Transnational Contexts of Tenrikyo Mission in Korea: Korea, Manchuria, and the United States

Abstract

The historical evaluation of the Tenrikyo mission in Korea in the first half of the twentieth century by religious scholars has presented two contrasting views. The conformist view claims that Tenrikyo followed the imperialistic and aggressive overseas expansion policy of the empire in Korea and Manchuria, while the façade view argues that Tenrikyo followers put up the façade of compliance with the imperialistic policy of the state.

A few scholars synthesize these two views, identifying duality in the nature of Tenrikyo overseas missions in the Japanese sphere of influence. I will put the synthetic view in the transnational and trans-Pacific perspectives to show that Tenrikyo followers’ remarks about Tenrikyo overseas missions caught the attention of the US intelligence agencies and adversely affected Tenrikyo ministers and followers in the United States after Pearl Harbor, forcing them to pay a terrible price typically in the form of harsh wartime internment.

Tenrikyo Church Headquarters officially spells the religion without a macron as “Tenrikyo” instead of “Tenrikyō,” a practice I will follow here.