressed as ritual performers who were elsewhere on TEC grounds at its start time and would quietly come in shortly after the ritual had begun, these latecomers were usually not “core members” of the group. The subtle interruption of the sanctuary door opening and closing and people coming to sit down after the Service had begun was noteworthy to me because it contrasted with the general importance placed on punctuality in Japanese culture.

Relatedly, when my intended thesis research topic was focused on Japanese migrants in Paris in other ways, this was a notable element of change displayed by some Japanese people in France that was discussed by both Japanese people living in France themselves, as well as French people
highly involved in the “Japanese scene” of Paris<fnref n="636" />. The tardy attendees to this monthly ritual often included both non-Japanese and Japanese attendees, showing that a divide in adherence to this cultural norm was not based solely on one’s previously formed cultural background, but was also impacted by their current situations. Small differences, such as the three mentioned in this subsection, were peppered throughout the experience of being at TEC and accorded it a place-based particularity that included both cultural adaptations and flexibility while remaining largely congruent with Tenrikyo sites elsewhere. In this, participants were linked to both a place-based specificity and the broader realm of Tenrikyo, which came together to comprise the experience of being at TEC, which was the principal means from which the “TEC community” was formed.

*The multilingual feature of TEC as reflective of its unique social composition*

Another place-based particularity of TEC that rendered being part of its connected social world a unique experiential affiliation amidst a broader Tenrikyo context was its multilingual character that was reflective of this center serving as a site for both locally living people and the broader European continent, and as an extension of the Tenrikyo religion as it existed in Japan. This multilingual feature was something I heard numerous “core members” of TEC comment on as a place-specific aspect of this center, reflective of it being the main Tenrikyo site for numerous European countries with their respective languages, in concert with its “core” members being principally Japanese. Often, the concomitant existence of multiple languages that was an ongoing feature of TEC’s orchestration and communications was spoken about as a challenge, but also as a positively regarded and interesting feature of this center<fnref n="637" />. By reflecting on the issue of language at TEC, we can gain insight into the multiple layers that were simultaneously included in this site “on the ground” and in its connected social world.

As discussed in several parts of my thesis, the Japanese language was the default language of everyday life at the center, reflective of its residents and other “core members” being Japanese<fnref n="638" />,

<footnote n="636">⁶³⁶ This refers to people who were routinely around Japanese people in the Paris area, such as through their regular participation in French-Japanese language exchange meetups and other ways that rendered them familiar with notable changes that Japanese people commonly traverse when increasingly “adapting” to France.</footnote>

<footnote n="637">⁶³⁷ I sometimes heard reference of the frequently bilingual nature of Tenrikyo sites in the US at which both English and Japanese were in use, but at TEC, there were more languages in use.</footnote>

<footnote n="638">⁶³⁸ This was excluding the one French core member fluent in Japanese.</footnote>
as was, the “core” of its connected world that bound its entirety together despite the center of TEC itself being in France. Further adding to the prominence of the Japanese language at TEC was the fact that numerous non-Japanese people who came to this center had at least some competency in the language. Often for such people, that TEC provided a context in which they could practice the Japanese language was an appealing feature of coming there, as was the case for most of the non-Tenrikyo/ non-Japanese young adults connected to TEC via ACFJT, further demonstrating the socially linking contribution of this language.

In local contexts that extended beyond the center’s core members and other Japanese participants, French was the principal language employed at the center, and was also the primary second language of the core members of the group based in France<fnref n="639" />. Although TEC was the site of a *Japanese* (new) religion, it was located in France, and thus in certain ways, was a French Tenrikyo center. Extendedly, whether one was French or not, being connected to TEC (and thus, the “TEC community”) was to have a connection with France, which was another distinguishing feature of being affiliated with this center and its connected “community” amidst the broader whole of Tenrikyo.

As TEC was charged with serving not just France, but the entire European continent, or more precisely, the Tenrikyo sites and followers (and people affiliated with the religion) in this broader geo-cultural region, the inclusion of other languages reflected this situation. In contexts that included the wider European Tenrikyo sphere, English was often a main language of communication, with Japanese and French remaining ever-present. This third language of prominence at the center was associated both with the UK being the second country in Europe in terms of having a Tenrikyo presence, and also the international nature of the center which commonly included people of numerous countries and English being the primary modern-day language of international communication. Simultaneously, other languages were commonly present at TEC, as was demonstrated through the addition of a German-language cohort to the Tenrikyo European Seminar the second year I took part in it and the presence of a selection of Spanish-language Tenrikyo books being available on the bookshelves of the center’s library/lounge area.

<footnote n="639">⁶³⁹ This statement excludes the two Frenchmen who were also core members of the “TEC community.”</footnote>
This multilingual feature was also included in its written materials circulated beyond the walls of this center. TEC's website (www.tenrikyo.fr), which was its main online representation, was available in four languages: French, English, Spanish, and Japanese. Similarly, its bi-monthly newsletters were published in French, Japanese, and English, with the latter being not only for people in the UK but also for a broader European audience beyond those at ease in reading Japanese or French. They expanded a potential inclusion into the happenings of TEC and Tenrikyo beyond both the country in which this center was based, and also beyond the prominent culture and language of the majority of the center's core members (Japanese) to include others throughout the continent and beyond. Through this, TEC's bimonthly publication served as a textual linkage to this center and its broader European sphere that was available to a wide-ranging group of people.

In thinking about the multiple languages in use at and by TEC, it is linguistically demonstrated that this center was simultaneously linked to a Japanese base, a local French context, and a broader European (and international) context. It is important to underline that the pragmatic, everyday realm of language was reflective of and contributed to the multiplicity present at TEC that was a key feature of this center and its connected eclectic and multifarious social world. Although the majority of the “members” of the “TEC community” were Japanese and the center of TEC was itself based in France, its social world was neither fully French nor fully Japanese. Instead, it belonged to a fluid inclusivity in which the differentiating frontier between what it was to be included in this “community” and what it was to be outside of it was unclear. One could simultaneously be inside and outside of it, depending on which layer of this social world one was focused upon as this European center’s specificity was partially derived from its multiplicity.

*Binding vocabulary and action amidst diversity: the example of multiple ways of talking about, conceptualizing, and engaging in “hinokishin”*

While the multilingual feature of TEC promoted a sense of multi-layered inclusivity and diversity, the existence of Tenrikyo-specific vocabulary provided an underlying consistency for “religious insiders” in which, regardless of where one was in the world or to which church lineage one was rooted, the active use of Tenrikyo-specific vocabulary was a prominent feature of being in a Tenrikyo context that served as a binding feature between followers. This is not to
assert that there was not diversity in precisely how these Tenrikyo-specific terms were understood
nor, in my observations, was it necessary to be familiar with these terms in order to be included in
the social world of TEC. Rather, the ample employment of these terms acted as a binding
element, among numerous others, through which a socio-religious base of ideologically linked
people existed as a foundational element of the “TEC community” into the folds of which non-
Tenrikyo people, or people who had not been initiated into having an extensive familiarity with
Tenrikyo-specific terms, were included.

To take a closer look at how these binding terms existed in practice, and to discuss insights that
may be gained through thinking about the conception and employment of these important religio-
specific terms, I will use the example of “hinokishin.” Helping out at TEC in mandated,
structured ways and also in more spontaneous ways was commonly positioned as “hinokishin” by
followers at TEC, as I observed such endeavors to be similarly framed in other Tenrikyo contexts.
During the first part of my research, I was at times surprised to hear my own simple, occasional
efforts at this center to help with upkeep (such as by cleaning), most often with others in informal
contexts, referred to as “hinokishin” because I did not view it as such. From my own perspective,
I did so because I regarded it as appropriate from a functionally reciprocal perspective in relation
to how often I was there, benefitting from their facilities, food, and the efforts of others. By core
members of TEC referring to my participation with this Tenrikyo term, they were both employing
the vocabulary commonly employed in Tenrikyo contexts for such efforts and also associating
my actions, in a positively framed manner, with this religious act at a time when most were aware
of my being a newcomer to the faith<fnref n="640" />.

In contrast to my own efforts being positioned under this religious term during a time I was new
to Tenrikyo but also initiated to its principal teachings and actively seeking to involve myself in
the socio-religious world of TEC and learn more about Tenrikyo, I sometimes observed followers
change what terms they employed when talking to non-followers participating in various “non-
markedly religious” activities and events at or connected to TEC that involved scheduled times of
structured “hinokishin.” In such instances, instead, these scheduled sessions were referred to as

<footnote n="640">⁶⁴⁰ As stated numerous time previously, core members of TEC were also aware that I was conducting research, which did not negate my position as a person new to, learning about, and participating in the religion.</footnote>
“cleaning time” and other similar variations. This demonstrated that the employment of such Tenrikyo-specific terms was an enacted marker of religious “membership” (or formation) but that fluency in these religious terms was not a prerequisite for group inclusion.

Such changes in lexical reference were most often because non-followers who participated in these activities were not familiar with Tenrikyo-specific terms, such as “hinokishin.” Thus, for the sake of simplicity, other words were sometimes employed despite the often-present biproduct of changing the activity’s referential term that its ascribed meaning contained in its categorically “spiritual” term, which would ideally be inculcated and strengthened in the individuals taking part in the activity, was largely eclipsed. Nonetheless, their participation imprinted the action and the manner with which it was engaged by other group members taking part in it onto the less religiously implicated social actors also engaging in the collective efforts.

Even if one was unfamiliar with the term “hinokishin” and its associated theological meaning, participation nonetheless served to experientially imprint two enacted features commonly included in Tenrikyo activities linked with key tenets of the faith: those of making efforts for the benefit of others and of working together in collaboration with others through a particular model of cheerfully engaged symbiotic cooperation. Through the actions in which they engaged, rather than the surrounding discourse, such non-Tenrikyo participants were embodying important components of the faith. In this, the religion’s behavioral modality was becoming part of them, not through an enunciated belief in the religion or necessarily even extensive knowledge of its theology, but by means of its enacted practice. This demonstrates how welcoming people to TEC, and other Tenrikyo contexts, was a proactive means of conducting missionary work not only through the potential outcome of producing an increase in Tenrikyo “members,” but also through facilitating the embodiment of its enacted practice, which was one means of “dispensing the fragrance” of the faith in and of itself.

In this, we can see the dual interplay of reframing such activities with, or without, the application of Tenrikyo-specific terms. Their employment ascribed to them a Tenrikyo-specific spiritually framed meaning, which served to connect many people to everyday, enacted components of the religion. Occasionally, though, it was the omission of Tenrikyo-specific terminology which connected people to aspects of the broader experientiality of the religion and promoted their
inclusion in the “TEC community.” Although being a follower of Tenrikyo was partially based in the use of this religio-specific language, being included in the broader social world of TEC was largely constructed through lived experiences, as was, in fact, being a “member” of Tenrikyo.

In joining in communal endeavors framed as “hinokishin” at, and connected to TEC, through which shared moments of conviviality came about, everyone to some degree was, or quickly became, a contributing member of this “community.” For some people, their membership in this “community” was largely for a particular moment in time and their momentary belonging in this group during such moments did not translate into a prolonged or otherwise deep affiliation with it. Often though, such shared moments of collaboration served to both strengthen the bond between the involved social actors and to connect those individuals to the broader “TEC community.” My own fieldwork was a concentrated entry into, and presence in, this multi-layered social world for two years after being previously included somewhat in its periphery, as discussed in chapter three, and then transitioning again to being connected to this “community” to a lesser degree, albeit in a different way than before. Although my own evolving story of inclusion in this “community” is not the same as anyone else’s, it was one contribution, among numerous others, to its entirety.
# Résumé en français

## Table des matières

<table><tr><td>Introduction</td><td>538</td></tr><tr><td>Définir et discuter d'une population de recherche à plusieurs niveaux</td><td>541</td></tr><tr><td>Méthodologie</td><td>544</td></tr></table>

## Résumé de la thèse par chapitre

<table><tr><td>Section I : Introduction au contexte de la recherche</td><td>552</td></tr><tr><td>Chapitre 1 : Les débuts du Tenrikyo : une « nouvelle religion japonaise »</td><td>552</td></tr><tr><td>Chapitre 2 : La foi, son expansion en Europe, et la question complexe du nombre de membres et de qui est « membre »</td><td>552</td></tr></table>

## Section II : Le côté local de la communauté TEC

<table><tr><td>Chapitre 3 : L'association Franco-Japonaise de TENRI : un centre culturel « laïque » situé dans le centre de Paris qui m'a servi comme porte d'entrée au TEC</td><td>557</td></tr><tr><td>Chapitre 4 : La vie résidentielle au TEC : la recréation d'un modèle résidentiel Tenrikyo dans une localité française</td><td>561</td></tr><tr><td>Chapitre 5 : Services mensuels au TEC : s'unir à la foi et à un segment local de la « communauté TEC » par le biais d'un acte sacré qui se produit régulièrement</td><td>566</td></tr></table>

## Section III : La communauté TEC plus large : Le TEC comme lieu de rassemblement des adeptes de Tenrikyo dans toute l'Europe

<table><tr><td>Chapitre 6 : Les lieux de culte Tenrikyo à domicile en Europe : la transplantation d'un système de lignage dans un nouveau contexte culturel et géographique</td><td>572</td></tr><tr><td>Chapitre 7 : Le Séminaire européen annuel de Tenrikyo : éduquer les adeptes par une formation structurée, construire un monde social virtuel</td><td>577</td></tr></table>