New Philosophy of Life
Written by Okada Jikan Mokichi, 1950

Here, I explain the sun and the moon from a religious point of view. What I explain is mysterious and also subtle and profound. You might think that it is a strained interpretation somehow. However, I just preach the truth. So, please calm down your mind and make out what I describe.

There are three sacred treasures in Japan since a long time ago. They are a jewel, sword and mirror. The jewel represents the sun, the sword represents the moon and the mirror represents the earth. The jewel is in the shape of the sun and the sword is in that of the moon. The mirror is called Yata-no-Kagami. It has an octagon shape and each of the eight corners represents each direction; four cardinal and four intermediate directions. Among those three, I don’t think to need to explain what the earth is as it is obvious. Since the sun and the moon have a deep meaning, let me describe these two.

To make them easier to understand, I quote the theory that Tenri-kyo advocates. The moon is pronounced as ‘Tsuki’ in Japanese and whereas the sun is as ‘Hi.’ ‘Tsuki’ means to push something and ‘Hi’ or ‘Hiku’ means to draw something. They are just the opposite actions. I think that those interpretations are quite interesting. People prefer to push anything in the night era. The most outstanding example of that is war. Countries literally poke each other. A crash is to hit each other, too. People obviously poked each other with a sword in ancient wars. Then the meaning of poking each other has changed into that of keeping company. Used characters for them are different but their spiritual meanings are the same. The word of pushing forward means victory. This behaviour is caused by the action of the moon, which represents the state of the night era.

On the contrary, ‘Hiku’ or ‘Hiki’ is to withdraw; to attract, retreat, be defeated, bend down and so on. These actions are just the opposite to that of the moon or ‘Tsuku.’ In this sense, everything works by drawing action in the daylight era. It means that it is better to lose. People become modest in the daylight era so that conflict cannot happen. We recommend catching a cold. Catching a cold is also the act of ‘Hiku.’ Our religion aims to construct a world without disease, poverty and conflict. That conflict is considered to disappear when everything works by the drawing action as I mentioned above. Our organisation mainly acts in the role of the sun or the spirit of fire. Therefore, believers should keep in mind that they always act in the role of ‘Hiki’ but ‘Tuki.’ When they do so, many people get attracted to us. Since the sun has a spherical shape, our activity should be round and refreshing, too. It also should be flexible and versatile.

Translated by N.H.