Mikagura-uta

The Mikagura-uta (みかぐらうた, The Songs for the Service) is one of the three Tenrikyo scriptures, along with the Ofudesaki and the Osashizu. It was composed by the foundress of Tenrikyo, Miki Nakayama, from 1866 to 1875, and revised to its current version in 1882.[1]

The Mikagura-uta is the liturgical book of the Service (otsutome), a religious ritual that has a central place in Tenrikyo.[2] During the Service, the text to the Mikagura-uta is sung together with dance movements and musical accompaniment.

  1. ^ Tenrikyo Overseas Department, trans. 2010. A Glossary of Tenrikyo Terms, p. 209. Note: This work presents an abridged translation of the Kaitei Tenrikyo jiten, compiled by the Oyasato Institute for the Study of Religion and published in 1997 by Tenrikyo Doyusha Publishing Company.
  2. ^ The importance of the Service to Tenrikyo followers can be appreciated if one understands that the main theme of the Ofudesaki, the most important of the three Tenrikyo scriptures, has been described as "a development toward the perfection of Tsutome, the Service, through which, alone, human salvation can be realized." See Inoue and Enyon, A Study of the Ofudesaki, xix.