Tenrikyo has a fixed geographical centre in a way few religions do. The Jiba is a specific spot inside the main sanctuary at Tenri, held to be where humanity was conceived. It is marked by the Kanrodai, a hexagonal wooden stand which the founder described in detail and which the faith holds will one day receive the dew of heaven. The sanctuary is built around it on four sides so that worshippers face inward from every direction, and the building is open day and night. Pilgrimage is described as returning to the Jiba rather than visiting it, because the site is understood as the parental home of every human being.
Three scriptures govern practice. The Ofudesaki, written by the founder between 1869 and 1882, is 1,711 poems in the thirty-one syllable waka form. The Mikagura-uta, the Songs for the Service, is the liturgical text, set to music and to hand movements. The Osashizu collects oral directions given between 1887 and 1907.
The central rite is the Service. In its fullest form, the Kagura Service, it is performed only at the Jiba, by ten masked dancers each taking the part of an aspect of divine providence in the creation of humanity, moving around the Kanrodai. The Teodori, a hand dance performed to the Mikagura-uta, is done in every church. Services are held morning and evening daily, and a larger service is held on the twenty-sixth of each month, the day of the founding.
The music is played on Japanese instruments and the text is sung in Japanese wherever in the world the Service is performed.