Forty Years Since My Irreplaceable Study in Britain (Jun. 2026)

 Forty Years Since My Irreplaceable Study in Britain  

Kurozumi Munemichi, the Seventh Chief Patriarch

June 2026

This series of Michigokoro continues with reflections on the present year, but this time let me speak of events forty years ago. Beginning in Shōwa 61 (1986), I spent two years studying at the University of London, where I met dear friends with whom I remain close today and gained countless invaluable experiences that can never be replaced.

During that period, I contributed monthly essays to this magazine Nisshin under the title Letters from London — My Study Abroad Diary. After returning home, those writings were published in book form, and I imagine some readers may recall them with fondness. Because I had the opportunity to look back each month and put my reflections into words, I am convinced that my limited time abroad became all the more fulfilling.

This month, I wish to speak about those two years in Britain — years that remain, for me as Chief Patriarch of Kurozumikyō, an irreplaceable treasure.

Looking back, the period from late March to mid‑August of Shōwa 61 (1986) — after graduating from my alma mater, Seikei University, and before entering the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London — was truly significant.

As the nineteenth class of the Kurozumikyō Academy’s Advanced Course, I undertook a hundred‑day “Initiation of the Way” before going abroad. Thanks to that training, I was able to respond, however awkwardly, to the flood of questions from friends I met in Britain. Those exchanges, though often difficult, became an irreplaceable source of experience and learning for me as I was just beginning my journey as a religious leader.

Equally unforgettable was my participation during that training in the Okihiki Procession お木曳行事 of the 61st Shikinen Sengū at Ise Jingu 伊勢神宮式年遷宮 — the very first time Kurozumikyō joined this sacred event. Wearing white happi coats and headbands inscribed with “Celebration,” about seven hundred fellow believers and I raised our voices together in spirited chants of “Enya, Enya,” sharing a joyful and grateful act of service and pilgrimage. As both a Japanese and the designated successor of Kurozumikyō, I felt that this experience firmly set a pillar in my heart before leaving Japan.

Thus began my life at the University of London. In the first year, I joined a special preparatory course designed to qualify students for admission to British universities and graduate schools. Many of my classmates went on to pursue degrees at institutions across the UK, and today they are active in international organizations, universities, research institutes, and at the forefront of global economic activity. They remain irreplaceable friends to me. In fact, this autumn we will hold a 40th‑anniversary reunion in Tokyo, connecting online with those living overseas to renew our bonds.

In my case, the arrangement was for a two‑year stay abroad. With the schedule already set for welcoming the Shintōzan General Pilgrimage and undertaking the National Branch Church Tour Mission upon my return, I spent the second year as a research student, attending lectures for one year only. This gave me considerable freedom. I was invited to Japanese language classes where I faced a barrage of questions, and I helped organize events through a student circle named after me — “M.S.S. (Michi’s Friends).” These activities made my student life rich and rewarding.

Yet one of the most unforgettable experiences was working part‑time at NHK’s London bureau, assisting in the production of satellite broadcast programs. That opportunity remains a rare and invaluable memory from my time abroad.

At that time, so-called BS (Broadcasting Satellite) broadcasting had only just begun in Japan, with limited budgets and staff. I was first invited to do translation work for Japanese students at the University of London, but soon after was told, “You are better suited for this,” and appointed program director (timekeeper) for World News. Twice a week I was responsible for the broadcast, which added Japanese subtitles to BBC News. Because satellite communication was still unstable, my most critical task was to calculate the remaining airtime and inform the anchor whenever the signal was interrupted. Experiencing firsthand the process of “producing and broadcasting a program” remains something I am deeply grateful for whenever I am interviewed today as Chief Patriarch.

In my book Letters from London — My Study Abroad Diary, the largest section was devoted to travel reports. Most of the later “Letters to My Family” were postcards sent to my parents from various destinations, and the cover design even used photographs from those cards. I had always loved traveling, but the many solo journeys I undertook during my study abroad left an immeasurable impact on me.

In short, what I gained most was the learning that comes from experiencing life as an outsider while young. Above all, I was awakened to the simple truth that what feels “natural” to me is by no means a universal standard shared across the world.

Because I already had a clear image of my future role, I strongly wished to place myself, while I still could, in circumstances far removed from that future self. The things I tasted and learned firsthand became an irreplaceable treasure, later enabling me to take part in gatherings of religious leaders praying for world peace and in international interfaith exchanges.

Finally, I would like to recall once more what I have often introduced before — the “Big Three” experiences of my study abroad in Britain.

The first was a miraculous bond through my younger brother, Tadachika (now Chief Priest of Munetada Shrine). At the commemorative festival for the relocation of Shintōzan in October Shōwa 58 (1983), sixteen‑year‑old Tadachika released balloons tied with slips of paper inscribed “World Peace!” Together with many worshippers, he sent them skyward. One of those balloons drifted down into the back garden of a home in Tsu City, Mie Prefecture.

The family treated the paper slip as a sacred talisman fallen from heaven, enshrining it on their household altar for three years. Later, their child entered the University of London and became my classmate. After returning home for the New Year, that student brought the slip to me in London.

This extraordinary divine connection convinced me that “the Divine Founder Munetada and the Fifth Chief Patriarch truly protect us, and have bound us brothers together.” The deep emotion of that moment still rises vividly within me today.

The second was the unforgettable Peace Bus Journey. Together with young people of different faiths, we traveled by bus across the communist countries then behind the Iron Curtain, praying for world peace. Among the many memories, one stands out above all: repeatedly reciting Ōharae no Kotoba 大祓詞 (the Great Pufrificaiton Prayer) with all my heart inside the gas chamber at Auschwitz, the site of the Nazi mass extermination of Jews. It was there that I first realized the profound meaning of prayer as an active deed. As a young religious practitioner, this was a most precious awakening.

The third was in April 1988, when I was invited as the youngest official participant to the Global Survival Conference held at Oxford University. Politicians, religious leaders, scientists, and journalists from around the world gathered, and I was given the chance to speak before the plenary session, declaring my resolve and mission as an “adult of the twenty‑first century.” When the September 11 terrorist attacks struck in 2001, I was thirty‑nine years old. In the tense international climate that followed, my efforts as a Japanese religious leader to pray for harmony and contribute to interfaith cooperation trace back to that very declaration of commitment.

In July Shōwa 63 (1988), I returned to Japan and entered fully into a life of prayer and service, beginning each day with Nippai (the sunrise worship). The following January, together with everyone, I welcomed the new era of Heisei (1989-2019) — something I can only regard as divine providence.

Whether one calls it “study abroad” or not, after forty years the memories rise vividly before me, not hidden “beyond the London fog” but clear and near. Those two years remain an irreplaceable treasure, the very foundation of my present role as Chief Patriarch of Kurozumikyō. I am deeply grateful and joyful to have been able to look back on them once again.

The original Japanese version: 掛け替えのない英国留学から四十年