Great Construction

My Life in Kojimachi

     As I have mentioned in previous chapters, during the period between 1928 and 1934, as I was conducting spiritual investigations, I was also able to obtain confidence in healing sickness through divine spiritual treatment, so I decided to go to the next step and take my appeal to the world. I had determined to be as close as possible to the center of Tokyo, and because there was a house available in Hirakawa, Kōjimachi Ward that satisfied all my conditions, I rented the house and started a treatment center as faith-based finger-pressure therapy. I named the establishment Ōshindō and started business on May 1. At first there were only several patients a day, but gradually the numbers increased and the place became too cramped, so I started to use what had been the Oomoto branch office in Hanzōmon, Kōjimachi Ward which I had managed. This was just at the time that I left Oomoto, and I could freely use the building. Commuting to this place, I devoted myself to treating people every day.
     The miracle of the spiritual photograph that I wrote about in Accounts of Miracles occurred on October 11, and by then, through the healing of illness I had quite a few what could be called fledgling believers, so I planned for the creation of a new religious organization. Preparations were finally completed and on November 23 of that year a provisional inaugural ceremony was held at Ōshindō. The next year, 1935, on the first day of the new year, an official inaugural ceremony was held at the Hanzōmon Branch. It was called the Japan Kannon Society. Here I write about one miracle that occurred which concerns Daikokuten.
     One thing I am often asked about is the relationship to Kannon of the statue of Daikokuten that almost all of Japan Kannon Church believers seem to dedicate. This is a reasonable question because there has not been such a phenomenon in society before. I began to dedicate Daikokuten due to the following circumstances. I believe the year was 1933. I had been in the red for several years, so had been quite frugal when a bank employee brought to my house an old statue of Daikokuten. He said he wanted to give it to me, and I readily accepted it. I dedicated it in front of the scroll of Kannon, and from that month, my deficits disappeared, and money gradually started to flow in. That is when I thought, yes, Daikokuten really is the deity of fortune, and I started to ask around, trying to collect as many statues as I could. At one time, I had some fifty statues of Daikokuten. One day, soon after the Japan Kannon Society was born, I received a report from one of my subordinates that there was a life-size statue of Daikokuten at a curio shop in Takagi-cho of Azabu Ward, and I immediately went to see it. Yes, it was of significant age and it was very well made, but when I asked if he would sell it, the owner said it was not for sale. It was an object of his faith, so he could not possibly sell it, so I went home empty-handed. This occurred in the middle of December, but interestingly, on the last day of the year, there was a telephone call from the curio shop owner. He would sell me the Daikokuten, and if I wanted it, he would deliver it right away. I jumped for joy, and the statue was delivered that night. I dedicated it immediately on the altar. What the former owner had to say was interesting.
     “Several days after you saw the statue, I had a dream. The Daikokuten was riding on a purple cloud and was leaving my house. I woke up and thought that my affinity with Daikokuten had been broken, but I still could not give it up, but today, on the last day of the year, when debts are to be settled, I have decided to let it go.” I asked him how much he wanted for it, and he replied that those had been his reasons for parting with it so whatever I might have on hand would do. Those were the days when prices were rather low, so I put three hundred yen in an envelope and gave it to him. On his way out the door, you could see his grief, he clung to the statue and cried.
     From that time, I can only think that the sudden increase of my income was entirely due to Daikokuten. I named that particular statue Miroku Daikokuten. People who have been with me since the Kōjimachi and Tamagawa periods should know it well.
     A photograph of this Daikokuten was taken once and a halo appeared clearly around the figure, so per requests from believers at the time, several hundred copies of the photograph were distributed. As you can see, it was not just some old statue. The date of its creation is unknown but it is thought to be from the time of the Toyotomi clan [1585-1615].

The Pathway to Light, Jikan Library, Volume 9, page 23, December 30, 1949
translated by cynndd

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“Kōjimachi Jidai” originally appeared as the fifth chapter of the Nihon Kannon Kyōdan (Japan Kannon Church) publication Hikari e no Michi (The Pathway to Light), Jikan Sōsho (Jikan Library), Volume 9, December 30, 1949, and was never anthologized while Meishu-sama was alive. A portion of “Kōjimachi Jidai” has appeared in translation. The excerpt corresponds to paragraphs three through five of this translation. Citation is given below for reference.

“Daikoku, The God of Wealth,” A Hundred Teachings of Meishusama, no date, page 16.