I was back in Shozenji for Easter egg hunting and decorating on a beautiful Japanese spring day. The statue is of Kinjiro Ninomiya, a boy who studied every waking moment, even as he walked to school. His statue is usually somewhere on most elementary school grounds. The little cherry blossom tree is now a teenager blooming brightly, just like son Yuto whose birth was commemorated with the tree’s planting 14 years ago.I also loved the ornaments sewn to the blowing flag commemorating a spring Shinto festival at the shrine. #joetsu #visit Joetsu #shozenji #easter #springinjapan (at Npo法人 食の工房ネットワーク) https://www.instagram.com/p/BwmTglHD9hK/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1tjc96rbiu86d
Matcha reports on Soshuku Shibatani, the transgender head nun of the Shozenji Temple in Moriguchi City, Osaka. It is Japan’s first temple built as a refuge for the LGBTQ community.
Soshuku Shibatani, a 65-year-old openly transgender Buddhist nun, was assigned male at birth:
She began to identify as a female in elementary school but never dared to express her gender identity at the time. As a university student, she met people similar to her and briefly lived at ease among like-minded peers. However, upon entering the workforce, she had to hide her true self once more…
According to Ms. Shibatani, “Buddha saw beyond the differences of gender.”
There is no need to hide your true self. Ms. Shibatani gradually became interested in Buddhist teachings and enrolled in community courses at the Graduate School of Koyasan University. She later resigned from her company, joined the priesthood, and went on to study Esoteric Buddhism.
Ms. Shibatani stated, “Shozenji is not exclusively for the LGBTQ community, but rather a temple for everyone.”
“The Kannon Bodhisattva has no gender identity,” Soshuku Shibatani says. A statue of Kannon, the Buddhist deity of mercy, is enshrined in the temple. Others see Kannon or Guan Yin as a female incarnation of the Buddha.
