The New York Times reports on the recent decline in Buddhism in Japan, owing in part to the exodus of younger generations from rural areas, but mostly as a result of the moving away from traditional Buddhist style funerals at temples or at homes:

Buddhism is losing its grip on the funeral industry, as more and more Japanese are turning to funeral homes or choosing not to hold funerals at all.

Over the next generation, many temples in the countryside are expected to close, taking centuries of local history with them and adding to the demographic upheaval under way in rural Japan.

Ryoko Mori, chief priest at Zuikoji Temple in Akita, conjectures that Buddhism may have lost its spiritual influence after the war, with allowing special Buddhist names to be available for purchase:

Mr. Mori . . . said that after the war there was a desire for increasingly lavish funerals with prestigious Buddhist names. These names — with the highest ranks traditionally given to those who have led honorable lives — are routinely purchased now, regardless of a dead person’s conduct in life.

“Soldiers, who gave their lives for the country, were given special posthumous Buddhist names, so everybody wanted one after that, and prices went up dramatically,” Mr. Mori said. “Everyone was getting richer, so everyone wanted one.

“But that gave us a bad image,” he said, adding that the price of the top name in Akita was about $3,000 — though that was a small fraction of the price in Tokyo.

Indeed, that image is reinforced by the way the business of funerals and memorial services is conducted. Fees are not stated and are left to the family’s discretion, and the relatives generally feel an unspoken pressure to be quite generous. Money is handed over in envelopes, and receipts are not given. Temples, with their status as religious organizations, pay no taxes.

While Mr. Mori and Kazuma Hayashi, founder of obohsan.com, a Buddhist priest dispatch company, recognize the need for Buddhism to return to its spiritual roots, the focus remains on the bottom line, and the attitude of Buddhism as a “brand” to be sold to customers persists:

Mr. Hayashi argued that . . . his business attracted more people with its lower prices. The highest-ranking posthumous name went for about $1,500, a rock-bottom price.

“I know that, originally, that’s not what Buddhism was about,” Mr. Hayashi said of the top name. “But it’s a brand that our customers choose. Some really want it, so that means there’s a strong desire there, and we have to respond to it.”
[emphasis added]

Image by Ko Sasaki for The New York Times