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PROFILE
Marriage & beginning of her faith | Receiving the Sazuke & her 2nd missionary attempt in Tokyo | Tohon Fellowship | Returning the body | Path of Tohon--Over 100 Years
 A Brief Personal Record of YOSHI NAKAGAWA and
foundation of TOHON GRAND CHURCH and Path of Tohon |
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 A Brief Personal Record of YOSHI NAKAGAWA and
Foundation of TOHON GRAND CHURCHYoshi Nakagawa is the woman who founded Tohon Grand Church. From the age of twenty-two, when she entered Tenrikyo faith, until the age of fifty-four, when she passed away for rebirth, her life was completely devoted to the path of single-hearted salvation. Yoshi attended Sukokan elementary school in Minami Otani. After finishing her schooling, when she was thirteen years old, she was sent out to work. For the next four or five years she worked on the rich farm of Jingobei Nakagawa of Akakuma, taking care of the small children. Afrer that, she was sent in service to the Tarumi family, who ran a soy sauce brewing plant in Kameoka. There seems little doubt but that Yoshi's childhood must have been rather miserable for her. Back to the Top In February 1887, when she was nineteen, it was arranged for Yoshi to marry the wealthy Yakichi Nakagawa who was thirty-three years old. In 1890, Yakichi was in ruins because of his miscalculation on the construction of the road, so he moved with Yoshi and their three-year-old son, Kurakichi, to Osaka. There, by the efforts of his older sister, Mrs. Iyo Takamuki, a member of the Minami Fellowship ( now Minami Grand Church ) and an earnest believer for some time, Yakichi and Yoshi first came to hear of the Tenrikyo teachings and eventually entered the faith. Yoshi would soon become a missionary whose zeal burned within her like a ball of fire. The thing which brought about Yoshi's transformation from a not-so-serious follower to a burning missionary, was hearing the story of the Hinagata, or the Divine Model of Oyasama. In addition, because of the situations which had developed in her own life, the truth of the origin of those situations, namely the doctrine of innen, also sank deeply into Yoshi's mind. Back to the Top Yoshi began attending Besseki in 1893; she heard her first lecture in January and received the Sazuke seven months later on July 19 of the same year. Having vowed to make the round trip to Jiba at least two more times for each lecture she attended, Yoshi was also determined to go to Jiba at least two times for each person she wished to save. On July 19, 1893, Yoshi received the precious Sazuke from the Honseki, Izo Iburi. Yoshi kept the vow she made to God the Parent. From that day forward, she used the Sazuke daily for the rest of her life. It was November 27, 1897. Yoshi Nakagawa resolutely stepped onto the platform at Shinbashi Station, ready to begin her second missionary attempt in Tokyo. Back to the Top Early in 1898, as her followers urged her strongly to rent a house, she would take the little house at no. 40, Sotode Street, Honjo, in the city of Tokyo, where is the very spot where Tohon Grand Church stands today. Mr. Kametaro Satsukawa rented the house in the husband's name, Yakichi Nakagawa, with himself as the financial guarantor. In 1898, it was decided to become an official fellowship. On September 26, Satsukawa and Nakazawa left for Jiba to make the application. On October 1, it was granted ---the 1,798th such group established in all of Tenrikyo. They were now Tohon Fellowship of Minami Church, under the parent Takayasu Church. Tohon bought up in adjoining properties and then the ones adjoining those. In some cases, the persons living nearby became members and donated their land, so that, in these ways, the church was able, gradually, to expand to its present size. The following account, related this incident, appears in the biography Nakagawa Yoshi by Heisuke Takahashi. Every day she[Yoshi Nakagawa] wore a single amulet on her person. What was inside of it?---the answer is, simply, a square of heavy white paper, about five inches wide. Inside of this, wrapped up carefully, was a single coin from the old days---namely, an ichirin-sen. The following statement was written on the paper: "Due to the kind efforts of Mr. Kametaro Satsukawa, of Yokoami street, a new dwelling has been provided at no. 40, Sotode Street, at a time when there remained only one ichirin coin in my wallet. To remember and mark that occasion." Back to the Top  Returning the BodySince July, 1921, Yoshi had been having trouble with her health. Yoshi thought deeply about God's intention and came to a realization. She called the members of her immediate family and some close followers to her on September 5. "I think that, this time, I will be returning my body to God," Yoshi said, firmly. “Please, you must not pray to have me saved from this illness---it would be an unreasonable prayer. "I am now fifty-three years old," Yoshi explained. "If I die now, it might sound premature to all of you, but you must consider the fact that, in order to save my mother's life in Tanba, one time, I asked God that my own life be cut in half. I prayed that my mother's life be lengthened by twenty years, and God was kind enough to hear my prayer---Mother lived exactly twenty more years. "Therefore," Yoshi concluded, "even if I must return my body now at the age of only fifty-three---if you add on those twenty years then I will have been allowed to live more than seventy years! I hope that you will all try to understand this; and please, do not ask God to do anything that would be unreasonable!" Saku Sakano of Honmishuku Branch Church recalled a conversation she once had with Yoshi concerning the length of Yoshi's life. Perhaps five or six years before her life ended, Yoshi said the following: "If I ever become ill, you must never pray to God for me to recover! You must understand ---I have been snipping away at my life, bit by bit and, by my prayers, a lot of people have managed to be saved. Why, the other day, I even counted it all up and found out that it is the same as if I had been living for a total of three hundred and fifty years! I must have some nerve---to sill be alive as long as that!" Although the end was indeed near, Yoshi abruptly decided to go to Thukishima(*). This was where her son and successor, Kurakichi, and his wife, Tomie, had been living and working in hardship. It is amazing what can be accomplished when the will to do something is there. No sooner had the discussion of where Yoshi was to stay in Tsukishima begun, when the work of building a house there also began; and this house was completed before midnight on the same day! Everyone, down to the carpenters, themselves,kept the thought in their minds that they would do anything for this Kaicho [that is, Yoshi Nakagawa]. In this way, a fairy large, two-story house was able to be built in something like nine hours. After entering her room, Yoshi asked that the window be opened, even though it was a rather chilly day in March. Facing the bay, in the direction of Jiba, Yoshi clasped her hands together. "Oh, how thankful I am!" Yoshi said. Then she began to sing in a beautifully clear voice. "Koko wa kono yo no gokuraku ya; washi mo hayabaya mairi tai."(*) Yoshi sang joyously. Then she bowed deeply, thanking God, and got into her bed. About two hours before her death, Yoshi called her olest son, Kurakichi, to her bedside. "Listen, Kurakichi," Yoshi said gently, "I know that I have treated you almost cruelly up to this time. It was because I wished to train you to take charge of all the responsibilities of Tohon Church after me. Please forgive me---do not resent the harshness of the training you have received, I beg you." Yoshi began crying. It was the first time that she ever openly showed Kurakichi her affection for him. Contrary to what one might expect, the more Yoshi loved her children, the harder she was towards them. She had raised them not so much as if they were her own flesh and blood but, rather, as if they had been her spiritual children. At 4:41 a.m. on March 22, 1922, Yoshi Nakagawa quietly finished her event-filled life. She was fifty-four years of age. Back to the Top Path of Tohon--Over 100 Years
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TOHON Overseas Mission Department