出版社:文芸社 著者:大野靖志 定価:1,680円
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How Dr. Kenji Nanasawa was Introduced to Hakke Shinto
The first encounter that Nanasawa had with Hakke Shinto dates back to more than forty years ago when he was studying Religious Studies as a graduate student. From reading the book “Sumera Mikoto,” Nanasawa became interested to learn more about Hakke Shinto. He knew that the story depicted in the book was based on actual events with the names of the characters were changed from the people involved. In studying the names and theories regarding their real-life personages and ancestors of these characters, he first came across the name Shinko Nakamura, the granddaughter of Seishichiro Takahama.
Through his research, Nanasawa contacted Mr. Yoneo Okada of the Association of Shinto Shrines since he held the office of Advisor in Hakke Shinto. Okada informed him that Mrs. Haruko Yasumi, who resided in Higashi Ohmi (or present day Yokaichi) City, was the successor of the knowledge of the rituals of Hakke Shinto. Nanasawa learned that Mrs. Yasumi had been adopted as a child by Shinko Nakamura, and was a great-grandchild of Seishichiro Takahama on her mother’s side of the family.
Intrigued by the opportunity to learn more about the living legacy of Hakke Shinto, Nanasawa and his associate Mr. Nohzawa arranged to meet with Mr. and Mrs. Yasumi. Mr. Yasumi was also a Shinto Priest and their residence was a small shrine in Yokaichi City. Nanasawa and Nohzawa continued to periodically pay visits to see the Yasumi’s and request further training in Hakke Shinto. Eventually, after seeing their sincere attitude and desire to learn, Priest Yasumi agreed to recommend them for training with his brother Mr. Hiroshi Takahama, since Yasumi had himself suffered a stroke.
Hiroshi Takahama was working at one of the well-known department stores in downtown Kyoto where Nanasawa and Nohzawa went to meet him to request a plan for their studies to begin. Mr. Takahama had already heard in advance of their enthusiasm, and agreed to begin teaching them after he retired from his job (some years later). The long awaited day was the 18th of April, 1982, when Mr. Takahama came to visit Nanasawa at his residence in Kofu City in the Yamansahi Prefecture of Japan. Before the teachings began, Mr. Takahama made a visit to a nearby Shrine dedicated to a guardian God of Nanasawa’s hometown. Next, he laid down a shimenawa (a sacred rice rope) around, and set up a small altar in the room where the initiations were to be performed.
For the next seven years Takahama made monthly visits to Kofu usually for four or five days at a time to train Nanasawa and Nohzawa in the religious rites of Hakke Shinto. In January 1989, during one of his visits to Kofu, Takahama heard the shocking news that the Showa Emperor had died. Takahama was deeply touched by the passing of the emperor and his health began to decline. Takahama continued making his monthly visits for the training through August of that year, but eventually his health worsened and he became too weak to get out of bed. It was at this time that Nanasawa was invited to meet with Takahama at his house in Kyoto. For the first time, Nanasawa was able to personally witness some of the various documents of Hakke Shinto. Also, Takahama told Nanasawa that he was to be given training in sanshu (the third stage).
sanshu is a rank of learning at the core of Hakke Shinto, and is included in the most secretive teachings of Tokusa no Kandakara no Goho (The Ten Stages of God’s Treasures). The higher rankings of nishu (second stage) and isshu (first stage ) are initiations that only the Emperor may learn, and therefore sanshu initiations would be as high as one could learn at this time. Unfortunately, Takahama’s health did not recover and he passed away on October 5, 1989. Nanasawa was left perplexed:
After Takahama died, there was only one known person who could initiate Nanasawa in sanshu. The Shinto priest Yukikatsu Shingu, of the Chote Shrine in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, who was more than 90 years old at the time, was asked to train Nanasawa by Takahama’s widow, Mrs. Kyoko Takahama, so that her husband’s wishes would be fulfilled. Priest Shingu agreed and Nanasawa’s initiation in sanshu was realized at Choto Shrine. Shingu passed away shortly after the initiations and it was by this slim margin that the living traditions of orthodox Hakke Shinto were saved from being lost. It is through this history that Emperor Komei’s wish that the traditions of Hakke Shinto were to be protected from the political turmoil that followed his reign. From the Meiji restoration through the late 19th century Edo period until now the traditions of Hakke Shinto have been handed down through the Takahama family, and then most recently to Nanasawa.
In his last words to Nanasawa, Hiroshi Takahama told him, “to never form a religious organization, and please keep this Omichi Hakke Shinto at this place in Kofu for as long as the next 100, and 200 years. I will support you from the other world if I should die.”
In order to carry on his will, Nanasawa observes Harai Kotoba (words of clearing) before the altar in his residence, and gives the teachings of Hakke Shinto to the people who have the chance to know him. Since June 2010, he established the institution, Shirakawa Gakkan, in Kofu, Yamanashi prefecture to open the teachings for anyone interested. This is the way that the essence of the secret religious rites of Hakke Shinto, historically kept by the Imperial household of Japan, are now being continued and passed on.