Tenri Sanrinkō

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Tenri Sanrinkō (Tenri Sanrin-kō) was a Tenrikyo-based shinshūkyō, a Japanese new religion, that became independent in March 1933 in western Hirakata, Osaka. It was founded by Katsu Hisano, a woman and follower of Honmichi. Followers revered the leader as the living kanrodai, with the “kō” denoting a confraternity.

Katsu Hisano aimed to reunite Tenrikyo and Honmichi. The group dissolved in May 1935 when it rejoined Tenrikyo, but the effort failed, and she reestablished the organization later as a separate group. She promoted a new teaching called Sankyō Gōitsu, or the United Teaching of Three Faiths, seeking to combine Shinto, Buddhism, and Christianity.

Tenri Sanrinkō influenced several later groups founded by former members, including Kami Ichijōkyō (which is still active) and Tenri Kami no Uchiake Basho; a related defunct group, Tenri Kami no Kuchiake Basho, helped give rise to other movements such as Ōkanmichi and Kanrodai Reiri Shidōkai (linked with Yamato Daijingū). The organization declined under the Peace Preservation Law and lèse-majesté, and Katsu Hisano died in 1941. Her student Yonetani Kuni founded Kami Ichijōkyō in 1942. Today, Tenri Sanrinkō is remembered as the source for several later new religions in Japan.