６０年前の「教祖神百年大祭」
(Sixty Years Ago: The Centennial Grand Festival of the Divine Founder’s Ascension’s Ascension)

平成22年4月号掲載(Published in the April 2010 issue)

　６０年前の昭和２５年の４月半ば、霊地大元は教祖神百年大祭で大賑（にぎ）わいの日が続いていました。教祖様ご神去（かんざ）りになって百年の大祭でした。子供ながら中学校に入学したての私には、参拝の方々で埋め尽くされたような大元が心に強く残っています。大教殿はもとより境内に敷かれた莚（むしろ）の上も満員で、各所で説教講演がなされていたのでしょうか、熱弁を振るう紋服の先生方の姿が目に焼き付いています。

Sixty years ago, in mid-April of 1950 (Shōwa 25), the sacred site Ōmoto was filled with days of great bustle during the Centennial Grand Festival of the Divine Founder’s Ascension. It was the grand festival marking one hundred years since the Chief Patriarch’s divine ascension. As a child just entering middle school, I vividly remember Ōmoto overflowing with worshippers. Not only was Daikyōden 大教殿 (the Main Shrine) crowded, but even the mats spread across the grounds were packed, and everywhere one could see teachers in formal crested attire delivering fervent sermons and lectures — their impassioned figures remain etched in my memory.

　それは完膚なきまでに打ちのめされて敗れた大戦後、当時のお道づれにとっては初めて訪れたと言っても過言でない熱い信仰心の花開く時だったのでありましょう。戦前戦中、そして戦後の５年間、ようやく生きのびたとはいえ食べる物にも事欠いた時を重ねてきていたにもかかわらず、いやそれだけに強く燃え上がったのが「教祖神百年大祭」であったと思われます。

This was the time, after the devastating defeat of the war, when for followers of the Way it could be said that a fervent flowering of faith was experienced for the first time. Despite the hardships of the prewar, wartime, and five postwar years — when survival itself was difficult and even food was scarce — it was precisely under such conditions that the Centennial Grand Festival of the Divine Founder’s Ascension blazed forth with such intensity.

　この日のために本部当局を中心に、当時の御道教師方は様々（さまざま）な面で準備をしていました。その頃の様子を伝える本誌「日新」を開きますと、ひたひたと胸迫り来るものがあります。

For this day, the headquarters authorities together with the teachers of the Way had prepared in many different ways. When one opens Nisshin, Kurozumikyō’s monthly magazine of that time which conveys the atmosphere of those days, one cannot help but feel something pressing deeply upon the heart.

　まず、青年教師を中心とした“幻灯布教”が、全国展開されていたのが目に留まります。それは宗忠様のご人格、教祖神のご神格を、御逸話（ごいつわ）を中心としたフィルムに仕上げていわゆるスライドでお見せして、お道づれはもとよりその周囲の方々に、教祖様を身近にいただいてもらおうという青年の意気に満ちたものだったことが分かります。

First of all, what catches the eye is the preaching with magic lanterns led by young teachers, which was being carried out nationwide. This consisted of films centered on the anecdotes of Munetada the Divine Founder, presenting both his personal character and the divine nature of the Divine Founder in the form of slides. It was filled with the youthful spirit of bringing the Founder close to the followers of the Way as well as to those around them.

　“教祖様、教祖宗忠の神様にお喜びいただきたい”、“その御心、御教えを今こそ!!”と、第一線の教会所の教師方が「祈り、説き、取り次ぐ」ことに精励している様子が伺えます。

One can see how the frontline teachers of the branch churches were devoting themselves to “praying, preaching, and mediating,” with the heartfelt desire: “May the Divine Founder, Munetada the Divine Founder, be pleased! Now is the time for his heart and teachings!”

　ある所長は「まず自分が実行しなくてはなりません。自分が率先して実行せずして講釈ばかりでは人は動かぬ。私は教祖様の御教えを一生懸命に実践させていただきました」と語っています。私はかつて、この方の令息でやはり御道教師だった人に尋ねたことがあります。「ご尊父は御道の先生として何を主眼につとめられていましたか」と。「父は毎日の御日拝を欠かさずつとめ、ひたすらお祓いを上げ、悩む人、病む人に生きてお働き下さる教祖様の御徳、ご神徳を取り次ぐお取り次ぎに精出していました。個人的にはいつも“にこにこ”の人で、不平不足を決して言わぬように心掛けていた人でした」と教えてくれました。

A branch church director said: “First I must practice myself. If I only lecture without taking the lead in practice, people will not be moved. I devoted myself wholeheartedly to practicing the teachings of the Divine Founder.” I once asked this director’s son, who was also a teacher of the Way: “As a teacher, what did your father place the greatest emphasis on?” He told me: “My father never failed to perform the daily Nippai 日拝 (the sunrise worship), he earnestly recited Oharai お祓い (Ōharae no Kotoba 大祓詞 or the Great Purification Prayers) over and over, and he devoted himself to mediating the virtues and divine blessings of the Divine Founder, who works in life for those who suffer and those who are ill. Personally, he was always a cheerful person, always smiling, and he made it a point never to complain or grumble.”

　このような第一線の教師の真ごころに触れて、多くのお道づれが自らは食し住むこともままならない時にもかかわらず、教祖神百年大祭完遂のために立ち上がられたのでした。それは「道連会館（現参集所）」の建築、檜（ひのき）の大鳥居の新設等、次々と霊地大元の整備となって現れました。

Touched by the true sincerity of these frontline teachers, many followers of the Way rose up for the completion of the Centennial Grand Festival of the Divine Founder’s Ascension, even though they themselves were living in circumstances where food and shelter were scarcely attainable. This spirit was manifested in the construction of the Michizure Kaikan (now the Assembly Hall), the erection of a new grand hinoki torii 鳥居, and other successive improvements to the sacred site Ōmoto.

　一方、いわゆるソフト面では、「黒住教の展望」という記念出版物がなされ、教団内外の方々が一文を寄せられています。哲学者で京都大学教授の西谷啓治先生をはじめ宗教学者の加藤玄智氏、作家の中河与一氏、郷土史家の岡長平氏ら錚々（そうそう）たる方々が厳しくも温かい意見を開陳して、本教に対する期待を述べられています。

On the so‑called “software” side, a commemorative publication entitled The Outlook of Kurozumikyō was issued, to which people both inside and outside the organization contributed essays. Among them were eminent figures such as philosopher and Kyoto University professor Nishitani Keiji, religious scholar Prof. Katō Genchi, novelist Mr. Nakagawa Yoichi, and local historian Mr. Oka Chōhei. These distinguished contributors offered opinions that were both rigorous and warm, expressing their expectations for this faith.

　新築なった「道連会館」の大襖（ふすま）には、お道づれの南画家矢野橋村知道人画伯（当時の日本南画院院長）の筆になる山水画三面、また矢野先生のお導きで神文捧呈（しんもんほうてい）して入信された日本画家金島桂華画伯の「古梅図」、さらに“信者の私も…”と自ら申し出られた水越松南画伯の「虎穴図」と、今に名高い画家方の大作が献納されました。いずれも、大元に現存する“客殿”の大広間に寝かされた四枚の大襖に、橋を架けるように板を渡した上に座って描かれていた姿が思い出されます。

On the newly built Michizure Kaikan, the great sliding doors were adorned with three panels of landscape painting by Master Yano Hashimura Chidōjin, the distinguished southern‑style painter who at that time was president of the Japan Southern Painting Institute. Guided by Master Yano, Japanese painter Master Kaneshima Keika, who entered the faith through the offering of a shinmon 神文 (divine pledge), contributed his work Old Plum Blossoms. Furthermore, painter Master Mizukoshi Shōnan, who volunteered with the words “As a believer, I too…,” donated his Tiger’s Den. These were major works by artists who remain renowned today.
I recall how, in the great hall of the “Guest Hall” at Ōmoto where these four large sliding doors remain, the painters sat upon boards laid across the doors like bridges, working as they painted.

　中でも水越松南画伯は、フランスの詩人ジャン・コクトーや作家アンドレ・マルローが、戦前に来日した時にその作品を絶賛して彼（か）の国に紹介したほどの人で、この「虎穴図」は神道山時代になっても何度か京都国立近代美術館などでの展覧会に“出張”したことのある名作です。

Among them, Master Mizukoshi Shōnan was a figure whose works had been praised by French poet M. Jean Cocteau and writer M. André Malraux when they visited Japan before the war, and who introduced him to their country. His Tiger’s Den is a masterpiece that, even in the Shintōzan era, was several times “dispatched” for exhibition at places such as the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto.

　この先生方のお呼び掛けで、その頃の日本画壇の中心的な画家方が次々と作品を提供して下さって、今日のチャリティーセールのような展覧会が岡山天満屋デパートで開かれ、同時開催の「黒住教祖遺墨展」とともに盛況を極めたことも当時の本誌は伝えています。また、この絵画展による浄財も力となって、二年後の昭和２７年に「御神幸（ごしんこう）」の復活はなったのでした。いまだ瓦礫（がれき）がここかしこに残る岡山市中に、一陣の清風を巻き起こすような御祭りとして御神幸は多くの市民に迎え入れられました。

At the call of these teachers, leading painters of the Japanese art world at that time successively offered their works. An exhibition was held at the Tenmaya Department Store in Okayama, resembling today’s charity sales, and together with the simultaneously held Exhibition of the calligraphy of the Divine Founder of Kurozumikyō, it reached a peak of success, as reported in this magazine of the time. The pure offerings from this art exhibition also became a source of strength, and two years later, in 1952 (Shōwa 27), Munetada Shrine’s Goshinkō 御神幸 (Divine Procession) was revived. In the city of Okayama, where rubble still remained here and there, the Goshinkō was welcomed by many citizens as a festival that stirred a refreshing breeze.

　さらに、金島画伯のお取り持ちで、茶道表千家千宗左家元が呼び掛けて下さって、裏千家、速水（はやみ）、藪内（やぶのうち）、武者小路千家の各家元のご理解とご協力を得て「黒住教献茶祭」は始まりました。献茶祭は、御神幸とともに一般の方々に信仰心にも似た清々（すがすが）しい感動をもって受け止められて、今日に至っています。

Furthermore, through the mediation of painter Master Kaneshima Keika, Master Sen Sōsa, the head of the Omotesenke school of tea, issued a call, and with the understanding and cooperation of the heads of Urasenke, Hayami, Yabunouchi, and Mushanokōji Senke schools of tea, Kurozumikyō Kenchasai (Tea Offering Festival) was inaugurated. Together with Goshinkō, Kenchasai was received by the general public with a pure and uplifting emotion akin to faith, and continues to this day.

　地元岡山の山陽新聞社は、田中純作、矢野橋村挿絵になる小説「黒住宗忠」を約半年間に亘（わた）って連載し、その間、田中純氏を中心とした講演会を当時の岡山市公会堂で開催するなど、岡山の生んだ「宗教家黒住宗忠」を広く世に知らせるべく協力、つとめて下さっています。

The local Sanyō Shimbun Newspaper of Okayama serialized for about half a year the novel Kurozumi Munetada, written by Mr. Tanaka Jun and illustrated by Master Yano Kyōson, and during that period also held lectures centered on Mr. Tanaka at the Okayama City Public Hall. In this way, they cooperated and endeavored to widely make known to the world the religious leader Kurozumi Munetada, born in Okayama.

　今改めて振り返ってみますとき、先輩方は教祖神百年大祭を、百年という時空を超えて、現在只今（ただいま）の生きてお働き下さる教祖神にお喜びいただきその高恩にお報いしたいとの一心で、多岐に亘ってつとめられていることが分かります。この精神こそ、立教２００年を４年後に迎える私たちの心根でなければならないと強く思い知らされることです。

Looking back now, one sees that our predecessors devoted themselves to the Centennial Grand Festival of the Divine Founder’s Ascension with the single-hearted wish to bring joy to the Divine Founder who lives and works even now, transcending the hundred years of time and space, and to repay his great benevolence. This spirit is precisely what must be the foundation of our own hearts as we approach the bicentennial of the founding of the faith four years from now.