Good morning. This is Yukihiro Shima — Bloom your own way, at your very best.
This is our 154th YouTube Live, after a week away. This morning, at the altar, I received the warmest words from the Gohonzon: “You are absolutely all right.” Every day, one chants, polishes one’s life, and carries the mission ── that steady work sank in as conviction this morning.
August 15 — First, Be Well Yourself
Today, August 15, is Japan’s memorial day for the end of the war. Peace must reach the whole world, and yet Putin says one thing, Trump says another. This planet does not belong to humans alone. It belongs to every living thing on it. It is no one’s possession, no one’s to rule.
When a single voice moves the world’s markets, that is the face of the “Five Impurities” (goju no akuse) the Lotus Sutra describes. We must see it as it is, and not be moved by it.
So SGI members chant strongly, and live out the mission that only you can carry, that only I can carry.
Heavy rain in Chiba. Disaster in Kumamoto. A small tremor here in Ibaraki this morning. In days like these, first: be well yourself. Chant, polish your life, and carry out what only you can do. The life rooted in faith ── that is what we, as SGI members, continue. The awareness, and the continued effort, are the ground everything stands on.
Today’s Theme — The Color of Your Altar, Your Choice
Now to the heart of today’s live.
Until now, most people chose an altar from what stood in the shop. Within a price frame, a color frame, a design frame ── many quietly settled: “This will do.” I have heard it from many customers.
Oubaitori.com is stepping past that line.
Today we announce a new offer: your altar, in the color you choose. The reference is the color codes published by the Japan Paint Manufacturers Association. Red has many reds. Blue has many blues. A code like “P35-80D” specifies the color precisely.
We are starting with two models: “Kagayaki” (Radiance) and “Akane”.
Same design. Outer color, inner color, door color ── your choice. Sample images are up on the website. The same shape of altar shows a completely different face, changed by color alone.
Making the Impossible Possible — A Door Opened by Trust
To do this, I spoke with the maker’s president in advance. “Pulling one unit out of the line and painting it in one customer’s color” is, honestly, almost impossible.
Batch production of ten or twenty in the same color is what keeps the price down. Painting one unit alone raises the paint cost per unit, the line has to be cleaned, each part is handled separately, and the labor stacks up. The price rises. Naturally.
And still, the president said, “If Shima-san says so.”
No one takes a risk in times like these. The maker does not. Neither do I. The customer does not carry the risk either. The customer’s “impossible” is made “possible” by our hands ── and pays only for the time and the cost that took. When this comes together, it is a triple win ── customer, maker, and us.
The condition is clear. Contract and half-payment must be in before the unit enters the paint line. Once painting begins, no unit can be pulled out.
The ultimate form is a full custom order ── one altar built from zero, for one customer. Right now we are building one for a customer in Hong Kong. In the past, one for a customer in Germany. There is only one “you” in the world. For that one person, one altar in the world. That is what Oubaitori.com offers.
Of course, the root is the Gohonzon, and the Daimoku.
An altar is the vessel that holds the environment — the TPO — for your chanting. Helping you build an environment where you can say “with this, I can keep chanting” ── that is one of the great missions I carry.
This “Making the Impossible Possible” project began in May 2026. One idea at a time, only what this Shima can do, shared through YouTube and the website. Thank you for watching Live #154. Please leave your thoughts.
🙏 From Yukihiro Shima — Oubaitori.com
Bloom your own way, at your very best.
Oubaitori.com — Japan’s specialist in Soka Gakkai Buddhist altars
44 years, one specialty (est. 1982). 17,113 Soka Gakkai Buddhist altars delivered to date. Japan’s No.1 in restoring Soka Gakkai altars, 1,500+ restored. Registered trademark: “Butsudan Revolution — Kokū Zushi.” We ship worldwide.
📱 Talk directly with us (LINE)
Comments