Oyasato-yakata
Encyclopedia
The oyasato-yakata complex is a collection of buildings in Tenri City, Nara
, Japan
. that form an incomplete square 872 metres (2,860.9 ft) on each side surrounding the Divine Residence (Oyasato), a structure sacred to the Japanese new religion
Tenrikyo
. The task of revitalizing the area around the Residence was informed by both religious prophecy and city planning, and construction began in 1954 on a project that continues today. The oyasato-yakata is a massive organizational undertaking that is understood by Tenrikyo adherents as a spiritual practice
, creating a model city that reflects their belief in a Joyous Life
. As such a practice it has involved the entire Tenrikyo community, from the volunteers who assist in construction to professors who plan the scope of future wings. Archaeologists have also excavated ancient artifacts beneath its foundations.
The complex includes Tenri University
, Tenri Hospital
, Tenri Seminary, the Besseki Lecture Hall, the Shuyoka, dormitories, and Tenri High School. Currently 25 wings of the complex are complete. The complete structure calls for 68 wings.
, built by followers, were also attracting a variety of people to the area. It was around this time that Tenrikyo's Second Shinbashira (community leader) Shōzen Nakayama conceived of creating a grand construction project as a testament to the loyalty of Oyasama's followers.
In 1934, Nakayama commissioned the famed architect Yoshikazu Uchida
to draw up a blueprint for the area. Uchida arranged ten buildings around Oyasama's Residence. A 50-meter boulevard would come out of the Residence on a north-south axis, along which six school buildings would be lined up. Classrooms and large auditoriums would be built at the end of this boulevard. The international school and library were to be eventually integrated into this plan. In January 1937, a middle school (now Tenri High School) was built according to Uchida's plan, but as Japan mobilized for the Pacific War
the plan had to be temporarily shelved.
In 1952, after the war and Occupation, Tenrikyo Chief of Architecture Onzō Okumura (奥村音造) was asked by Nakayama to design a large Besseki Lecture Hall to accommodate 10,000 people on the site of an old girls' school. However, considering the location of the school, several hundred meters to the west of the Residence. Okumura thought back to an old prophecy of Oyasama, as recorded in Tenrikyo's Anecdotes:
Since Tenrikyo was at the time a tiny cult centered around a house in a farming village, the growth of Tenri into a city full of inns paralleling this prophecy was seen as miraculous. In the Osashizu
these prophecies are repeated, with the admonition that "it will not do to think of small things." The original idea was that the planned school buildings and classrooms would be the first part of an enormous central hub that would eventually fill eight cho square. But Okumura began to consider the relationships between the planned buildings and the Residence. If other buildings were placed directly next to the Residence, he reasoned, they would put the Residence in shadow during the sunrise, and metaphorically crowd out the importance of the Jiba itself. Thus, with Nakayama's permission, he developed a new overarching plan for the school, library, and other Tenrikyo buildings surrounding the Residence. His new plan, which arranged the buildings in a great square with open space on the inside, was dubbed the oyasato-yakata, roughly meaning the "grounds of Oyasama's Residence".
In 1954 the Japanese government merged the six villages surrounding the Residence into a single city, which was dubbed Tenri City. In the same year, the Tenrikyo central church announced the construction of the first wing of the yakata. The continuing development of the oyasato-yakata is currently overseen by a committee with a small office in Tenri Seminary.
tenement housing (長屋), but modernized with reinforced walls, multiple stories, and balconies for emergency access. The result is a fusion between Western and Japanese architecture. Gaps were purposefully left in the ground floors for pedestrians, making the yakata a walkable
space. The balconies and rooftops were also designed to please the eye at the ground level. At the same time, the roofs are visible from Oyasama's gravesite north of the city.
As construction began, Tenrikyo followers founded the Oyasato Construction Young Men's Association Hinokishin Corps, which volunteered time and labor to help build the yakata. The corps still continues their work today. By 1956, one corner of the complex had been built at the cost of 23 billion yen, an enormous expense given the economic depression of the time.
When part of the foundations for the complex were dug in 1977, an archaeological investigation uncovered prehistoric artifacts, as is typical during construction in Tenri. Although it was a sparsely inhabited village in Oyasama's time, Tenri City lies on top of a confirmed cultural center of prehistoric Japan.
One Tenrikyo elder has written the following on the subject:
Taro Igarashi notes first and foremost its massive accomplishment in city planning. The ground-level architecture can be compared somewhat to Karl Marx-Hof, a massive tenement complex in Vienna, and the piloti
s evoke Charles Fourier
's phalanstère
, an architectural form specifically designed to evoke and construct an egalitarian utopia. However, the use of Japanese roofs in a modern city is quite rare, and the sheer size of the yakata makes it perhaps a unique megastructure
anywhere in the world. Commenting on Taro's article, the theologian Akio Inoue adds that the final interpretation, for the Tenrikyo believers who funded and built the structure, cannot be to inspire individual faith alone, but to "bridge the Joyous Life of the individual which determines the inner substance of faith and the world of the Joyous Life as an organized community".
Nara Prefecture
is a prefecture in the Kansai region on Honshū Island, Japan. The capital is the city of Nara.-History:The present-day Nara Prefecture was created in 1887, making it independent of Osaka Prefecture....
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. that form an incomplete square 872 metres (2,860.9 ft) on each side surrounding the Divine Residence (Oyasato), a structure sacred to the Japanese new religion
Shinshukyo
is a Japanese term used to describe domestic new religious movements. They are also known as in Japanese, and are most often called simply Japanese new religions in English. Japanese theologians classify all religious organizations founded since the middle of the 19th century as Shinshūkyō. Thus,...
Tenrikyo
Tenrikyo
Tenrikyo is a monotheistic religion originating in revelations to a 19th-century Japanese woman named Nakayama Miki, known as Oyasama by followers...
. The task of revitalizing the area around the Residence was informed by both religious prophecy and city planning, and construction began in 1954 on a project that continues today. The oyasato-yakata is a massive organizational undertaking that is understood by Tenrikyo adherents as a spiritual practice
Spiritual practice
A spiritual practice or spiritual discipline is the regular or full-time performance of actions and activities undertaken for the purpose of cultivating spiritual development. A common metaphor used in the spiritual traditions of the worlds great religions is that of walking a path...
, creating a model city that reflects their belief in a Joyous Life
Joyous Life
In Tenrikyo, the Joyous Life is an ideal taught by spiritual leaders and pursued through charity and abstention from greed, selfishness, hatred, anger and arrogance...
. As such a practice it has involved the entire Tenrikyo community, from the volunteers who assist in construction to professors who plan the scope of future wings. Archaeologists have also excavated ancient artifacts beneath its foundations.
The complex includes Tenri University
Tenri University
is a Japanese private university in Tenri, Nara Prefecture, an independent part of the secular mission of Tenrikyo. It was established in February 1925 as the coeducational , enrolling 104 students, and was reorganised as a university in April 1949...
, Tenri Hospital
Tenri Hospital
Tenri Hospital is an international hospital in Tenri City, Nara Prefecture, Japan. It was founded as part of the secular mission of Tenrikyo...
, Tenri Seminary, the Besseki Lecture Hall, the Shuyoka, dormitories, and Tenri High School. Currently 25 wings of the complex are complete. The complete structure calls for 68 wings.
Origins
At the beginning of the 20th century, the teachings of Tenrikyo's foundress Oyasama became popular throughout Japan. In the following decades, the most devoted followers coalesced around Oyasama's residence in rural Nara, which she had perceived as the birthplace of the world, or Jiba. The six villages surrounding the Jiba slowly became filled with Tenrikyo ministers, mystics, and evangelists, and the area was urbanized. A popular international school (now Tenri University) and Tenri Central LibraryTenri Central Library
Tenri Central Library is the library of Tenri University. It has notably extensive collections in antiquarian material, including original manuscripts from 13th century Japan, and artifacts of European exploration and early visits to Japan. Dating to 1926, the library predates the university itself...
, built by followers, were also attracting a variety of people to the area. It was around this time that Tenrikyo's Second Shinbashira (community leader) Shōzen Nakayama conceived of creating a grand construction project as a testament to the loyalty of Oyasama's followers.
In 1934, Nakayama commissioned the famed architect Yoshikazu Uchida
Yoshikazu Uchida
was a Japanese architect and structural engineer. He designed many buildings on the campus of the University of Tokyo, and served as the 14th president of the university.-Career:...
to draw up a blueprint for the area. Uchida arranged ten buildings around Oyasama's Residence. A 50-meter boulevard would come out of the Residence on a north-south axis, along which six school buildings would be lined up. Classrooms and large auditoriums would be built at the end of this boulevard. The international school and library were to be eventually integrated into this plan. In January 1937, a middle school (now Tenri High School) was built according to Uchida's plan, but as Japan mobilized for the Pacific War
Pacific War
The Pacific War, also sometimes called the Asia-Pacific War refers broadly to the parts of World War II that took place in the Pacific Ocean, its islands, and in East Asia, then called the Far East...
the plan had to be temporarily shelved.
In 1952, after the war and Occupation, Tenrikyo Chief of Architecture Onzō Okumura (奥村音造) was asked by Nakayama to design a large Besseki Lecture Hall to accommodate 10,000 people on the site of an old girls' school. However, considering the location of the school, several hundred meters to the west of the Residence. Okumura thought back to an old prophecy of Oyasama, as recorded in Tenrikyo's Anecdotes:
Since Tenrikyo was at the time a tiny cult centered around a house in a farming village, the growth of Tenri into a city full of inns paralleling this prophecy was seen as miraculous. In the Osashizu
Osashizu
In Tenrikyo, the Osashizu is a compilation of the continued revelations of Tenri-O-no-Mikoto through Izō Iburi, the first Honseki after Oyasama "hid her physical being." It was compiled into annual anthologies and is considered secondary only to Ofudesaki in importance. It is also much longer than...
these prophecies are repeated, with the admonition that "it will not do to think of small things." The original idea was that the planned school buildings and classrooms would be the first part of an enormous central hub that would eventually fill eight cho square. But Okumura began to consider the relationships between the planned buildings and the Residence. If other buildings were placed directly next to the Residence, he reasoned, they would put the Residence in shadow during the sunrise, and metaphorically crowd out the importance of the Jiba itself. Thus, with Nakayama's permission, he developed a new overarching plan for the school, library, and other Tenrikyo buildings surrounding the Residence. His new plan, which arranged the buildings in a great square with open space on the inside, was dubbed the oyasato-yakata, roughly meaning the "grounds of Oyasama's Residence".
In 1954 the Japanese government merged the six villages surrounding the Residence into a single city, which was dubbed Tenri City. In the same year, the Tenrikyo central church announced the construction of the first wing of the yakata. The continuing development of the oyasato-yakata is currently overseen by a committee with a small office in Tenri Seminary.
Construction
The yakata was designed along the lines of Edo periodEdo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
tenement housing (長屋), but modernized with reinforced walls, multiple stories, and balconies for emergency access. The result is a fusion between Western and Japanese architecture. Gaps were purposefully left in the ground floors for pedestrians, making the yakata a walkable
Walkability
Walkability is a measure of how friendly an area is to walking. Walkability has many health, environmental, and economic benefits. Factors influencing walkability include the presence or absence and quality of footpaths, sidewalks or other pedestrian right-of-ways, traffic and road conditions,...
space. The balconies and rooftops were also designed to please the eye at the ground level. At the same time, the roofs are visible from Oyasama's gravesite north of the city.
As construction began, Tenrikyo followers founded the Oyasato Construction Young Men's Association Hinokishin Corps, which volunteered time and labor to help build the yakata. The corps still continues their work today. By 1956, one corner of the complex had been built at the cost of 23 billion yen, an enormous expense given the economic depression of the time.
When part of the foundations for the complex were dug in 1977, an archaeological investigation uncovered prehistoric artifacts, as is typical during construction in Tenri. Although it was a sparsely inhabited village in Oyasama's time, Tenri City lies on top of a confirmed cultural center of prehistoric Japan.
Timeline of construction
| Name | Translation | Scale | Date of completion | Facilities |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shin Tō Tō (真東棟) | East Center Wing | six stories, one underground floor | 26 October 1955 | Kyōgi oyobi Shiryō Shūseibu, Tenri Ongaku Kenkyūkai, Tenri Kyōkō Honka |
| Tō Sa Dai-ittō (東左第一棟) | East Left Wing 1 | five stories, one underground floor | 26 October 1955 | Besseki-jō |
| Tō Sa Dai-nitō (東左第二棟) | East Left Wing 2 | five stories, one underground floor | 26 October 1955 | Besseki-jō |
| Tō Sa Dai-santō (東左第三棟) | East Left Wing 3 | five stories, one underground floor | 26 October 1955 | Besseki-jō, Shūyōka, Tenrikyō Mikka Kōshūkai |
| Tō Sa Dai-yontō (東左第四棟) | East Left Wing 4 | five stories, two underground floors | 26 October 1955 | Besseki-jō, Shūyōka |
| Tō Sa Dai-gotō (東左第五棟) | East Left Wing 5 | five stories, two underground floors | 25 October 1962 | Shūyōka |
| Nan Sa Dai-yontō (南左第四棟) | South Left Wing 4 | five stories, two underground floors | 13 September 1965 | Tenri University Tenri University is a Japanese private university in Tenri, Nara Prefecture, an independent part of the secular mission of Tenrikyo. It was established in February 1925 as the coeducational , enrolling 104 students, and was reorganised as a university in April 1949... |
| Nishi U Dai-nitō (西右第二棟) | West Right Wing 2 | eight stories, one underground floor | 25 November 1965 | Tenri Hospital Tenri Hospital Tenri Hospital is an international hospital in Tenri City, Nara Prefecture, Japan. It was founded as part of the secular mission of Tenrikyo... (Ikoi no Ie) |
| Nishi U Dai-santō (西右第三棟) | West Right Wing 3 | eight stories, one underground floor | 25 November 1965 | Tenri Hospital (Ikoi no Ie) |
| Nan Sa Dai-santō (南左第三棟) | South Left Wing 3 | five stories, two underground floors | 25 November 1967 | Tenri Elementary School |
| Nan Sa Dai-nitō (南左第二棟) | South Left Wing 2 | five stories, two underground floors | 1 September 1969 | Tenri Elementary School |
| Nishi Sa Dai-yontō (西左第四棟) | West Left Wing 4 | eight stories, one underground floor | 25 October 1970 | Shinja Tsumesho Dormitory (Kōriyama Daikyōkai, Chūka Daikyōkai) |
| Tō U Dai-ittō (東右第一棟) | East Right Wing 1 | five stories, one underground floor | 30 December 1972 | Tenri Seminary |
| Nan Sa Dai-ittō (南左第一棟) | South Left Wing 1 | five stories, two underground floors | 29 June 1975 | Tenrikyō Kyōchō |
| Kita Sa Dai-yontō (北左第四棟) | North Left Wing 4 | seven stories, two underground floors | 29 September 1975 | Shinja Tsumesho Dormitory (Gakutō Daikyōkai, Kashima Daikyōkai) |
| Nishi Sa Dai-santō (西左第三棟) | West Left Wing 3 | eight stories, one underground floor | 15 October 1975 | Shinja Tsumesho Dormitory (Kōchi Daikyōkai) |
| Tō U Dai-yontō (東右第四棟) | East Right Wing 4 | five stories, two underground floors | 2 April 1979 | Kyōkaichō Ninmei Kōshūkai, Kyōkaichō Shikaku Kentei Kōshūkai |
| Nishi Sa Dai-gotō (西左第五棟) | West Left Wing 5 | eight stories, one underground floor | 27 March 1980 | Shinja Tsumesho Dormitory (Shikishima Daikyōkai) |
| Nishi U Dai-gotō (西右第五棟) | West Right Wing 5 | eight stories, two underground floors | 1 December 1981 | Shinja Tsumesho Dormitory (Nankai Daikyōkai) |
| Nishi U Dai-yontō (西右第四棟) | West Right Wing 4 | eight stories, two underground floors | 1 April 1983 | Tenri Hospital (Ikoi no Ie) |
| Nan U Dai-santō (南右第三棟) | South Right Wing 3 | seven stories, two underground floors | 31 August 1985 | Shinja Tsumesho Dormitory (Takayasu Daikyōkai) |
| Shin Nan Tō (南真棟) | South Center Wing | six stories | 25 May 1992 | School bureau, Ichiretsukai scholarship foundation, Tenri Youth Society bureau, student committee, student hall |
| Nishi U Dai-hattō (西右第八棟)The two wings completed in 1993 are together called the Inui-sumi-tō 乾隅棟 or Northwest Corner. | West Right Wing 8 | eight stories, one underground floor | 25 October 1993 | Tenri Kyōkō Gakuen High School |
| Kita Sa Dai-hattō (北左第八棟) | North Left Wing 8 | eight stories, one underground floor | 25 October 1993 | Tenri Kyōkō Gakuen High School |
| Nan U Dai-ittō (南右第一棟) | South Right Wing 1 | five stories, two underground floors | 30 November 2000 | Tenri Sankōkan Museum |
| Nan U Dai-nitō (南右第二棟) | South Right Wing 2 | five stories, two underground floors | 25 October 2005 | Tenrikyō Kiso Kōza, classrooms, exhibition space, movie theater, Yōki Hall |
Influence on the city
Information theorist Nomura Masaichi, noting Tenrikyo's description of the oyasato-yakata as a realization of the prophecy of Oyasama and the Tenrikyo saying that "in the construction of form lies the construction of hearts", refers to the ongoing construction as a "medium that combats decontextualization", claiming that it gives renewed relevance to the teachings and introduces a physical context by giving them an active role in shaping the city, and that in time, the thoughts of Tenrikyo believers will come to embody the grand scale of the architecture.One Tenrikyo elder has written the following on the subject:
Taro Igarashi notes first and foremost its massive accomplishment in city planning. The ground-level architecture can be compared somewhat to Karl Marx-Hof, a massive tenement complex in Vienna, and the piloti
Piloti
Pilotis, or piers, are supports such as columns, pillars, or stilts that lift a building above ground or water. They are traditionally found in stilt and pole dwellings such as fishermen's huts in Asia and Scandinavia using wood and in elevated houses such as Old Queenslanders in Australia's...
s evoke Charles Fourier
Charles Fourier
François Marie Charles Fourier was a French philosopher. An influential thinker, some of Fourier's social and moral views, held to be radical in his lifetime, have become main currents in modern society...
's phalanstère
Phalanstère
A phalanstère was a type of building designed for an utopian community and developed in the early 19th century by Charles Fourier. Based on the idea of a phalanx, this self-contained community ideally consisted of 1500-1600 people working together for mutual benefit...
, an architectural form specifically designed to evoke and construct an egalitarian utopia. However, the use of Japanese roofs in a modern city is quite rare, and the sheer size of the yakata makes it perhaps a unique megastructure
Megastructure
A megastructure is a very large manmade object, though the limits of precisely how large this is vary considerably. Some apply the term to any especially large or tall building....
anywhere in the world. Commenting on Taro's article, the theologian Akio Inoue adds that the final interpretation, for the Tenrikyo believers who funded and built the structure, cannot be to inspire individual faith alone, but to "bridge the Joyous Life of the individual which determines the inner substance of faith and the world of the Joyous Life as an organized community".
Further reading
- Igarashi Takayoshi, "City of the Joyous Life: Tenrikyo's Oyasato-Yakata." In Beautiful Cities and Wishes, Tokyo: Gakugei Shuppansha, 2006.
- 五十嵐敬喜 ”陽気ぐらしの都市—天理教とおやさとやかた” 「美しい都市と祈り」 京都: 学芸出版社, 2006.4