Bunjiro Kawate

Japanese: 川手文治郎 - かわて・ぶんじろう

Year of death: October 10, 1883
Year of birth: Bunka 11.8.16 (1814.9.29)
A religious leader in the early Meiji period and founder of Konkokyo. Born in Urakami Village, Asakuchi County, Bitchu Province (Kanko Town, Asakuchi County, Okayama Prefecture) as the second son of farmers Katori Juhei and Shimo. Adopted into the Kawate family, he changed his name to Kawate Bunjiro, and according to his adoptive father's will, changed his surname to Akazawa, and later to Bunji. In 1855 (Ansei 2), at the age of 42, he fell ill with a sore throat and a prayer was offered for his recovery, during which he received a prophecy that the cause of his illness was disrespect for the Konjin (a calendar god originally worshipped by Onmyo monks) when he built and moved his house. In the same year, he began to visit his younger brother Katori Shigeemon, who worshiped the Konjin, and his pregnant wife, who had fallen ill, was cured thanks to the Konjin, which deepened his faith in the Konjin. The following year, he began to receive messages from the god, and was ordered to call himself "Bunji Daimyojin" as "Konjin's first disciple." In the same year, he was ordered to give up his family business and devote himself to conveying the word of God, and for the next 24 years, he continued to sit before the gods in his home as a shrine and conveyed the teachings of God. In 1868 (Meiji 1), the god's title was changed to "Living God Konko Daijin," and he deepened his awareness of himself as a living god. He developed the Konjin from a magical, curse-bringing god in folk beliefs to "Tenchi Konno Kami," the parent god of heaven and earth and a god of salvation for humans, and taught that one can receive help from God not through days, directions, taboos, or curses, but through sincere faith in God ("sincere faith in God"), and that "God exists because of the parishioners, and parishioners exist because of God." In the Meiji era, under the religious policy of the Meiji Restoration government, he found himself in a difficult situation, being ordered to remove the facilities in front of the shrine, and in 1863, he temporarily left Hiromae and experienced reincarnation as commanded by the gods, receiving the "Tenchi Shofuku" (Chronicles of Heaven and Earth), which shows the basis of the teachings: "Living god Konko Daishin, Tenchi Konnoshin, praying with all my heart, thanks to Waga's heart, this month, today, I am praying." Konkokyo, along with Kurozumikyo and Tenrikyo, is a founding religion that carried out missionary activities using the teachings of its founder as a living god as its scripture. <Works> "Konko Daishin Memorandum" <References> Seto Mikio, "The Life of Konkokyo Founder"

(Kunimitsu Kawamura)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

没年：明治16.10.10(1883)
生年：文化11.8.16(1814.9.29)
明治初期の宗教家,金光教の教祖。備中国浅口郡占見村(岡山県浅口郡金光町)に農民の香取十平と志もの次男として生まれる。川手家の養子となり,川手文治郎と名を改め,養父の遺言により,赤沢に改姓し,のちには文治と改める。安政2(1855)年,42歳のとき,喉の病気にかかり,平癒の祈祷が行われ,家の新築,移転による金神(元来陰陽家が祭った暦神)に対する無礼が病気の原因だとする託宣が下った。同4年,金神を祭る実弟香取繁右衛門のもとに通うようになり,体調を崩した妊娠中の妻が金神のおかげで治り,金神への信心を深める。翌年には,神の知らせを受けるようになり,「金神の一乃弟子」として「文治大明神」と名乗るように命じられた。同6年に,家業をやめ,神の言葉の取り次ぎへの専念を命じられ,以後,24年間にわたり,家を広前(神殿)として神前に座り続けて,神の教えを伝えた。明治1(1868)年,神号が「生神金光大神」と改められ,自ら生き神としての自覚を深化させた。金神を民間信仰の呪術的な祟り神から,「天地金乃神」という天地の親神,人間の救済神へと発展させ,日柄方位,禁忌,呪いではなく,真心からの神への信心(「実意丁寧神信心」)によって神の助けを受けることができ,「氏子あっての神,神あっての氏子」だと説いた。明治に入り,維新政府の宗教政策のもとで,神前の施設を撤去するよう命じられる困難な状況に遭遇し,同6年,一時広前を辞し,神命のままに生まれ変わりの体験をして,「生神金光大神天地金乃神一心に願おかげは和賀心にあり今月今日でたのめい」という教えの根本を示した「天地書附」を与えられた。金光教は黒住教,天理教と並んで,生き神としての教祖の教えを教典として布教活動を展開した創唱宗教である。<著作>『金光大神御覚書』<参考文献>瀬戸美喜雄『金光教祖の生涯』

(川村邦光)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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