TOKYO, July 3, 2021—As I Otani belted its 30th homer July 3, 2021, as a Japanese lone wolf ballplayer in the United States, I was drawned to a monthly periodical sent from a Buddhist temple. The cover was splashed by a photo of priests with an elderly one and his wife standing on the right side of the front row and a younger one and his wife on the other side of the same row. The junior priests and parish seniors stood behind. The gathering, according to the periodical, was the ceremony to report to the Buddha of the new bishop – one who stood next to the senior priest.
The senior priest was to retire and leave the temple 20 years ago or so according to the temple’s tradition but he dug in his heels and stayed on to date as the kingmaker forcing out at least two priests dispatched from the temple’s Kyoto head temple. He survived by building a bureaucracy structure demoting younger priests who refused to be yeomen and retaining those that do not threaten him. The old priest’s management policy is supported by senior parishioners who represent thousands of parishioners. This is a micro-cosmos of Japanese politicians and bureaucrats and gaining traction at other religious sects, notably Sokagakkai, which is Japan’s largest religious grouping and tied to the political party Komeito.
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Insight Into the Future