Offering a summary of Tenrikyo news articles in translation concerning the recent earthquakes and tsunamis:

In response to the Great Tohoku-Kanto Earthquake, Tenrikyo Church Headquarters has set up the Great Tohoku-Kanto Earthquake Tenrikyo Disaster Relief Task Force. It will be headed by (Director-in-Chief of Administrative Affairs) Yoshitaro Ueda. The task force will hereby coordinate a relief effort for affected areas.

We also ask for your support for two relief funds: the Tenrikyo Disaster Relief Fund and the Tenrikyo Fund to Support Affected Dioceses and Disaster Relief Corps.

The rest of the article then goes one on to offer the following options for donors in Japan:

• Send cash by registered mail
• Donate via postal transfer
• Donate via bank transfer to an account at Nanto Bank (the transfer fee will be waved starting from 3/18)

Please refer to the Japanese article (災害救援対策本部を設置) (dated March 12) for more info.

A separate but similar article (dated March 14) announces that Doyusha publishing company in Tenri and its Tokyo branch office will also be collecting donations.

Hand-delivery of the Tenri Jiho newspaper will be suspended until further notice for the following prefectures: Akita, Aomori, Chiba, Fukushima, Gunma, Hokkaido, Ibaraki, Iwate, Kanagawa, Miyagi, Saitama, Tochigi, Tokyo, Yamagata, and Yamanashi. (To Japanese article, dated March 14)

Finally:

On March 16, the disaster relief task force decided to send water trucks to affected areas. On noon the same day, ten members of the Oyasato Diocese Disaster Relief Hinokishin Corps left Tenri with five water trucks. The members will make a brief stop in Niigata City and allow members of the same corps in Niigata Diocese to join them before leaving for affected areas in the Tohoku region to provide water.

(Japanese article: 給水車が被災地へ急行（３月１６日）)

Other information

I have also overheard that the worship hall and sanctuary of Sendai Daikyokai, a Tenrikyo grand church in the affected area, has become a temporary shelter for residents. Ministers are refraining from conducting the daily services out of respect for non-followers who are taking shelter in the church sanctuary.

An announcement has also been made that proceeds from the annual bazaar held by the Tenrikyo Overseas Department’s International Network for Mutual Help scheduled on April 10 will go to the disaster relief fund.

If you live outside Japan and wish to contribute through the two Tenrikyo disaster relief funds, the following overseas missions are collecting donations:

• Tenrikyo Mission Headquarters in America
• Tenrikyo Mission Headquarters in Brazil
• Tenrikyo Oceania Centre
• Tenrikyo Mission Center in Singapore
• Tenrikyo Mission Headquarters of Hawaii (updated)

If donating from the U.S., please click below for more information:

• Relief Fund for Japan’s Earthquake and Tsunami [Tenrikyo Mission Headquarters in America]
• March 11, 2011 Earthquake & Tsunami Relief [Joyous Fragrance blog by Hiroko Okazaki]
• Accepting Donations for the Great Tohoku-Kanto Earthquake [Tenrikyo Mission Headquarters of Hawaii]

(Information from TR Translation Staff)

Tags: 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, disaster relief, Doyusha, Honbu, jp-en, translation