The Mikagura-uta (みかぐらうた, ''The Songs for the Service'') is one of the three

Tenrikyo is a Japanese new religion which is neither strictly monotheistic nor pantheistic, originating from the teachings of a 19th-century woman named Nakayama Miki, known to her followers as "Oyasama". Followers of Tenrikyo believe that God of Origin, ...

scriptures, along with the ''

Ofudesaki The Ofudesaki (おふでさき, "Tip of the Writing Brush") is the most important scripture in Tenrikyo. It is one of Tenrikyo's three scriptures (''sangenten'' 三原典), along with the '' Mikagura-uta'' ("The Songs for the Service") and the '' ...

'' and the ''

Osashizu In the Tenrikyo religion, the Osashizu (Japanese: お指図) ("Divine Directions") is a written record of oral revelations given by Izo Iburi. It is one of the three scriptures (''sangenten'' 三原典) of Tenrikyo, along with the '' Ofudesaki'' ...

''. It was composed by the foundress of Tenrikyo, Miki Nakayama, from 1866 to 1875, and revised to its current version in 1882. The Mikagura-uta is the

liturgical book A liturgical book, or service book, is a book published by the authority of a church body that contains the text and directions for the liturgy of its official religious services. Christianity Roman Rite In the Roman Rite of the Catholic ...

of the

Service Service may refer to: Activities * Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty * Civil service, the body of employees of a government * Community service, volunteer service for the benefit of a community or a pu ...

(''otsutome''), a religious

ritual A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects, performed according to a set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized, b ...

that has a central place in Tenrikyo. During the Service, the text to the ''Mikagura-uta'' is sung together with dance movements and musical accompaniment.

Etymology and meaning

"Mikagura-uta" can be subdivided into three sections. ''Mi'' is an honorific prefix. The word ''kagura'' is a generic term for any performance for a deity or deities in Japan. Although ''kagura'' are usually associated with

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintois ...

shrines, there is also historical evidence of their association with

Shugendō is a highly syncretic religion, a body of ascetic practices that originated in the Nara Period of Japan having evolved during the 7th century from an amalgamation of beliefs, philosophies, doctrines and ritual systems drawn from local fol ...

and

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

schools such as

Shingon file:Koyasan (Mount Koya) monks.jpg, Shingon monks at Mount Koya is one of the major schools of Buddhism in Japan and one of the few surviving Vajrayana lineages in East Asia, originally spread from India to China through traveling monks suc ...

. The word ''uta'' simply means "song" or "songs." It is unknown when “Mikagura-uta” became the standardized title.天理教道友社編 Tenrikyo Doyusha, ed. 『みかぐらうたの世界をたずねて』 ''Mikagura-uta no sekai o tazunete'' (''MNST''), p. 38. During the years from 1867 and 1887, a variety of titles were used, with the most common being “''Juni-kudari o-tsutome (no) uta''” (the Twelve Songs of the Service). The earliest evidence of the current title dates to October 1888, when the songs was first formally published by Tenrikyo as “御かぐら歌.” However, since the ''

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

'' character 御 could potentially be read either as "''O''" and "''On''" in addition to "''Mi''," it still cannot be said with absolute certainty when “Mikagura-uta” became the standard title (in the past it was referred to sometimes as "''Okagura-uta''"). The original manuscript of the ''Mikagura-uta'' is lost; it was either confiscated by the authorities or it was connected to persecution and interference. The first time the title of the Mikagura-uta took its current written form (only in ''

hiragana is a Japanese syllabary, part of the Japanese writing system, along with ''katakana'' as well as ''kanji''. It is a phonetic lettering system. The word ''hiragana'' literally means "flowing" or "simple" kana ("simple" originally as contrast ...

'') was in 1928, when the scripture was distributed to all churches to commemorate Shozen Nakayama’s marriage.

Tenrikyo Church Headquarters Tenrikyo Church Headquarters (''Tenrikyo Kyokai Honbu'' 天理教教会本部) is the main headquarters of the Tenrikyo religion, located in Tenri, Nara, Japan. This establishment is significant to followers because it is built around the '' ...

published an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

translation of the ''Mikagura-uta'' in 1967.

Content and style

The Mikagura-uta is a scripture that is meant to be sung, danced with hand and feet movements, and accompanied by nine musical instruments. The scripture is sung in the style of a Japanese popular traditional song. The fifth section of the Mikagura-uta, the Twelve Songs, takes the form of a counting song, each song starting from one to ten. Nakayama Miki has been said to describe the nature of the counting song as "like children playing shuttlecock during the New Year's season, singing 'One, Two.'" The scripture was originally written in Japanese cursive syllabary (''kana'').

Composition

Songs for the Kagura Service

According to Tenrikyo followers, the Kagura Service (''kagura-zutome'' かぐらづとめ) "reenacts God's creation of humankind" around the spot humankind was conceived (called the ''Jiba''), located at

Tenri, Nara is a city located in Nara Prefecture, Japan. The modern city was founded on April 1, 1954, and is named after the Japanese new religion Tenrikyo, which has its headquarters in the city. As of April 1, 2015, the city has an estimated population o ...

. Therefore, the Kagura Service can only be performed in one place. However, the songs are also sung during the Seated Service, which substitutes for the Kagura Service at all other church ceremonies, and which also can be performed individually or in a group.

Section One

In the autumn of 1866, Nakayama taught section one, which was originally worded, :あしきはらいたすけたまい / てんりわうのみこと ''Ashiki harai, tasuke tamae, / Tenri-O-no-Mikoto.'' ::Sweep away evils and save us, /

Tenri-O-no-Mikoto In Tenrikyo, God is a single divine being and creator of the entire universe. The first two characters in the Japanese kanji for Tenri-O-no-Mikoto are 天理, where 天 refers to heaven or divinity, and 理 refers to reason or knowledge, thus "T ...

. In 1882, Nakayama altered the wording to the text used today: :あしきをはらうてたすけたまえ / てんりわうのみこと ''Ashiki o harote tasuke tamae, / Tenri-O-no-Mikoto.'' ::Sweeping away evils, please save us, / Tenri-O-no-Mikoto.

Section Two

Four years later, in 1870, Nakayama taught section two, which begins with the line, :ちよとはなしかみのいふこときいてくれ ''Choto hanashi Kami no yu koto kiite kure...'' ::Just a word: Listen to what God says...

Section Three

Then in 1875, Nakayama taught section three, which was originally worded, :あしきはらいたすけたまい / いちれつすますかんろふだい ''Ashiki harai, tasuke tamae, Ichiretsu sumasu Kanrodai.'' In 1882, she altered the wording to the text used today: :あしきをはらうてたすけせきこむ / いちれつすましてかんろだい ''Ashiki o harote, tasuke sekikomu / Ichiretsu sumashite Kanrodai. ::Sweeping away evils, hasten to save us. / All humankind equally purified, / The Kanrodai.

Songs for the Dance with Hand Movements

Section Four

In 1870, Nakayama taught section four, the "Eight Verses of the Yorozuyo" (よろづよ八首), in 1870. This was the last section to be composed.

Section Five

This section, known as the "Twelve Songs," was composed between January and August 1867. From 1867 to 1870, Nakayama taught her adherents the melodies and movements to accompany her texts. Tenrikyo scholar Ueda Yoshinaru (上田嘉成) has suggested themes for each song:

History

One of the first recorded instances of performing the Mikagura-uta in public can be found in ''Shinmei Ashizu no Michi'' ("The History of Shinmei Ashizu Fellowship"):

"Some 30 to 50 followers gathered to do the Service of the Twelve Songs, the ''Teodori,'' every night at the fellowship in Honden (Osaka). They danced enthusiastically by beating the ''
taiko are a broad range of Japanese percussion instruments. In Japanese, the term refers to any kind of drum, but outside Japan, it is used specifically to refer to any of the various Japanese drums called and to the form of ensemble drumming m ...
,'' whose drumhead was worn out within three months. It was so lively that they sometimes had neighbors complaining. So they practiced the ''Teodori'' in vacant lots or on the Kunitsu Bridge near the fellowship. They made strenuous efforts in holding lessons until dawn...When members went to the house of a sick person to pray, they gathered with the musical instruments for the service. Before performing the service, they purified themselves with water ablutions. And they danced the Mikagura-uta softly beside the sick so as not to stir the slightest vibration on the ''tatami'' mat. They danced three times in the morning, three times in the afternoon, and three times in the evening. In this way the pouring of water and dancing were repeated."

Another account by Masui Rin, who attended to Nakayama Miki towards the end of her life, goes:

"We made a 'three-day and three-night prayer' to God to save a person. There were six followers for the ''Otefuri,'' two singers (''jikata''), eight or nine people in total visited the sick person and danced the Mikagura-uta. Saving a person through the Mikagura-uta was very popular and common."''Prayer as Interaction.'' p.266-7.