Messages of Courage from the Victims of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake

I became a believer of Happy Science in 1991. "Where do people come from, and where do they go when they die?" All the questions I had since childhood were answered in a book on Happy Science that I picked up at a bookstore.
Even after death, the soul continues to live forever, and we go through reincarnation between this world and the next many times.
My three children and relatives also became believers of Happy Science at my suggestion.
At that time, I was living in a house in Hyogo Ward, Kobe City, with my second son and eldest daughter.
While working as a waitress at a nearby café, I learned the teachings of Happy Science and shared them with those I was connected to. It was an ordinary daily life, but I was living a fulfilling life.

On January 17, 1995, at 5:47 AM. It was before the city of Kobe had started to move. I was sleeping on the second floor of my house, next to my eldest daughter.
Boom!
With a shock that felt like the earth was splitting in two, I felt as if I was falling deep into the abyss. The choking smell of dirt and the roof pressing down on us. The first floor of the house collapsed in the earthquake, and my daughter and I were slammed to the ground along with the second floor.
"Cover yourself with the futon!"
I shouted instinctively, and both my daughter and I covered our faces with the futon, confirming each other's safety. Our home was a wooden house designed to accommodate two households under one roof. I could hear the voice of Mr. S's wife next door shouting, "Help! Help!"
Around us, children were crying out, "Dad! Mom!" and women were screaming...

"Lord El Cantare, please protect us!"
I desperately recited the "Shoshin Hōgo"*. Overcome with fear, I would forget the next line halfway through and start over again... I repeated this many times. Suddenly, in the pitch darkness where I couldn't move, I felt something touch my head, and it was the sacred object* that was supposed to be in the room next to the bedroom on the second floor.
(Ah... I was saved by Lord El Cantare...)
The sacred object had somehow come right above my head. Eventually, I heard a voice asking, "Are you okay? Are you hurt?" It was my second son, who lived nearby. "I'm fine, I'm alive." With the help of my second son and nearby men, my daughter and I were rescued from the rubble. Neither of us had a single scratch.

*Shoshin Hōgo: The most important scripture of Happy Science.
*The sacred object: The object of faith in Happy Science, a home altar dedicated to Lord El Cantare.

However, the house was tragically completely destroyed. We, who were sleeping on the second floor, miraculously survived by fitting into a tiny gap in the triangular part of the collapsed roof. Moreover, just a few days before the earthquake, I had been sleeping in a room on the first floor. My second son had moved out to rent a place nearby at the end of the previous year, so I went up to the second floor to sleep next to my daughter, thinking she would be lonely alone. If I had continued to sleep on the first floor, I surely would not have survived. I felt the guidance of Lord El Cantare.

K's house was located just across the "Sakura Park" on a small hill behind my house. Normally, it would take 15 minutes to walk through the park, but that day, the road was blocked by rubble, and it took me an hour to finally arrive. K's house was also half-destroyed and leaning, but the entire family was safe. When I told K that my house had been completely destroyed, she gently hugged me. The Sakura Park, which offers a panoramic view of the city of Kobe and is bustling with cherry blossom viewers in spring, had completely changed that day. On the road in front of the park, people who had escaped from collapsed houses were sitting in a line, dazed. Furthermore, when we looked down from the park at the neighboring Nagata Ward, we were at a loss for words. Fires were breaking out everywhere, and thick black smoke was rising, turning Nagata into a city of smoke. Eventually, it became clear that all the believers in the same district were safe, and that night, we were taken care of by a believer whose electricity was still on.

"We will start relief activities for the victims, so please gather at the branch immediately."
I received a call from the Happy Science branch the next day. Many believers from all over the country rushed to support the branch. Relief supplies were being delivered one after another by truck. Fortunately, the building where the branch was located was unharmed. The elevator was stopped, and all other floors were dark and non-functional, but the seventh floor where the branch was located was brightly lit with the light of Happy Science. The believers who visited the branch at night seemed very encouraged. When I shared how I survived, others also said, "We were lucky that my husband left for work an hour earlier than usual that day, so I was awake washing my face and avoided being trapped under the furniture!" "At Mr. ○○'s place, the house was completely wrecked, and the exit was blocked... But in the darkness, the sacred object was shining, and when I went towards it, there was an exit, and I was able to get out safely!" Miracles were happening not just to me, but to many believers.

As time passed, the extent of the earthquake damage gradually became clear. I learned that many people had become victims. On television, images of the devastated city of Kobe were repeatedly shown. There were scenes of people squatting in front of rubble, holding handkerchiefs to their faces, and crying continuously. My heart ached.
(Even if they have passed away, the afterlife exists. God and Buddha are there. So, please be at ease...)
I was filled with the desire to embrace each person's shoulder and convey this message to them.

At the branch, about 200 volunteers were crammed together, sleeping and staying. When we woke up in the morning, we all recited the "Shoshin Hōgo" together, praying for the repose of the souls of those who had passed away before starting the day's activities. Relief activities continued throughout the night. Roads were cut off, and during the day, the roads into Kobe were congested, so trucks carrying relief supplies arrived at the branch at night. The branch manager and male leaders who immediately unloaded the cargo hardly got any sleep and slept on the cold concrete floor of the first floor with futons. In front of the branch, a line of hundreds of people waiting for warm food formed. "It's warm, eat plenty!" "Cheer up! Do your best!" As I offered pork soup and curry while encouraging each person, the faces of the exhausted victims suddenly broke into smiles. It was a harsh cold season. The victims must have been suffering greatly in the evacuation centers. At night, when lying down in the gymnasium of the evacuation center, I could hear a distant rumble of "Goo!" traveling through the cold floor, and many victims were unable to sleep due to fear of aftershocks.

"You lost your house, didn't you?" Everyone was worried about my house, but considering the suffering of the victims, I couldn't just sit still. Normally, I would understand in my head that "the love that gives is unconditional love that does not seek anything in return," but sometimes I would feel the desire for a return, thinking, "After all I've done, this person can't even say thank you?" However, at that moment, I was truly able to serve others with a selfless heart. As I immersed myself in volunteering, I completely forgot that I had lost my home, my clothes, and all my memories. On the contrary, my heart was somehow filled with warm light.

My daughter, who was helping with the sorting of relief supplies among the adults, was still a high school senior. I asked my second son to take her to my mother's place in the countryside. About ten days after the earthquake occurred, one of my comrades said, "You need to rest a little," and half-forced me to take me to her home. A warm dinner and a warm bath. Tears flowed. While soaking in the bath, I felt as if all the accumulated fatigue of my heart and body was being washed away. After about two weeks, the government’s recovery activities progressed, and the five Happy Science Relief Centers that had been set up were to be withdrawn with regret from the local people. Volunteers who had gathered from all over the country began to return home one by one. However, I had no home to return to. At that time, someone quietly handed me a key and said, "You have nowhere to go, right? There’s a room that I no longer need, so you can live there."
That believer was about to vacate the room due to a transfer. I was given clothes by the believers, and I was able to see a minimum prospect for living. I was filled with gratitude for the kindness of many people.

I heard about the safety of Mr. S, who lived next door, through someone around that time. Immediately after the earthquake, his wife, who had cried out for help, was rescued safely, and it turned out that her husband was safe while on a business trip. However, I heard that their son and daughter, who were sleeping on the first floor, had passed away. The S family, who had decided to move into that house because their son, who came to see the house with his mother, liked it so much and said, "This is great!" The son, who was in the same grade as my daughter, was still in elementary school when they moved in. I couldn't help but feel a deep sadness, thinking, "If they hadn't moved into that house..." I also heard that a nearby woman, who always listened attentively to my talks at the entrance, had passed away. The only consolation was that I had conveyed the teachings of Happy Science to both Mr. S and that woman. If they had known even a little of the teachings of President Okawa while alive, even if it was just a single verse or word, after death, the angels could come to rescue them in the afterlife.
(Please remember Happy Science in the afterlife. The angels will surely come to rescue you!)
I prayed sincerely for the repose of the three souls who had departed.

The house in Hyogo Ward, where I had lived for over ten years and raised my three children, was filled with memories. However, I immediately began to look forward and walk on. I started a new life with my daughter in a room of a public housing complex in Kobe City that was made available to us. My daughter graduated from high school in March after the earthquake and quickly found a job. She was blessed with good colleagues and bosses, and she seemed to be enjoying every day. A few years later, she got married and was blessed with two children. My second son's family also had three children.
On the other hand, after the earthquake, I lost my job and relied on my daughter for a while, but after about six months, I interviewed at a famous department store in Kobe. The job was as a "maintenance staff" taking care of lost children and doing cleaning work, but at the age of 53, I was surprisingly hired as a full-time employee by a subsidiary of that department store. I thought this was also a miracle.

Since I was young, I had a dream of wanting to live in a place blessed by nature and a modest dream of wanting to live in a public housing complex. Having lived in single-family homes for a long time, I would see futons drying on the sunny balconies of public housing and think, "That looks so happy. I want that." In a large public housing complex about 30 minutes by train from downtown Kobe, surrounded by rich nature, my new room fulfilled both of those dreams.
When I moved into this public housing complex, I didn't know anyone. However, I began to evangelize to the people in the complex and led many to Happy Science, so now I have made many friends. I visit them almost every day, sharing meals and tea together. My second son's wife was also led to Happy Science, and later, her mother quickly became a believer, saying, "My daughter has changed." Thanks to my faith, even in an unfamiliar place, rich human relationships have continued to expand around me. Every time I soak up the sunlight and bring in the fluffy futons, I feel joy, thinking, "All my dreams have been fulfilled!"

On that day 16 years ago, when I was rescued from the rubble, the moment my feet touched the ground, I vowed firmly in my heart, "I was saved by Lord El Cantare. This life, which I once lost, I will now dedicate to the happiness of others." I immediately participated in volunteer activities. If I had not had faith, I would have been shivering in the evacuation center, lamenting everything I had lost, and overwhelmed by anxiety about the future. More than 6,000 people lost their lives in the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. I believe that most of them suddenly lost their lives without even knowing what would happen to them after death. That is why I have continued to convey to many people who think, "When you die, everything is over," that "the afterlife exists" and "Even if a loved one has passed away, we can reunite in the afterlife." Today and tomorrow, I will continue to convey the truth.
The sky, the city, and the hearts of the people in Kobe were once all shrouded in gray. However, we were able to recover like this. The dark night will surely break, and morning will come. I sincerely pray for the recovery of the disaster-stricken areas across the country and for everyone's happiness.