Hard times for rural temples in Japan
The BBC posted a very interesting report the other day about how declining population in Japan’s rural areas is hurting small temples. Here’s an excerpt:
Their timber-framed building, perched on the side of a mountain, is in a part of the country so remote that the monk says he can go three days without seeing anyone at all.
Mr Toyoma needs the support of 100 households, he tells me, to keep the temple going.
In Japan traditionally much of a monk’s job is to say prayers and hold services for people’s ancestors. You commemorate the dead a year after they pass away, then two years, six years, 12 years – eight times in all over a 50-year period.
Usually the monk asks for a fee for each memorial service, and in a community of 100 households keeps pretty busy, the services providing a regular income. But these days Mr Toyoma has fewer than 50 households who worship at his temple.
[Hat tip to John K for the article, image via: 極楽寺]
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They’ll have to adapt. Religion is a dying phenomenon, even though regrettably it will take ages for it to reach negligible figures.
Set up a system of sponsorship if the local community values the temple as a place of rest and a recluse for quiet thought. If that doesn’t work, than mr Toyoma should find a real job instead of a purely symbolic one. Perhaps he can set up cheap lodging for passing hikers if the surrounding area is alluring enough?
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Unfortunately religion is only dying in Japan and the native parts of Western European societies (Muslim immigrants have an annoying habit of sticking, or even becoming more (especially 2nd generation immigrants) not less religious). Oh, and maybe ex-communist countries?
In other places, including the US, it seems to be as strong as ever.
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There was a similar report in the NYT that was actually blogged about here, although Mr. Toyama in this BBC article is more reluctant than the monks in the NYT article to concede Buddhism as merely a “brand.”
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