The Konkokyo International Center (KIC) held a Konkokyo Faith Gathering in Sydney, Australia on December 4 & 5 (Sat.-Sun.). Reverends Yukie Morimoto and Harue Ochi were KIC staff members sent there on assignment.
These gatherings have been held for the purpose of supporting local believers in their faith practice and as an opportunity to initiate overseas Konkokyo outreach efforts. In Australia, the first gathering took place voluntarily in 1999, with participation solely by the local believers. Later, however, KIC took over conducting them and recently held the sixth one.
On Day One, Dec. 4 (Sat), a faith enrichment workshop was held for Japanese believers living in Australia, in which five people participated. At the seminar, Reverend Ochi first gave this account of her own experiences, “I had been suffering from atopic dermatitis for a long time and using an ointment. However, I was concerned about having to use it my entire life. Since Kami gave me my body, I decided to discontinue using the ointment and left it up to Kami to allow my recovery.” This was followed by a lively discussion among all the participants, in relation to her presentation. Day One’s program ended before lunch. The participants had a chance to get to know each other better by eating lunch together.
On Day Two, Dec. 5 (Sun), a service, followed by an informal gathering and discussion took place in the morning. The service was conducted both in Japanese and English. Each participant offered a flower and personal prayer to Kami during the Floral Tribute at the Kami Altar. After the service, sacred rice packets from the Konkokyo Headquarters were distributed to the participants. Then, Reverend Morimoto gave a sermon in which she stated, “All human beings have the heart of Kami. Thus, we feel sorry and want to do something, when we see someone in difficulty or pain. Although it is very important to have such a feeling, we must not stop there. Kami wants us to keep Kami’s heart in mind and take concrete action to help others.”
After lunch, an animated film was shown, with two Kibi-mai sacred dances later performed in the afternoon. The animated film “Konko-Sama – Tales of Toritsugi Mediation,” which was made to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Establishment of Konkokyo, was viewed in English. All participants watched the film very enthusiastically and later shared individual impressions, such as, “It was easily understandable even without knowledge of Konkokyo, and was really a moving story,” “I like how you should leave your angry feelings behind,” and “I want to see other films, too.”
In the Kibi-mai performances, first the dancing duo of Reverends Ochi and Morimoto performed “Ametsuchi (Heaven and Earth).” Their beautiful costumes and breathtaking dance enchanted the audience. Reverend Ochi then danced a solo, “Ontouka (Tenth Day).” The audience admired her superb and elegant dance, with comments such as, “Amazing!” and “Good for meditation and inner peace.”
The two-day Gathering was a content-rich event. The animated film and Kibi-mai sacred dance performance were ways that enabled Konkokyo to be widely and readily conveyed to nonbelievers. KIC will make efforts to further improve gathering programs, not only to share our Faith with local believers, but also to share our faith with nonbelievers.