二つの〆鳥居（しめどりい）
(The Two Torii with Sacred Ropes)

平成27年5月号掲載(Published in the May 2015 issue)

　立教二百年の昨年はまた、神道山ご遷座四十年の年でもありました。ご遷座に際して神道山に新しくできた建造物の中に、いくつかの古いものがありましたが、そのひとつは正参道口に立つ一対の石柱いわゆる〆鳥居です。これは、教祖神のご在世中には、御宅の前を南北に走る道路が参道で、その北詰の所に立っていたもので、そこは旧山陽道の支道ともいえる東西道と交わる所でした。もっとも、明治時代になって鉄道が敷かれ、現在のＪＲ宇野線ができた時にその名も大元駅が造られ、そこに至る道が参道となり、明治１８年の宗忠神社ご鎮座に際しては、新しくできた南北に走る児島線道路までの２００メートルに石畳が敷かれて大鳥居も立てられ、名実ともに参道となっていました。（この石畳もご遷座に際して神道山に移されて今日の大教殿参道に使われています）

Last year, the Bicentennial of the Faith was also the 40th anniversary of the transfer to Shintōzan 神道山. Among the structures newly built at Shintōzan during the transfer, some were old ones brought from before. One of these is the pair of stone pillars known as shime‑torii 〆鳥居 (torii gate with sacred rope) standing at the entrance to the main approach.
In the Divine Founder’s lifetime, the approach ran north–south in front of his residence, and the shime‑torii stood at its northern end, where it intersected with an east–west road that was a branch of the old San’yōdō. In the Meiji era, however, with the laying of the railway and the opening of today’s JR Uno Line, Ōmoto Station was built, and the road leading to it became the approach. At the enshrinement of Munetada Shrine in Meiji 18 (1885), a 200‑meter stone pavement was laid to the new north–south Kojima Line road, and a great torii was erected, making it in name and reality the shrine’s approach. (This stone pavement too was transferred to Shintōzan at the time of relocation and is now used for the Daikyōden 大教殿 (the Main Shrine) approach.)

　こういうことで、参道が取って代わられても、旧参道口の石柱は現在の大きな道路が造られるまで、教祖神ご在世中の参道を伝える貴重な存在でした。

Even though the approach was later replaced, the stone pillars at the old entrance remained until the construction of the present large road, serving as a precious reminder of the Divine Founder’s lifetime approach.

　神道山に車参道が開通し、いよいよ大教殿の御敷地造成にかかる時、この〆鳥居は神道山に移されて今日の姿になりました。

When the car approach to Shintōzan was opened and the grounds of the Daikyōden were being prepared, these shime‑torii were transferred to Shintōzan, where they stand today.

　この石柱は、教祖神を度々お招きして近郷の人々を集めて直接そのお説教を拝聴する機会をつくっていた、現在の和気郡和気町尺所の大森武介氏（後に藩主池田家より大國の姓を賜った）の、跡継ぎの大國武須計氏が献納されたものです。

These stone pillars were donated by Mr. Ōkuni Busuke, heir of Mr. Ōmori Busuke of Shakusho in Wake Town, Wake District. Ōmori had often invited the Divine Founder, gathering local people to hear his sermons directly. Later, Busuke was granted the surname Ōkuni by the Ikeda family of the domain lord.

　大國氏は、大元の宗忠神社ご鎮座に際し、教祖神の御産屋を移築して家のない人に使ってもらおうとされていた当時の三代宗篤管長（今の教主）に願い出て、その人への家は大國氏が新築して差し上げて、御産屋は自宅に戴いて帰られました。ご存じの方が次々とおありと思いますが、この御産屋は、現在は衣笠中教会所（和気郡和気町衣笠）に教会所と併設して大切にされています。

At the enshrinement of Munetada Shrine, the Ōkuni family requested of the Third Chief Patriarch Kurozumi Muneatsu that the Founder’s birth hut be relocated so that it might serve as a home for someone without a house. The Ōkuni family then built a new home for that person and received the birth hut into their own residence. As many of you know, this birth hut is now carefully preserved at Kinugasa Middle Branch Church (Kinugasa, Wake Town, Wake District), together with the church itself.

　大國氏の献納されたこの石柱には、三代様の御筆になる書で次のように刻されています。
　養無一誠　生々大道
　神人不二　名教洪寳

On the stone pillars donated by the Ōkuni family, the following words, the Third Chief Patriarch’s calligraphy is engraved:
Yōmu Issei, Seisei Daidō 養無一誠　生々大道
Shinjin Funi Meikyō Kōhō 神人不二　名教洪寳

“Nurture unceasing sincerity, the ever‑living Great Way.
Gods and humanity are not two; the noble teaching is a vast treasure.”)

　「形は無いが確かにある人間の本体であるご分心　天照大御神のみわけみたまを養うという誠ひとすじに生きることが、天照大御神のすべてを生かし育まれる大道にかなった生き方である。
　それは、本来、神と人とは（ご分心をいただいているがゆえに）二つならざる存在の人間が、生かされて生きて神人一体になるというまことに尊い教えであり、これは私どもの大きな宝である」と、高らかにうたい上げられていると私は理解しています。

“To live wholly in sincerity, nurturing Bunshin 分心—the unseen yet real essence of the human being, the portion of Amaterasu Ōmikami’s spirit—is to walk in harmony with the Great Way that gives life and growth to all.
This is the profoundly noble teaching: that human beings, who by nature are not separate from gods because they receive Bunshin, live sustained by the divine and become one with gods. Truly, this is our great treasure.”
This is how I understand the lofty proclamation.

　ところで昨年の３月、私は香川県の象郷教会所に久しぶりに参拝し、「立教二百年奉祝推進・祈りの集い」を開いていただきました。すべてを終えて辞する時、参道口に立つ〆鳥居に目を奪われました。そこには、右に、「離我任天行」、そして左に、「養無楽生通」とあり、その裏側に昭和１０年　松浦ヤチヱと刻されていました。

In March of last year, I visited Zōgō Branch Church in Kagawa Prefecture for the first time in a long while, where a “Prayer Gathering for the Bicentennial Celebration” was held. As I departed, my eyes were caught by the shime‑torii standing at the entrance to the approach. On the right pillar was inscribed: “Ri ga nin ten kō 離我任天行” (Leave the self behind, entrust the way to Heaven), and on the left: “Yō mu raku sei tsū 養無楽生通” (Nurture nothingness, live joyfully and continuously). On the reverse was engraved: “Shōwa 10 (1935), Matsuura Yachie.”

　そこで教会所の長老に教えられたのは、８０年も以前のことですが、松浦さんは重い病の床にあっても実に御道信仰手厚く、所長の祈り、説き、取り次ぐままに、ひたすらお祓いを上げ、お取り次ぎを有り難く受けいただくうちに快方に向かって本復なり、その感激と感謝の印に献納された〆鳥居であるということでした。

The elder of the branch church explained that more than eighty years ago, Ms. Matsuura, though bedridden with a serious illness, devoted herself deeply to the faith. Receiving the prayers, teachings, and mediation of the head minister, she earnestly continued to recite Ōharae no Kotoba 大祓詞 (the Great Purification Prayer) and gratefully accepted the mediation. In time she recovered fully. Out of gratitude and joy, she donated this shime‑torii.

　察しますのに、松浦さんは、病床にあって襲い来る苦しみと死への恐怖の中で、ひたすら祓いに徹し、教祖神の御名をすがるように呼んで、揚げ句、すべてをお任せ申し上げる心になるように行じられたのだと思います。教祖神の「この黒住宗忠を師と慕う者は決して見殺しにはせぬ！」の一言を頼りに、願い、すがり、祈る中に、すべてを任せ切る世界に入られたのだと拝察します。形は無いが確かにある松浦さんの本体であるご分心を養う中に、死の恐怖からも解き放たれて、人間は死んでも本体の自分は死なないという、生き通しを楽しみ待つほどの尊くも高い境地に至られたことが伺われます。ここまで心を澄ませ高めたところに、ご神徳に浴する道が開け、おかげを受けて本復なった松浦さんだったのです。この松浦さんの娘さんが、同じ香川県の高松中教会所の篤信のお道づれ図子輝子さんであることを知り、むべなるかなと感じ入ったことでした。

I imagine that Ms. Matsuura, lying on her sickbed, was beset by suffering and the fear of death. Yet she devoted herself wholly to purification, calling upon the Divine Founder’s name as if clinging to it, until at last she entrusted everything to the divine. She relied upon his words: “Those who revere this Kurozumi Munetada as their teacher shall never be abandoned to die.” In her praying, pleading, and clinging, she entered the world of complete entrustment.
In nurturing her Bunshin—the unseen yet real essence of her being—she was released even from the terror of death, reaching the exalted state of realizing that though the body dies, the true self does not. She attained the joy of awaiting eternal life. At such a purified and elevated heart, the path opened to receive divine grace, and she was restored to health.
I later learned that Mrs. Matsuura’s daughter was Ms. Zushi Teruko, a devout fellow companion of the Way at Takamatsu Middle Branch Church in Kagawa Prefecture. Knowing this, I felt deeply moved—it was indeed fitting.

　神道山と象郷教会所の〆鳥居に共通するのは、「養無」の二文字です。大教殿の東側室に、教祖神はじめ五代宗和様に至る代々の真筆の書が掲げられていますが、ひときわ大きな扁額が、三代宗篤様の「養無」です。
　御神詠に
　姿なき心一つを養うはかしこき人の修行なるらん
　有る無きの中にすむべき無き物をなきと思うななき心にて
と教えられていますように、この形は無いが確かにあるわが心、そして心の中の心たるご分心を養うことこそ、よりよき人生を送るために必須の生き方です。

What is common to the shime‑torii at Shintōzan and at Zōkyō Church is the two characters “Yō mu 養無” (Nurture nothingness). In the east side chamber of Daikyōden, writings in the genuine brushworks of successive Chief Patriarchs from the Divine Founder to the Fifth Chief Patriarch Kurozumi Munekazu are displayed. Among them, the most prominent plaque is the “Yōmu” of the Third Chief Patriarch Kurozumi Muneatsu.
As taught in the Divine Founder’s verses:
To cultivate the single heart without form—This is surely the training of the wise.
The unseen nothing certainly is in the realm of to be or not to be; Don’t dismiss as if it were not there with your heart that appears not to be there.
Thus, to nurture our heart—unseen yet surely real—and especially Bunshin, the heart within the heart, is essential for living a better life.

　実は、日常生活で私たちは知らず知らずの内にもこの「無を養う」ことは為しているのです。例えば、親は自分が食べるものを食べなくても、子供に与えて子供が喜んで食べている姿を見て自分が食べた以上に深い喜びを得るものですが、このことなどが「養無」の典型です。この時に、ご分心というわが心の神をお養い申し上げているのです。

In fact, in daily life we are already, often without realizing it, practicing this “nurturing of nothingness.” For example, a parent may forgo eating something themselves in order to give it to their child, and then, seeing the child joyfully eat, feels a deeper happiness than if they had eaten it themselves. This is a typical example of yōmu—nurturing nothingness. At such times, one is nurturing Bunshin, the divine essence within the heart.

　まることの生活信条の「人のために祈ろう」は、人様の幸せに誠を尽くして祈るところに、自分自身を養う道があることを、教祖神のご一生から教えられた一条です。
　実に「人は人に尽くして人となる」のです。

The life creed of Marukoto まること (round wholeness)—“Pray for others”—teaches us from the Divine Founder’s own life that in praying sincerely for the happiness of others, we are at the same time nurturing ourselves.
Indeed, “A human becomes truly human by serving others.”