高弟森下景端先生のこと
(About High Disciple Morishita Kagenao)
平成27年1月号掲載(Published in January 2015 issue)
謹賀新年（New Year’s Greetings）
昨年の立教二百年大祝祭を、共に有り難く斎行させていただきましたことを、ご同慶至極に存じ、あらためて共に教祖の神様に御礼申し上げたく思います。
I am deeply grateful that we were able to conduct last year’s Bicentennial Grand Festival of the Founding together, and I wish once again to offer thanks to the Founder God in fellowship with you.
そして、今年秋の大元・宗忠神社ご鎮座百三十年記念祝祭を、共に有り難く迎えたく願います。
This autumn, I hope we may also reverently celebrate together the 130th Anniversary Festival of the enshrinement of Munetada Shrine at Ōmoto 大元宗忠神社.
大元・宗忠神社と申しますと、私にとりまして大きな存在は高弟森下景端先生High Disciple Morishita Kagenaoです。
Speaking of Munetada Shrine at Ōmoto, for me a great presence is Senior Disciple Morishita Kagenao.
先生は御道信仰の深いことはもとより、豪毅(ごうき)なともいえる武人魂と情熱の人でありました。
He was not only deeply devoted in faith, but also a man of martial spirit and passion, even to the point of being called indomitable.
なにしろ、その入信の動機からして特異です。岡山藩の武士仲間方が、二(注)・七の御会日毎(ごと)に次々と教祖神のお説教を拝聴に中野（今の大元）に足繁く通っている上、家老の伊木長門守(ながとのみ)にいたっては、教祖神をお屋敷に度々お迎えして下へも置かぬ丁重さで、門人としての礼を尽くしているのを不本意に思っていた森下先生でした。
Indeed, even his motive for entering the faith was unusual. While his fellow samurai of the Okayama domain regularly attended the Divine Founder sermons at Nakano (today’s Ōmoto) six times each month (on the second, seventh, 12th, 17th, 22nd and 27th day of each month), and even Chief Retainer Iki Nagato-no-kami often welcomed the Divine Founder to his residence with utmost courtesy, Morishita was displeased by such devotion.
自分自身が二・七（まいつき、二と七のつく日）の御会日に乗り込んで、何か教祖神の揚げ足を取ろうとしたのが、逆に教祖神のご人格とほとばしり出るようなお説教に引き込まれ、その場で入門した方でした。
Determined to catch the Divine Founder in a misstep, he himself went to one of the regular gatherings. Yet instead, he was drawn in by the Divine Founder’s noble character and overflowing sermons, and on that very occasion he entered the faith.
先生は、岡山藩士として江戸時代末期にその力量を存分に発揮するとともに、明治時代になると大分県令（知事）として敏腕を振るわれました。晩年の先生の述懐として次のような一言が残っています。
As an Okayama domain samurai, High Disciple Morishita Kagenao fully demonstrated his abilities in the late Edo period, and in the Meiji era he distinguished himself as Governor of Ōita Prefecture. A remark from his later years remains:
「予(よ)（私）の世に処するや、軍事といわず行政といわず、全て黒住の教えに遵拠(じゅんきょ)して誤りなきを得たり」。
“In all my conduct in the world—whether military or administrative—I followed the teachings of Kurozumi and thereby avoided error.”
特に大分県令時代のエピソードはユニークです。
森下先生は、今日(こんにち)ではありえないことですが、県令の立場にあって大分県内各地に教会所を創立させていきました。それは部下に始まり縁ある人たちに道を説き、あるいは病み苦しむ人にご神徳を取り次いで助け、次々とお道づれを生み育てられました。
Especially during his time as Governor of Ōita, his actions were unique. In a way unthinkable today, he used his position to establish churches throughout the prefecture. Beginning with his subordinates and extending to those connected with him, he preached the Way, mediated divine blessings to the sick and suffering, and nurtured many new fellow believers.
森下先生在任中のある日、県令室に地元の神主さん方が面会を申し出て来ました。その代表の方の言です。「県令閣下、貴殿が黒住教を布教されることをとやかく言うわけではありませんが、つい先ほどまで畑で肥(こえ)（肥料にする糞尿(ふんにょう)）をまいていた者が、私どもと同じ装束姿で神前に上がるということはいかがなものか」。先生曰(いわ)く「では尋ねるが、びろうな話だがあなた方は便所で用便をしたあと何でふくか。紙だろう。その紙の厚さと肥をまく柄杓(ひしゃく)の柄(え)とどちらが長いか」。これには神主さん方も二の句が継げられず大笑いになったということです。
One day during High Disciple Morishita Kagenao’s tenure as Governor of Ōita, local Shinto priests requested an audience. Their representative said:
“Governor, we do not object to your spreading the teachings of Kurozumikyō. But is it fitting that someone who just moments ago was spreading manure in the fields should ascend before the kami in the same priestly robes as we?”
The high disciple replied:
“Then let me ask you—though it may be a coarse question. After relieving yourself in the toilet, what do you use to wipe? Paper, of course. Now, which is longer—the thickness of that paper, or the handle of the ladle used to spread fertilizer?”
The priests were struck speechless, then burst into laughter.
森下先生は、大分県令を退(ひ)いてからは副管長として三代宗篤管長（教主）を支えられました。
After retiring from his post as Governor of Ōita, Morishita served as Vice Superintendent, supporting the Third Chief Patriarch Kurozumi Muneatsu.
中でも特筆すべきは、１３０年前の宗忠神社ご鎮座にまつわる先生のご活躍です。
Most noteworthy among his achievements was his role in the enshrinement of Munetada Shrine in Okayama 130 years ago.
その頃、岡山には山陽鉄道（現在のＪＲ山陽線）という名のもとに、京阪神戸から西に伸びる鉄道の敷設(ふせつ)計画がありました。当初その線路は、西大寺の街（現岡山市東区西大寺）を経て現在の護國(ごこく)神社鎮座の地にトンネルで抜けて出て、今の市電の終点東山（ひがしやま）の辺りに岡山駅を作る計画があったようです。大分県令までつとめた森下先生でしたから、いわゆる情報が入るのが早かったのでしょう。将来の交通の便を考えて、宗忠神社建立の地を東山の一角にと訴えられていました。
At that time, there were plans for the Sanyō Railway (today’s JR Sanyō Line), extending westward from Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe. The original plan was for the line to pass through the town of Saidaiji (now Saidaiji in Higashi Ward, Okayama City), then emerge by tunnel at the site where Gokoku Shrine now stands, and to build Okayama Station near Higashiyama 東山, today’s terminus of the city tram.
Because High Disciple Morishita Kagenao had served even as Governor of Ōita Prefecture, he received information quickly. Considering future transportation access, he strongly advocated that Munetada Shrine be established at a corner of Higashiyama.
教祖神ご降誕、ご立教の地大元か、東山かと侃々諤々(かんかんがくがく)の議論の末、今日の教祖記念館の御神前における三代様の御神裁(ごしんさい)の結果、宗忠神社ご建立は大元と決定されました。その夜、東山説を唱え推進してきた同志と残念無念の涙を流した森下先生は、翌朝、教祖記念館の御神前で三代様にその全財産の７７００円の目録を捧(ささ)げ、直ちに大元・宗忠神社ご建立を訴えて全国布教の旅に出られたのでした。
After much heated debate over whether Munetada Shrine should be established at Ōmoto—the Divine Founder’s birthplace and site of the founding of Kurozumikyō—or at Higashiyama, the decision was made by divine judgment of the Third Chief Patriarch before the altar of the Founder’s Memorial Hall: the shrine would be built at Ōmoto.
That night, Morishita Kagenao, who had long advocated and promoted the Higashiyama plan, wept bitter tears with his comrades. Yet the next morning, before the altar of the Founder’s Memorial Hall, he offered a record of his entire fortune—7,700 yen—and immediately set out on a nationwide missionary journey to appeal for the establishment of Munetada Shrine at Ōmoto.
昨年の立教二百年の年はまた神道山ご遷座４０年の年でもありましたが、神道山ご遷座に至るまではまさに紆余(うよ)曲折(きょくせつ)がありました。岡山市の土地区画整理事業で、霊地大元の直前を南北に大きな道路が横切るなど、大元周辺の大変貌が予想されていただけに、教団本部は当初大元の裏地の購入に努力していました。そういう中で、東山の、今は護國神社が鎮座する土地の東側の広大な丘陵地が、新たな教団本部としての候補地に上がりました。心動かされたのは素晴らしい場所であることもさることながら、東山は、森下景端先生が宗忠神社をと定められた地ということでした。
Last year marked not only the Bicentennial of the Founding but also the 40th anniversary of the transfer to Shintōzan. The path to that transfer was full of twists and turns. With Okayama City’s land readjustment project expected to bring major changes around Ōmoto—including a large north–south road cutting directly in front of the sacred site—the headquarters initially sought to purchase land behind Ōmoto. Amid this, a vast hill to the east of the site where Gokoku Shrine 岡山県護国神社 now stands in Higashiyama emerged as a candidate for the new headquarters. What moved hearts was not only the excellence of the location, but also the fact that Higashiyama was the very site once designated by High Disciple Morishita Kagenao for Munetada Shrine.
今から思いますのに、昭和４２、３年のその頃、この東山に大教殿をという動きがなかったら、今日の神道山へのご遷座もなかったのではないかとさえ思います。霊地大元を措(お)いて他に教団本部はないとの、多くの皆さんの強い思いの重い腰を持ち上げてくれたのは、この”東山”だったのです。
Looking back, I feel that without the movement in Shōwa 42–43 (1967–1968) to establish Daikyōden (the Main Shrine) at Higashiyama, the later transfer to Shintōzan might never have occurred. It was precisely this “Higashiyama” that lifted the heavy reluctance of many who believed there could be no headquarters apart from the sacred site Ōmoto.
そういう意味でも、森下先生は生きてお働き下さったと私は今も確信しています。
In this sense, I remain convinced that High Disciple Morishita continued to work and live through these events.
私が森下先生に心ひかれるところのもうひとつは、ご令息ご昇天の時の先生です。
Another aspect that deeply moves me about him is how he faced the death of his son.
生来病弱だったご令息は、先生が各地の教会所を巡っているさ中に亡くなられました。走り帰った先生は、すでに冷たくなったわが子を抱きしめ、男泣きに泣きながら叱りつけられました。「なぜ親より早く逝った！」。その号泣と怒声は、周囲の人々の新たな涙を誘いました。しばらく泣き続けた先生はご遺体をやさしく床に寝かせると、つつっと後へ下がって忍び手で拍手して平伏し、「弱い身でよくぞ生き抜いて、私たち両親を楽しませてくれた……」と嗚咽(おえつ)しながら語り掛け、しばらくするとその声は朗々たるお祓いの奏上となったのでした。
His son, frail from birth, passed away while the high disciple was traveling among churches. Rushing home, he embraced his already cold child, weeping as he scolded: “Why did you go before your parent!” His cries and anger drew fresh tears from those around him. After a time, he gently laid the body down, stepped back, clapped softly in reverence, and bowed low. Through sobs he spoke: “Though weak in body, you endured life well and brought joy to us, your parents…” Soon his voice rose into a clear prayer of purification.
御道びと、そして快男子森下景端先生を崇(あが)め敬う所以(ゆえん)です。
This is why we revere and honor High Disciple Morishita Kagenao—both as a man of the Way and as a noble gentleman.
大元・宗忠神社ご鎮座百三十年の元旦に、あらためて森下景端先生に思いを馳(は)せ御礼申し上げることです。
On New Year’s Day marking the 130th Anniversary of the enshrinement of Munetada Shrine at Ōmoto, I once again turn my thoughts to High Disciple Morishita Kagenao and offer him my heartfelt gratitude.
