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(Summary)

Rev. Yoshizo Katayama, the 2nd head minister of Honjima Grand Church, was born on April 28, 1869, in Kosho area of Honjima Island, as the 3rd son of Takejiro and Karu Nagao. He was a general contractor and was adopted to Katayama family by marrying with Haru Katayama at the age of 25.

However, he encountered a series of mishaps in his business and as a result, he continued to experience business failures. In 1902, when he was 34 years old, he suffered from a major illness. Then he met Rev. Eisa Sato, a missionary from Koshinokuni Branch Church who was doing the missionary work in Honjima Island at the time. Rev. Yoshizo was inspired by Rev. Sato’s sincerity and salvation work, which has led him to enter Tenrikyo faith.

Despite his illness, he visited Koshinokuni Branch Church and Kawaramachi Branch Church to pay respect to the parental churches. He, then, returned to Jiba. Rev. Yoshizo was blessed with a full recovery by the time he returned to Honjima Island.

Since then, until he passed away for rebirth on June 27, 1942, at the age of 74, he lived a life of faith, single-heartedly devoting himself to the spiritual parent.

Honjima is an island in the middle of the Seto Inland Sea with a circumference of approximately 9.76 miles. By this vast ocean, we are connected with the world.

I think Rev. Yoshizo focused on the convenience of this location and kept overseas missionary work in his mind from early on.

Missionary efforts to the former Japanese occupied Seoul began in 1903. From various places on the Korean Penninsula to Manchuria, China and Mongolia, missionaries were dispatched and churches were established. Also missionary efforts on ships were conducted. Sailors who were Yoboku conducted missionary work at each port of call and the path reached Southeast Asia. Furthermore, from the port cities such as Yokohama and Kobe to mainland America and the Hawaiian archipelago, missionaries were dispatched and many churches were established. This is in relation to the present churches overseas. It gained a reputation called the “Missionary Efforts by Compass,” which became the form of missionary strategy unique to the path of Honjima.

The construction plan of the Main Sanctuary, the Foundress’ Sanctuary, and the South Worship Hall of the Church Headquarters was announced as the “Showa Construction” between 1931 and 1934. Honjima Branch Church was able to donate all the stone materials for the foundation of the sanctuary structures. Moreover, in 1934, when the model Kanrodai was placed in the inner sanctuary, Honjima, again, was able to donate the stone materials for the foundation of the Kanrodai.

In his later years, on May 14, 1941, Honjima was given a higher position as a grand church, and its dedication service was conducted.

In a memory shared by those who knew Rev. Yoshizo personally, “Rev. Yoshizo spent most of his time in Korea and Manchuria doing missionary work, and he only came back to Honjima just for three or four days before and after the monthly service each month. When he returned to Honjima, he would sit in the sanctuary, gathered people and talked about the teachings until two or three o’clock in the morning. He was thorough about the teachings, and he was indeed the embodiment of the teachings.

Also, another reverend commented,

“Rev. Yoshizo guided me from 1923 until he passed away for rebirth in 1942. He did not talk about the teachings only for 30 minutes or so. Rather, he talked about the teachings for two to three hours, if not, all through the night. If the person still was not convinced, then he even took days to persuade him/her until s/he is fully convinced. No matter how much s/he counter-argued Rev. Yoshizo initianlly, s/he was eventually brought to a point where s/he admired Rev. Yoshizo.

I think Rev. Yoshizo was a big-hearted person with full of passion.

He always kept in mind the indebtedness of gratitude of being saved. He conveyed universal salvation and the construction of the Joyous Life World widely to many people with passion and with his faith—single-heartedly devoting himself to the spiritual parent.

Aiming for the 120th Anniversary of Honjima Grand Church, this year’s the Goals for Spiritual Maturity has been announced.

"If you bind yourselves together in a unity of minds, I shall provide any blessings for you."
• Let us follow the Divine Model of Oyasama.
• Let us devote ourselves to perform the service.
• Let us dedicate ourselves to nurture people to attend the Besseki lectures and have them continue attending until they complete all nine.
• Let us nurture those who will shoulder the future of the path.

Once again, let us deepen the understanding of the Goals for Spiritual Maturity. Next year we will finally welcome the year to carry out the work. Let us work diligently next year as well.

Thank you very much for your kind attention.

(Summary)

My second and third daughters are currently the staff members at the grand church as Joshiseinen, Young Women’s service, full time staff.

I feel very grateful that my daughters were under the kind care of other grand church staff members as well as local church ministers and our fellow followers.

My parents are also full-time staff here at the grand church. So for my daughters, it is like living with their grandparents.

My wife and I are at my church, living separately from them. Therefore, I am grateful for my parents for working with my daughters closely and for nurturing them through various tasks. My daughters seem to enjoy working here at the grand church.

My second daughter, after graduating from Tenri High School, she entered the Shiraume-Dorm, with the goal of studying childcare at a vocational school. After graduation, she worked at the Tenri Day Care Center for a year, then two years at Doho Gakuen School in Kobe, and then completed one year of Joshiseinen service. She has since returned to our church.

She had made plans far in advance to go to a concert with her friend, which was right after she completed her Joshiseinen service, however, she was assigned to become the Honjima dormitory counselor for the Shuyoka Spiritual Development Course and the training course fell on the same day.

She pondered whether to attend the concert of her favorite band or attend the training session, and her answer was “I will turn down the concert and perform my service.”

I was certain that she was going to choose the concert. If I were in her shoes, I wonder what I would have done. I was so surprised that I really thought, “Is this really my daughter!?”

My daughter, as she discovers her own path, has come to choose the path that will bring the most joy to God the Parent. For me, there’s no greater joy.

Next, my third daughter, after graduating from Tenri High School, immediately began her Joshiseinen Young Women’s service at the grand church. She wrote an article that was published in the Kagawa district’s newsletter and I would like to read from that.

“At the start of 2019, I took part in the grand church’s New Year’s Service for the first time as a Joshiseinen. As is customary at the grand church, we wrote our New Year’s messages. As I read the messages written by the long-time residents, the one written by my grandmother caught my eye. In large letters it said, ‘FUSEKOMI (sowing seeds of sincerity) is the joy of the future.’ I was surprised and at the same time, I was embarrassed to think, ‘she still needs to sow seeds?’

My grandmother will turn 80 years old this year. I have heard since I was a child of how she came to Honjima after marrying, and has been a long-term resident here, working in the kitchen as well as performing hinokishin in a variety of ways. However, when I deliberately think of how she has lived this way for years on end and planting her seeds of sincerity, I am truly moved.

Although I had started with the intention to plant my seeds for two years of Joshiseinen service, I’ve realized that, without even my knowledge, I think God the Parent, through my grandmother, had made me more aware of my service.

This is probably just my imagination but it warms my heart to think that what my grandmother meant by ‘looking forward to the future,’ is not about what she will personally experience, rather that everyone she is connected with can live joyously. For me it brought on a new meaning to the term, ‘looking forward to the future through dedication.’ I would like to treasure this as I continue on daily."

I thought it was an enlightened perception for a parent.

Of course while serving at the grand church, there were times I received calls of complaints from my daughters. My wife and I, after completely hearing what they had to say, relayed our thoughts and settled the matter.

I feel, serving at the grand church is not always all happy times. There are times it definitely is not. Yet, what is important is the way in which we perceive those experiences and to accept all things we are shown based on the faith. What I am most grateful for is that I am able to learn how to truly feel joyous.

I would like to strongly recommend serving at the grand church to everyone.