Buddhist priests on demand
THE stubble-haired Buddhist priest lit incense at a small altar just as members of his order have done for centuries. As the priest chanted sutras, Yutaka Kai closed his eyes and prayed for his wife, who died last year.
Kai, 68, set aside his family’s devout Buddhism when he left his rural hometown decades ago. That meant Kai did not have a local temple to turn to for the first anniversary of his wife’s death.
Cue the internet. In modern Japan, a Buddhist priest can be found just a few mouse clicks away, on Amazon.com.
“It’s affordable, and the price is clear,” said Kai’s eldest son, Shuichi, 40.
The priest at Mrs Kai’s memorial, Junku Soko, is part of a controversial business that is disrupting traditional funeral arrangements in Japan. A network of freelancing priests is making gains in the sphere of religion.
Their venture is viewed by some as unseemly, and it has drawn condemnation from Buddhist leaders. An umbrella group representing Japan’s many Buddhist sects complained after Amazon began offering obosan-bin – priest deliver y – on its Japanese site last year.
But the priests and their backers say they are addressing real needs. They assert that obosan-bin is helping to preserve Buddhist traditions by making them accessible to the millions of people in Japan who have become estranged from the religion.
In Japan, newcomers often receive a chilly reception, and startups are rarer than in other rich countries. Among the explanations are a scarcity of venture capital, the political clout wielded by established businesses and a culture that values stability over the creative destruction that drives growth in countries like the United States.
Yet religion may prove to be an exception. It is so opaque that a little technological disruption may prove welcome.
Much of the reaction in Japan to obosan-bin has been positive: It offers convenience and low, predictable prices.
“There has been fierce criticism from the Buddhist world, but these days many people are abandoning religious funerals altogether,” said Noriyuki Ueda, an anthropologist who studies Buddhism at Tokyo Institute of Technology. “At least people using obosan-bin think having a priest is necessary.”
Hanyu Kakubo, a priest at the Japan Buddhist Federation, which opposes obosan-bin, conceded that many temples had done a poor job of adapting.
“We need to reflect on the fact that we’ve created this situation where people feel that they have to turn to the internet,” he said, adding: “Are we protecting our vested interests? Yes, obviously.”