Japanzine did a pretty good write up on the Tenri City and the Tenrikyo religion:
<blockquote>Unlike the Mormons' inner sanctum, the Tenri main temple is open to unbelievers. We were allowed to walk anywhere we wanted within the 800 meters of the building. In some rooms people were casually praying (doing the te-odori hand dance and singing), while in others, the solemnity and seriousness of prayer was quite tangible. We walked by women receiving the Sazuke, or Divine Grant, an official license to begin spreading the word and recruiting followers.
To my dismay, no one tried to convert us while we were there. We found everyone to be quite friendly, and encountered zero hostility. As an added bonus, arriving a few days after New Year, we also received massive bags of mochi, free, from God herself!</blockquote>
Butter-fried mochi with shoyu and crispy nori! Wish I had a massive bag, too!
The Sazuke is NOT "an official license to begin spreading the word and recruiting followers;" it is a grant to administer a healing prayer on another individual suffering from illness or injury. Anybody is allowed to spread the teachings.
See here:
http://www.tenrikyo.or.jp/en/teaching/teachings/sazuke.html
Tenrikyo followers are encouraged to take people with them to see the Jiba because it is what we believe to be where human beings were first conceived, thus referred to as "home of the parent." Parent being, God who guides us all as brothers and sisters. Visiting the Jiba is considered as "returning home." So it is common to see visitors, followers and non-followers, from around the world, especially during the summer and anniversaries of the founder, Miki Nakayama (aka Oyasama), and of Tenrikyo.