News

Japanese Class New Year Party” Held

The annual “TOC Japanese Class New Year Party” was held on 5th February, and 2 participants experienced Shogatsu or the New Year, one of our Japanese traditional events with the staff and international students.

The TOC Japanese Class started in February 1999, as a core of the Centre’s social and cultural activities for the local community. At present, various classes including “Introductory”, “Intermediate”, “Advanced” and “Conversation” are regularly held from Monday through Saturday except the long school holidays, where Japanese and Japanese culture are taught.

The New Year Party started from 10:30 a.m. and the participants first tackled Kakizome. It was very impressive to see that they tried hard to write some words in Japanese such as ‘New Year’, ‘Japan’ and so on with the writing brush, which it seemed was very difficult for them to handle. After that, they fully enjoyed Japanese traditional games such as Kendama, Daruma-otoshi, Hagoita, and Koma, all of which attracted their interest very much since they experienced them for the very first time.

For lunch, they cooked Takoyaki or octopus balls which is a Japanese popular taste and cheap price. They loved it very much to such an extent that they wanted to buy the special cooking plate for Takoyaki. They seemed to become more interested in Japanese culture through experiencing it in various ways, which is totally different from learning Japanese in the classroom.

The Joyous Life Lecture for 2012 was conducted at five venues in the Oceania diocese from 29th January to 7th February, inviting Rev. Melvin Iwata, head minister of Tenrikyo Honolulu-ko Church in Hawaii, USA. The Lecture was attended by a total of 86 people including 35 non-Tenrikyo followers, starting on 29th January in Brisbane, followed by Auckland, Turners Beach in Tasmania, Melbourne and Lennox Head in New South Wales.

The first Lecture was held on the last Sunday in January at the Oceania Centre in Brisbane. The number of the attendants was about half of the previous years, perhaps due to such reasons as that it was held immediately after many big events at the Centre in January. However, 23 people gathered, attending the lecture attentively. Especially during the Q & A session, many questions and comments were actively made, which made the Lecture more fruitful and meaningful. After the lecture, lunch was served, where the participants enjoyed talking to each other in a casual and friendly atmosphere.

The Lecture in Auckland in New Zealand was held as a sequel to last year’s Lecture at the Beautiful New Zealand Fellowship in the evening on 31st Janaury, which was attended by 10 people including Yoboku and followers as well as non-Tenrikyo followers who listened attentively to the lecture. There were a few Japanese ladies who had participated in the “Lecture for Mothers” held in the past. As many participants were Japanese, a translation in Japanese was handed out, which was very much appreciated. After the lecture, a dinner party was held where all the participants and their children had a very good time together with Rev. Iwata.

The Lecture in Tasmania was conducted for the first time since 2008 at the residence of Mr. & Mrs. Tony Smith in Turners Beach in Tasmania, who have been guided by missionaries from Oko Branch Church in Kurashiki, Japan who have engaged in missionary work in Melbourne and Tasmania since over ten years ago. The Lecture that started from one o’clock on 4th February was attended by 14 people who were friends and acquaintances of Mr. & Mrs. Smith as well as three missionaries from Oko Branch Church. After the lecture, a luncheon party was held, where all of the attendants shared a wonderful time with each other by having wonderful meals as well as music performances including fife, ukulele and piano in a relaxed atmosphere.

Then the Lecture in Melbourne was held on 5th February at Melbourne Shinyu Church for the first time in two years, after its February Monthly Service was completed, as a substitute for the monthly service sermon, and joined by 16 people including missionaries from Oko Branch Church and their followers. After the lecture, a luncheon was held where the participants promoted mutual friendship with Rev. Iwata in a cozy atmosphere.

In the evening on 7th February, the last Lecture was conducted in Lennox Head in New South Wales as a sequel to last year’s Lecture at the residence of Mr. Noel Wright, a Yoboku led by Mrs. Michiko Jones who had laid the foundation of Tenrikyo in Australia. In spite of being a weekday’s evening, the venue for the event was filled with 23 people including Mr. Wright’s family and friends, as well as Rev. Motoichi Shiba, head minister of Notoku Branch Church, who had just made a missionary visit to his followers in Australia. Most of the attendants were non-Tenrikyo followers who listened to the lecture with interest, among whom there were many who had attended the Lecture last year. Following the lecture, a dinner party was held and all the participants shared a significant time where some of them asked the lecturer a personal question.

Looking back on the Joyous Life Lecture this time, as represented by the two venues of Tasmania and Lennox Head, it has become very obvious that the parental churches in Japan utilised the Joyous Life Lecture as part of their missionary work in order to promote their activities in the region. In this sense, it adds another significance to the original purpose of the Joyous Life Lecture which is “an introductory lecture of Tenrikyo for those who have not known the teachings”. In this regard, we would like to make further efforts to pursue this tendancy and convey the teachings of the Joyous Life to as many people as possible. We humbly ask for your further support and co-operation.

Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to thank all people concerned who made great efforts to prepare for the Lecture and invite people with enthusiasm in each venue. We highly appreciate their sincere contribution and dedication. Thank you very much.

On 15th & 16th January, the “5th Youth Gathering in Oceania” was lively held at the Centre, inviting youths including mainly senior high school and university students in the diocese. This gathering was held just two years ago for the first time with the hope of providing such young people in the region who used to participate in the Children’s Sleepovers, sponsored by the Centre many times, with an opportunity to learn the teachings of Oyasama and to follow this faith in their future. During this gathering, the 5th time, 17 high school and university students including 14 boys and 3 girls, and 1 trainer, assembled not only from Brisbane and the Gold Coast but also from Sydney, and shared a very fruitful and precious time with each other.

In the opening ceremony which started from 1:30 p.m., right after worshipping God the Parent and Oyasama, Rev. Adachi made opening remarks in which he talked about the importance of active participation in various activities as a student of the path living in the Oceania region, and then expressed his hope that each participant would strengthen his/her bond with each other. After that, they enjoyed a ‘self-introduction sugoroku game’ which helped them know each other. Later, the service practice was conducted. Listening to the explanation of the importance of the service by Rev. Adachi, they learned the basic hand movements and practiced the Eight Verses of Yorozuyo verse by verse. Then, in “Exercise 2”, divided into small groups, they talked about ‘Happiness’ as the theme, and made a poster to present what they talked about to other groups.

After the evening service and dinner, they participated in “Exercise 3” where the information exchange games based on the HARP program were conducted, and found it important to help each other and communicate with each other positively. The last program of the day was “Looking back” where each participant looked back on Day 1 by making a one-minute speech.

Day 2 started by doing clean-up hinokishin within the Tenri Youth Hall and outside. In the manabi during the morning service, the participants were in charge of playing the musical instruments and played them earnestly, which impressed us very much. After breakfast, they enjoyed “Exercise 4” where they challenged the “Blind Walk”. Divided into a pair, one of them with a blindfold tries to walk led by the other in alternate shifts. Through this activity, they learned by heart how important it is to fully believe his/her partner and how grateful it is to have vision. Then, “Exercise 5” followed. Named “Heap Praise Contest”, they learned the importance of finding good points of others and praising them.

In closing, all of them, in a circle, sang heartily together one of the TSA songs called “Akari–A light of faith–” that had been translated into English, confirming strong ties as peers of the path and with a feeling of satisfaction and a sense of expectation toward the future in their faces. In the luncheon that followed, they deepened their friendship and looked back over the past two days while enjoying eating pizzas presented by the Centre.

Having completed the “5th Youth Gathering in Oceania”, we do recognise once again the importance of the students association’ activities, and therefore need to think of how they can continue their self-motivating activities. In this regard, we ask for your further help and support.

Blessed with refreshing fine weather, the “TOC 13th Summer Festival” was held in a grand scale on the terrace and the open space on the western side of the Tenri Youth Hall in the Centre on 13th January. The “TOC Summer Festival” has been held and sponsored by the Centre since 2001 as a means to introduce Japanese culture to the local communities on a Friday evening in mid-January every year. The Festival this time, which marked the 13th, was held with a special purpose for fund-raising to support the sufferers from the Japan Earthquake.

The event drew over 450 people: children who had participated in the “42nd Children’s Sleepover” from the 11th till noon on the day, their families, TOC Japanese class students, the neighbours, students and their families from Japanese Language Supplementary School in Brisbane, and Tenrikyo followers not only from the Brisbane-Gold Coast district but also those from distant places such as Auckland and Sydney. The participants, including many of those wearing their own yukata, spent a pleasant time in a joyful and lively manner in the atmosphere of a typical Japanese “Summer Festival”.

The Festival started at 6 o’clock with Rev. Adachi’s opening greetings and then all the food stalls in the terrace opened, including “Octopus ball dumpling”, “Yakitori grilled chicken”, “Japanese fried noodle”, “Squid-tail BBQ”, “Rolled Sushi”, “Shaved ice”, “Chocolate banana”, etc. Visitors fully enjoyed and were satisfied with the first “tastes of the Japanese festival” in a long time. On the other side of the yagura scaffolding tower was a game area with “Yo-yo fishing”, “Penalty Kick”, “Splash!”, etc., all of which boosted the festival mood and attracted many children as well as adults.

The entertainment programs began from 6:30 p.m. with a wonderful performance by “STOMPS”, a TOC percussion group, which attracted the audience. Then the “TOC Dancers” performed dances, followed by a dance performance, “Takio’s Soran-bushi”, by the Tono Sydney Fellowship group, which made the festival reach its peak in excitement. Then followed the usual “Bon dance”. In addition to the familiar yagura scaffolding tower, red and white lanterns were beautifully set up once again this year so as to create a Japanese Bon season atmosphere. Everyone, both Japanese and Aussie, young and old, enjoyed the Japanese dance whole-heartedly to the tune of “Tokyo Ondo”, uniting their hearts into one. After the Bon dance, another great performance was shown by the “TOC Choir” which was formed about half a year ago. They performed beautiful voices in harmony including “Waltzing Matilda”, one of the most popular songs in Australia. All the audience sang this piece together, which made the whole venue warm and congenial. At the end of the program all the people in the venue fully enjoyed a Bingo game. In this way, everyone without exception savoured the Festival whole-heartedly, which became an unforgettable summer evening with happy smiling faces everywhere.

The TOC Summer Festival this time recorded over 450 participants, the biggest number ever with huge success, to the extent that there were not enough parking spaces, which had been expanded. This makes us realise that the TOC Summer Festival not only has firmly taken root in the local community as its big annual event, but also is a great opportunity for us to sprinkle the fragrance of the teachings to the local people as well as to those from Japan as students or working-holiday makers.

We will continue this wonderful event as one of our main events in January, and, therefore, would like to ask for your continued help and support. Finally, we would like to thank those who sincerely engaged in hinokishin in preparing and operating the TOC 13th Summer Festival. Thank you so much.

From 5th to 7th January every year, the Sechi Festival lively takes place in Jiba, which is an annual event sponsored by Church Headquarters to serve zoni, a special New Year’s soup containing rice cakes that had been offered to God the Parent at the New Year’s Day Service, to those who returned to Jiba for their new year greetings to God the Parent and Oyasama.

In parallel with this event, the “Sechi Festival Students Hinokishin Corps” was orgnised this year once again, and Mr. Yonehiro Masuno, a high school student sent by Church Headquarters to Australia to live in Brisbane participated in the Corps. All of them enjoyed engaging in hinokishin as a server or a guide, together with hundreds of students gathering from throughout the country.

At Tasman Fellowship NZ/Auckland

From 11th until 22nd of November, Rev. Noriaki Nagao, vice-head of the Overseas Department, and Rev. Hinao Nagao, chief of the North America & Oceania Section, made their missionary visits respectively to not only the Oceania Centre, but also the church and fellowships in the region.

Rev. Noriaki Nagao, who made his first visit to the region, arrived in Sydney to attend the Sydney Service Convention on 13th November, and then continued his visit to the church and fellowships in Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland and Brisbane. He attended the Centre’s November monthly service where he delivered the sermon on 20th , and stayed until 22nd. On the other hand, Rev. Hinao Nagao, who made his first trip to the region since becoming the chief of the section last September, visited Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne from 11th to 16th. During his stay in the region, he encouraged students sent from Church Headquarters, attended the Sydney Service Convention, and paid a visit to the church and fellowships in Sydney and Melbourne.

From 27th December to 1st January every year, the Woodford Folk Festival, one of the biggest music festivals in Australia, is held in a suburb of the rural town of Woodford which is located about 70 km north of Brisbane. World famous artists and local musicians participate in the festival together with poets, theatre show artists and academians, holding live performances, literature forums, comedy shows, workshops, symposiums, etc. This time, responding to the initial approach from Mr. Yomei Nakajima, a Shakuhachi player living in Brisbane, some volunteer followers in our region performed the Gagaku music at the festival this time.

The Gagaku performance was conducted from 8:00 p.m. on 29th December at the “Folk Lorica” where folk music and dance performances all over the world are shown. This performance was led by Mr. Yukihiro Doi, a doctoral student who is researching Aboriginal music at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra, having been sent from Tenri University Oyasato Research Institute. Mr. Doi first introduced the history of the Gagaku music as well as the activities of the Tenri Uniersity Gagaku Music Society in the world using a Power Point presentation, and then performed “Etenraku”, a very famous piece of Gagaku music, together with four other members including Ms. Cornelia Dragusin, a doctoral student who is researching Tenrikyo music at the ANU, Mr. Yomei Nakajima and two staff members from the Oceania Centre, which attracted the audiences very much.

New Year's Day service Performance

Blessed with perfect fine weather for the first time after many years, the New Year’s Day Service of the Oceania Centre in the 175th Year of Tenrikyo was performed joyously and spiritedly from 11:00 a.m. on the first of January (25 attendees).

In the prayer, Rev. Adachi, head of the Centre, thanked for God the Parent’s unlimited blessings we received throughout the past year and expressed his joy and gratitude for the safe arrival of the new year. Furthermore, concerning the activities of Yoboku throughout the new year, quoting the Shinbashira’s words at the Autumn Grand Service last year: “When it comes to those of us who have faith in Oyasama’s teachings, it is important, I think, to accept it as a stern way in which God the Parent is telling us something and to ponder deeply over it because we are taught that natural disasters can be seen as expressions of God’s regret and anger. While we cannot necessarily generalise about how to interpret what God is saying to us, I think we would do well to begin by reflecting critically on ourselves, asking ourselves whether or not we have been living in a way that fails to accord with God’s intention”.

Rev. Adachi pledged that all of us Yoboku and followers in this diocese would exert our utmost to respond in the new year to the intention of God the Parent in our daily life, as well as to continuously nurture as many “real Yoboku” as possible who engage in spreading the teachings.

After the service, Rev. Adachi made his new year’s greetings, instead of the delivery of a sermon, and all the attendees were provided with Japanese Sake, which had been offered to God the Parent. After that, Osechi-ryori (Japanese festival dishes for the new year) prepared by the Centre was served for lunch and all present shared a good time with each other in a friendly atmosphere of the New Year’s Day.

On 28th December, the annual year-end general cleaning was conducted in the Centre from 9:30 a.m. 17 Yoboku, followers and TOC staff sincerely engaged in hinokishin, cleaning the sanctuary and the Youth Hall.

On 30th, the rice-cake pounding was conducted at the Centre from 8:30 a.m.  17 people including followers gathered and had a good time. The rice-cake pounded was used for Kagami-mochi (a round rice-cake) to be offered to God at the New Year’s Day Service of the Centre, and, in addition, small rice-cakes made were also handed out after the service to each attendee of the service, who enjoyed Japanese-style New Year’s Day.

Pilgrimage to Jiba for 174th Year Autumn Grand Service

On 26th October, the Autumn Grand Service in the 174th year of the Teaching was performed joyously in Jiba, the hometown of all humankind, to which a great number of followers of the Path returned from every corner of the world.

17 pilgrims from different cities in our region including Brisbane, Melbourne, Cairns and Auckland returned to Jiba prior to the Autumn Grand Service and stayed at their affiliated followers’ dormitories or churches. On 25th, they attended the “Overseas Department Seminar”, joined the “Dinner Party for Overseas Followers” sponsored by the Overseas Department, and shared a memorable time with many other followers from various countries.

On the following day, the day for the Autumn Grand Service, they worshipped at the Autumn Grand Service, which was performed in commemoration of the day of origin of the founding of the Teaching, listened attentively to the sermon delivered by the Shinbashira, and reaffirmed their resolution toward the next milestone. After the Grand Service, they assembled and took a commemorative group photo in front of the Black Gate.

During this period, Ms. Aki Umamoto (Sakurai/Shinkyo: living in Cairns) and Ms. Kayoko Wallis (Sumoto/Taiten: living in Cairns) received the truth of the Sazuke.

Tenrikyo Students Assoc. of Oceania Held “2011 Students of the Path Hinokishin Day”

On 11th and 24th September, the “2011 Students of the Path Hinokishin Day”, sponsored by Tenrikyo Students Association of Oceania, was lively held in Sydney and Brisbane respectively.

The “Students of the Path Hinokishin Day” is a unified event sponsored by Tenrikyo Students Association, and held once a year with the purpose that students of the Path, regardless of their dioceses, church affiliation and so forth, spiritedly engage in hinokishin activities on the same day at their respective places by inviting as many friends as possible, share their feeling of joy and gratitude for being kept alive by God the Parent, and spread it to the local community as well as to the world. With this objective, the event was held in Sydney for the first time, whereas the one in Brisbane marked the second, continuing from the previous year.

In Sydney, the event was held on 11th September where 11 youths including boys and girls participated in hinokishin which started right after the monthly service of the Tono Sydney Fellowship, to pick up rubbish from the streets and the park in the neighbourhood of the fellowship under the blue sky. Meanwhile, hinokishin in Brisbane was conducted on Saturday, 24th from 10 a.m. where 11 university and high school students picked up rubbish in high spirits from the streets around the Calamvale Community College which is located near from the Centre, and shared the feeling of joy and gratitude together.