Interview with the Translator, Hills of Silver Ruins, Religion Gone Bad

Kate: Chapter 14.19.6 of Hills of Silver Ruins got me thinking about poverty and religion. (I'm also currently watching Noragami, and I'm enchanted by the main male character's wish for a "wealthy" shrine.) There's a strong tradition of asceticism in every culture--though in Silver Ruins, the asceticism appears to be paired with a survival strategy--with often a strong countering tradition: hermits versus popes.

Have Japanese religions ever suffered from a Tammy Faye & Jimmy Bakker? Scandal, topped by financial shenanigans? Or have the American Protestants currently cornered the market on cover-ups and denials of money misuse?

Eugene: The assassination of former PM Abe focused a lot of attention on the Unification Church, more commonly known as the Moonies, and its ties to the LDP. The guy who shot Abe claimed that the Unification Church convinced his mother to donate almost a million dollars, which pushed the family into bankruptcy.

That much is true, but as it turns out, Abe hadn't done much more than arrange a few campaign appearances and record congratulatory messages for the church and the like, much the same way that any conservative running on a national ticket in the United States will put in an appearance at Liberty University.

Komeito is the LDP's coalition partner in the Diet. Komeito was the political arm of Soka Gakkai, though they formally split from the religion in 1970. Komeito still regards the Soka Gakkai as a "major electoral constituency," the same way any politician from the Mountain West considers the Mormon Church a "major electoral constituency."

Apparently, the Unification Church was trying to build a similar relationship with the LDP. But that has now blown up in a big way as MPs rush to distance themselves from the church. As always, the story turns out to be all about "following the money."

During the Edo period, the government officially put the Buddhist temples in charge of the census, a system that "forced families to affiliate themselves with a Buddhist temple, which included the obligation of monetary donations. Many Buddhist temples abused this system to make money, causing an undue burden on their parishioners."

This arrangement ended with the Meiji Restoration. The Haibutsu Kishaku that followed unleashed two centuries of stored up resentments, like the English Reformation compressed into a single decade. But Buddhist institutions have since recovered and established themselves as a major part of religious and cultural life in Japan.

There exists an interesting division of labor between Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples today. Shinto looks after your soul up to marriage (though Christian-style weddings have emerged as an increasingly popular low-cost alternative). Groundbreaking ceremonies belong entirely to Shinto priests.

But Buddhism has a lock on the funerary business. And dying doesn't come cheap. Over 90 percent of funerals in Japan are conducted in accordance with Buddhist rites. The average cost is around $20,000. About a third of that goes to the associated Buddhist temple in funeral fees.

Like the Catholic church, you can find Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines on the equivalent of the Sistine Chapel circuit (such as Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto) and also those preserving the more ascetic traditions. The Haibutsu Kishaku notwithstanding, Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines get along well together and cooperate during festivals.

In the first part of this episode of Japanology Plus, Peter Barakan explores what's going on with the money tossed into the saisen box at a shrine and some of the associated rituals.