“Stories Inspired by Oyasama” is a short film series brought to you by the Website Sub-Committee of Tenrikyo Mission Headquarters in America. It is a global collaboration inspired by love for and desire to share testimonies of Oyasama’s Parental Heart.
Two of the creators, Michael Yuge (New York, NY) of Heritage Church and Grant Inouye (Corona, CA) of Hawaii Central Church share their motivations for creating “Stories Inspired by Oyasama.”
What was your role in this project?
Michael: I have been working with Ron Nakahara to think of different ways that we can reach out to the younger generation as well as the general public by sharing the teachings in various formats such as audio books and videos. I try to bring my knowledge of what is currently available in print with Tenrikyo and Ron, with his background in acting, develops ideas on how to make it compelling to listen to or watch.
Grant: I took the recorded audio from our voice actors and added the background music and images. The key images are the original illustrations by Masahito Takeuchi, which were created for the original story posts, published on the Tenrikyo website. In addition to his wonderful original artwork, I used generative art (AI) to create most of the other images used in the videos.
Which video is your favorite? Why?
Grant: There’s a moment in “Always with You” where the combination of Ron’s voice, the music and the onscreen imagery come together in a way that I can only describe as a tug at my kokoro (heart/soul) and I feel connected with the story.
Michael: I really like, “Always with You.” It’s easy to relate to and has a great charm. I love Ron’s “old man” voice. It just makes me smile.
What was your favorite part of the creation?
Grant: it was…the moment for each video when I paired the right song with our voice actors and the piece would just “sound right”.
What did you learn?
Michael: I learned that even given our busy schedules, we can create new ways to relay Oyasama’s words to a wider audience. We can collaborate in wonderful ways, even though we may be thousands of miles apart.
“Stories Inspired by Oyasama”
Voices by:
Alyssa Yuge
Michael Yuge
Ron Nakahara
Add’l artwork by Masahito Takeuchi
Edited by: Tenrikyo Creatives
Written by and dedicated to: Tomozo Hirano
Rev. Hirano was Honbu jun’in of Tenrikyo Church Headquarters and served as Secretary for Tenrikyo Mission Headquarters in America from 1986 to 1995.
He graduated from Tenri University’s Department of Religious Studies and attended University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire, majoring in philosophy. He is the author of “心のおもちゃ箱 日々を彩る信仰エッセ” (The Heart’s Toybox: Things that Color Your Days”) available on Amazon.co.jp. Short essays he wrote inspired “Stories Inspired by Oyasama” a short film series now available on YouTube.