Paper short abstract:

This paper aims to illustrate the way Tenrikyo has been spread, prohibited and re-established through different historical stages in South Korea. The study revealed that several reasons enhance the prospects of the Tenrikyo religious movement in South Korea.

Paper long abstract:

This paper aims to illustrate the way Tenrikyo has been spread, prohibited and re-established through different historical stages in South Korea. As Japanese colonial government took power, Japanese missionaries arrived in South Korea and progressively found ways of reaching prospective followers in this new territory. Tenrikyo was allowed to take root and thrived on South Korea until the Japanese defeat in the Sino-Japanese War in 1945, when the South Korean ordered the closure of all Tenrikyo missions. In 1975, the Tenrikyo Headquarters Offices in Japan resumed its pubic missionary activities in South Korea, ending their covert missionary activities in the local churches.

The study revealed that several reasons enhance the prospects of the Tenrikyo religious movement in South Korea. Firstly, the religious belief of the general populace in South Korea which is centred on a pragmatic philosophy - safety, health, prosperity and so forth - and this provides Tenrikyo with an opportunity to meet people's spiritual needs. Secondly, the local villages' experience of historical encounters with the Japanese colonial government enables Tenrikyo to make deep inroads into popular religion in many local communities, thus allowing the South Korea villagers to incorporate the Tenrikyo religion as a way of confronting life's uncertainties during and after the period of Japanese colonisation. The further study would be focused on a comparative analysis of Tenrikyo's missionary activities between South Korea and Taiwan in the context of postwar period.