This term--which means bringing into being something new, something that has not existed before--refers to God the Parent's creation of and providence for humankind and the world. God the Parent caused the world to appear and brought into existence all things and beings including humankind where there was nothing other than God the Parent.

Yet, God the Parent did not create humankind and the world as something external to God. Rather, it is within the formless body of God the Parent that God the Parent created the phenomenal world, which has form and shape. Tenrikyo's story of creation mainly talks about the emanation of humankind rather than the creation of the universe.

God the Parent is self-sufficient and does not depend on anything else in order to exist. Nevertheless, finding the original condition--in which there was nothing but God the Parent--to be "tasteless," God thought of creating humankind and the world to share in the delight experienced by humanity. With the arising of this original intention of God in creation, the emanation of humanity and the world as distinct from God began to unfold, thus setting in motion the eternal creation moving toward the completion of the Joyous Life in which God and humankind dwell in perfect union. The emanation of humankind and the world is, as it were, God's self-manifestation as distinct from God. Humankind and the world come from God's self-limitation. God's everlasting providence represents God's self-emanation. The path to the Joyous Life World can be seen as the process of God's fulfillment of the original intention in creation.

The creation of humankind was accomplished neither quickly nor directly by God the Parent; rather, it has involved complex procedures performed over an extremely long period of time. God's intention in creation first motivated God to look carefully through the "muddy ocean"--which metaphorically refers to the original condition of God's body, which was a world of chaos. God's act of "looking carefully" brought a variety of creatures into manifestation within the muddy ocean, the body of God. Among them, God chose those necessary for creating humankind and, after discerning their natures and characteristic features, drew them forth as instruments for human creation. God then requested and obtained their consent that they would cooperate proactively in creation, wholly forgetting themselves. God then assimilated them into the agents of creation, whom God established as Izanagi and Izanami--that is, the Parents to whom humankind was to be born. God the Parent then entered Izanagi and Izanami to have them give birth to human beings. Thus, human creation took place through a twofold process involving both the work of creation by God the Parent (Tsukihi) and the work of giving birth by Izanagi and Izanami. Despite the use of the term "creation," phenomenologically human beings are seen as having been "given birth."

The forms of life thus born--which might be called primitive humanity--underwent repeated births and deaths over long ages while continuing to develop until, at last, they became the present-day human beings. During the last stage of the long course of human development, God the Parent gave human beings the intellectual capacities to adore the Parent of Origin who created humanity, to come to know God's original intention, and to live in accord with that intention as conscious agents. God the Parent thus enabled human beings to know the purpose for which God the Parent had created humankind, take conscious part in the work of creation, and play a leading role in bringing to realization the original intention in creation. Creation is not a finished one-time act. Nor has it been completed. It is still continuing, as it will through all time, in the form of providence and salvation at the levels of society, nature, and history.