This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.
The Tenrikyo Disaster Relief Hinokishin Corps takes its name from hinokishin, a Tenrikyo term for selfless service offered in gratitude rather than for reward, a concept the corps applies specifically to disaster response: dispatching volunteers to flooding, earthquakes and typhoons in Japan and abroad to clear debris, distribute aid and provide medical assistance.
The Corps was formally established in 1971 as a nationwide disaster relief organization, but that founding built on volunteer relief work Tenrikyo followers had already carried out decades earlier, after the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. The 1971 founding gave permanent, trained structure to a pattern of response the religion's followers had practiced informally since the disaster that struck Tokyo and Yokohama half a century before.
That structure runs through Tenrikyo's local and diocesan Hinokishin Corps organization, which conducts regular training so units can be quickly dispatched when disaster strikes, turning what began as an improvised response to one catastrophic earthquake into a standing, trained capacity the religion maintains continuously rather than assembling anew after each disaster.