<Begin Segment 42>

[Translated from Japanese]

TY: When your children were small, they went to the Baptist Sunday School at first, didn't they? But they changed to the Sunday school of the Nichiren-shuu where their friends went, and started going there.

AT: They went there for a long time.

TY: Then, was that the reason you and your husband who used to practice the Jodoshin-shuu changed to the Nichiren-shuu?

AT: Yeah, we changed. We became the followers of the Nichiren-shuu. The family of Terao was originally practicing the Zen-shuu. We found out when we asked. We said that we should change to the Nichiren-shuu, and we changed to the Nichiren-shuu. The school our children went to, we would crash if the parents do not follow the religion, right? Our feelings would crash. This is why we changed to practice the Nichiren-shuu. At first, we recited Nanmandabutsu.

TY: You didn't think about changing the Sunday school that your children were going?

AT: Huh?

TY: Didn't you think about changing the Sunday school that your children were attending?

AT: No. Our children, they trusted them and attended the school, so Nanmyohorengekyo [Ed. note: the casual pronunciation of the sutra of the Nichiren-shuu] was placed a little higher than Nanmandabutsu, so we said it was better that way, like that. This, Terao recommended, too. A boy who was attending the school was a very good boy. We called him Jakki [Ed. note: Jack. Many Issei pronounced Jack as Jakki.], Jakki Yamazaki, and he was playing with our children. I wondered how he became such a good boy. Properly, even though he was a child, he came for my children. He also called for them in the morning, and he walked them home after it was done, he brought them home. At such time, he asked me, "Obasan, could you let us use your backyard?" so I said, "Sure, come and play." We had a pretty large yard where children could hop around. It was a grass field. They threw a ball there. When I told them, "You can play there," with our children, he played with all of our small children. He was the oldest in the neighborhood. Then, well, he became the head, and he was suggesting that they should play this and that, like throw balls, and play baseball, and in the back, they were playing in the large part of the yard. That boy, he was a very bright boy, and his name was Jakki, Jakki. When I asked his parents what they did to raise such a good boy, they said, "He goes to the Nichiren Buddhist Church," I said, "In that case, we should send our children there," and this is why we sent our children to the Nichiren Sunday School, instead of to the Buddhist Church. [Laughs] That was why we joined the Nichiren-shuu church later on.

TY: You said that you studied for that.

AT: We studied a little bit. If we changed from Nanmandabutsu to Nanmyohorengekyo, then the sutras were quite different. Of course, Terao researched very hard. He wanted this one, and he went to talk to the reverend. Our children, once they attended, they wouldn't change the religion even if we told them to. We said that if children say Nanmyohorengekyo, the parents had to say Nanmyohorengekyo as well, otherwise we couldn't have a happy home, so we changed, then now, even us, we don't really hesitate to recite it. So that's why I say Nanmyohorengekyo here. To begin with, we didn't really worship at the temple in Japan, so we didn't really recite Nanmandabutsu, and that's why we could recite the new sutra.

TY: You reported that you converted yourselves to the Nichiren-shuu to the main family.

AT: Yeah, we reported all. Yeah. We reported everything to Japan. We said, "We all, for such and such reasons, changed the church to that of the Nichiren-shuu," then, from the temple of the main family in Japan, the main family said it was all right. Before, we didn't recite Nanmyohorengekyo, but they practiced the Zen-shuu, so they recited Nanmandabutsu, but a little, they weren't Nanmyo, Nanmandabutsu, they said that it was better because it was a little higher. The main family in Japan said that to us.

TY: If you didn't get their approval, what would have happened? From the main family.

AT: No, still, we wouldn't have quit the Nichiren-shuu, yeah. You choose the religion depend on what you believe in. That's why. Our children were going, so if parents did not practice the religion, even if there were events for some occasions, we wouldn't understand at all even if we went to listen to the doctrine. Even if we helped them, we wouldn't know what it was about. So, if our children went there, if we thought it was good, we should convert ourselves to the religion and help the temple, and if the parents and the children worked together, it would make a difference to the children. So one is working hard as a doctor, well, when he asks what is wrong, he is asked to exam the children, the children from the Sunday school. So he examines them.

TY: Still today, all the generations of your family are attending the sect, right?

AT: Yeah, yeah, we all go. Yeah. Then, my grandson started attending now. In the beginning, he was in the Boy Scout of the Buddhist Church. He quit, and he started coming to our church. [Laughs]

TY: For you, Asano-san, what do you call it, a church or a temple, of the Nichiren-shuu, for you to attend there also meant the connection to the community, right? All of your good friends over years are from the Nichiren-shuu, through the Nichiren-shuu.

AT: Yeah, that's right. Terao, he studied two religions, the Nichiren-shuu and the Shin-shuu. Then, he said that the Nichiren was one rank higher. Then, finally, we told our children that they didn't have to change the church, and that they should count on the Nichiren-shuu. Then, children heard many things, and we heard from the reverend, and in the beginning, we went to the Spirit Church. But, we stopped going there immediately, and we said that we would be under the care of this reverend, and we paid money to the church, and we swore our commitment by reciting Nanmyohorengekyo, and this is how we became the followers. All my children, including my grandson, are attending there today.

<End Segment 42> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.