{"id":9055,"date":"2022-07-27T12:05:37","date_gmt":"2022-07-27T03:05:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/online.tenrikyo.org\/?p=9055"},"modified":"2022-07-27T12:56:13","modified_gmt":"2022-07-27T03:56:13","slug":"insights-into-the-anecdotes-genjiro-fukaya-1843-1923-anecdote-142-narrowness-holds-the-promise-of-joy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/online.tenrikyo.org\/?p=9055","title":{"rendered":"Insights into the Anecdotes: Genjiro Fukaya (1843\u20131923), Anecdote 142 \u201cNarrowness Holds the Promise of Joy\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The Anecdote (Summary)<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This is a story from when Genjiro Fukaya\u2014who was deeply grateful for the teachings, which he felt should be spread by any means possible\u2014was growing ever more spirited in his devotion as he went around sprinkling the fragrance of the teachings and doing salvation work.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In those days, Genjiro had no spare clothes, no charcoal to burn, and even no food for the day unless he was blessed with the workings of God the Parent. Despite the narrow circumstances, he refused to let his spirits down, and Oyasama would always say to him when he visited the Residence: \u201cNarrowness holds the promise of joy. Do not be dissatisfied with what is small. As truth accumulates, small things grow great. Even a large pine tree was once small. Enjoy small things. In the future, large buds will sprout.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

A Life with Extraordinary Joyousness<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

by Motohiro Fukaya, <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Staff Minister of Kawaramachi Grand Church<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Genjiro was born in Shin-no-machi, Sanjo-kudaru, Furukawa-cho, in what is now Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto City, on February 17, 1843. His father Genbei\u2014born in Atsuta-sho, Aichi-gun, Owari (now in Nagoya City)\u2014left for Kyoto for training when he was still young. He later opened a blacksmith\u2019s shop in Kyoto named \u201cTangen.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Genbei hoped that Genjiro would become a merchant. Genjiro, however, chose to become a blacksmith because he thought that being a merchant would entail making a lot of deals and being suspicious whereas a blacksmith could simply focus on making his wares, which his customers could decide to buy or not based solely on the value they saw in them.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Genjiro, who took over his father\u2019s shop, became so accomplished that he was known in as far afield as Nagoya as \u201ca master hatchet smith.\u201d Also, because of his firm conviction that his customers should decide whether or not to buy his wares based only on the value they saw in them, he was nicknamed \u201chonest blacksmith Gen.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Since his teens, he had performed cold water ablutions early every morning while praying for family prosperity, which he hoped would make his parents feel at ease and happy. He kept the money he earned from his work in the morning but used all the income from his afternoon\u2019s work to bring joy to his parents. His filial piety was famous among the neighbors.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Facing Potential Blindness<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It was in September 1881, when Genjiro was thirty-eight years old, that he embraced the faith. He was invited by a neighbor to visit the house of a Tenrikyo follower. There he was impressed with the teaching that \u201cfire and water are the two primary aspects of God\u2019s providence\u201d because of his line of work.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Joyful and cheerful by nature, he felt attracted to the joyous faith in which followers danced to cheerful songs and musical instruments. On the following day, he sprinkled the fragrance of the teachings on a friend. He began to frequent the follower\u2019s house as well. He and his wife started to follow the path. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

One day, six months after Genjiro embraced the faith, a red-hot iron chip flew into his right eye while he was hammering in his forge. He faced the potential of losing his sight in that eye. Covering his right eye, he went upstairs and knelt in front of the altar. He pledged, \u201cIf cured, I would work for God for the rest of my life even if attacked with fire or water,\u201d and performed the service. Then the pain eased, and the iron chip fell out of his eye. Immediately he returned to Jiba. While he was listening to the teachings, his eye was completely cured, with the sight in his right eye being restored.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Genjiro\u2019s faith was now firmly settled. He received sanction to establish Shidokai Fellowship in March 1884 and became its head. Later, he received the truth of the Sazuke, the Divine Grant, in 1887. Thereafter, he strove even more earnestly to sprinkle the fragrance of the teachings and help save others.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Efforts to Rejoice in Whatever Happens<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

As indicated in the anecdote appearing at the beginning of this chapter, life became increasingly difficult for him and his wife soon after Genjiro established a fellowship. It was around that time that he received Oyasama\u2019s words: \u201cEnjoy small things. In the future, large buds will sprout.\u201d Later he also received a Divine Direction that said, \u201cFor now, you should pay attention and resolve to rejoice\u201d (October 1887). Such words of encouragement from God the Parent and Oyasama helped his faith to grow stronger.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There is a story that illustrates how things were in Genjiro\u2019s life in those days. One day, it was arranged that several followers would come for a visit the next day and stay the night. However, Genjiro had pawned not only his blacksmith\u2019s tools but also much of the bedding. Moreover, they had nothing to serve for breakfast. His wife, Hana, was worried, but he said to her: \u201cNo problem, no problem. There is nothing to worry about. God will take care of everything for us.\u201d Then he went to sleep. Hana could not sleep at all that night. The next morning, however, someone came to place an order and paid a deposit of five yen. This enabled the couple to prepare breakfast as well as get the tools and bedding out of pawn.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

On another occasion, while Genjiro was working hard, he tripped over a hammer and hit his forehead hard on an anvil. He immediately shouted: \u201cOuch! How grateful! How grateful!\u201d When people around him asked why he said grateful, he replied, \u201cI am grateful that I am able to feel pain.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In his later years, Genjiro\u2019s eyesight weakened, but he never seemed sad about it. Instead, he seemed to be rejoicing. \u201cGod\u2019s blessings are great,\u201d he said. \u201cThe eye that got injured when I was working as a blacksmith began to fail later than the other.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

These stories tell us how thoroughly Genjiro believed and relied on what Oyasama had taught him as he continued to rejoice in whatever happened in life.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGod Enters Us through Joy\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Inspired by Genjiro\u2019s joyous and positive faith, a lot of people came to embrace the faith one after another. One day, a woman who had been trying to conceive for some time without success came to Genjiro. He gently said to her: \u201cYou must have accumulated a great deal of merit in your previous life. Therefore, you do not have to go through the troublesome task of caring for a child in your present life. Please find joy in each day as you go through life without decreasing your merit.\u201d The woman was delighted and said, \u201cNothing could have made me happier than those words.\u201d She was soon blessed with a child.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Also, Genjiro once encouraged a person who had personal problems, saying: \u201cThat is tremendously good. God sprinkles dust on you because God has full confidence in you and desires to help you achieve greatness in the future. If you sprinkle dirt and dust on the soil around the bottom of a tree, it will grow to be a large tree. We should become a person on whom dust is sprinkled. Yet, whether or not dust is sprinkled on you, you should never allow your core to rot. If you do not, people will start to rely on you as though you are the only one who can help them. Find joy. Be spirited!\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In this way, Genjiro would always treat people gently. Yet, he sometimes appeared to be admonishing people. When, for instance, a head minister who came to visit him said to him modestly, \u201cI cannot receive blessings because of my lack of virtue,\u201d Genjiro said sternly: \u201cYou should not say such a thing. Phrases such as \u2018lack of virtue\u2019 come out of your mouth because you think that you can try to make the path grow through your own efforts.\u201d Then the next moment, his face relaxed into a smile as he explained carefully: \u201cYou should say, \u2018I have been able to come back once again thanks to divine blessings.\u2019 God\u2019s blessings are granted when we serve joyously without forgetting even for a moment that whatever we do is only possible because of God the Parent and Oyasama. However, we tend to forget this and think that we are doing things by our own power. Then feelings of dissatisfaction and worry will arise. To ensure that these feelings do not gain the upper hand, we would do well to rejoice each day in the blessings of God the Parent and Oyasama. This will enable us to be wonderfully blessed in the end.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In his later years Genjiro repeatedly said things such as: \u201cYou cannot help those suffering from an illness receive a blessing without helping them find joy. They will not be saved if you make them feel discouraged. God enters us through joy.\u201d The phrase \u201cGod enters us through joy\u201d captures the faith and conviction of Genjiro, whom people adored, calling him \u201cThankful Gen-san.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I believe that Genjiro\u2019s extraordinary joyousness came from these words from Oyasama: \u201cEnjoy small things. In the future, large buds will sprout.\u201d It seems to me that joy and brightness naturally welled up in him because he completely believed that God would surely give him what was best for him even in what a human mind would normally consider a difficult and painful situation.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

These days we hear so much about various family-related problems including domestic violence and divorce as well as children\u2019s school refusal and social withdrawal, not to mention child abuse. In society at large, there is employment insecurity due to organizational restructuring during the economic downturn while over thirty thousand people kill themselves annually. Many people feel a sense of entrapment and fall into the darkness of the mind because they have no dependable spiritual guide.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

God the Parent created this world and humankind to see us live a joyous life and to share in that joy. God has since been protecting and guiding each of us with unchanging parental love. We would do well to once again take it to heart that conveying this truth is the primary mission of Yoboku. I believe that joy and hope will fill our hearts no matter what difficulty we may face so long as we totally rely on God the Parent and Oyasama.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It is of prime importance to trust completely in God the Parent and Oyasama and enjoy following this path joyously while looking forward to the future, as Genjiro did. We would do well to engage sincerely in salvation work by helping people wandering about on the mind\u2019s dark paths to become spirited through conveying the Parent\u2019s intention to them so that they may proceed along the path together with us toward the Joyous Life.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

From <\/span>Itsuwa no kokoro tazunete\u2014gendai ni ikiru Oyasama no oshie<\/i><\/span>, published by Tenrikyo Doyusha Publishing Company<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Anecdote (Summary) This is a story from when Genjiro Fukaya\u2014who was deeply grateful for the teachings, which he felt should be spread by any means possible\u2014was growing ever more spirited in his devotion as he went around sprinkling the fragrance of the teachings and doing salvation work. In those\u2026<\/p>\n

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