Full-Time Chief Priest

Going back in time a bit, the June 23^rd issue of Jinja Shinpō included the next article from Revd Tagawa about her progress as a priest. This article was about when she started working full-time as the chief priest of Fukumo Hachimangū (服母八幡宮), her family jinja.

When she started, it was a good month if there were a handful of formal prayers, and as for goshuin the question was whether any would be requested in a year. Nobody wanted omamori at any time other than New Year, and there were days when no-one came to pay their respects at all. She devoted herself to cleaning, while trying to think of what she could do.

Her first plan was to bring the annual festivals back to life and thus strengthen relations with the ujiko. The sōdai told her that the Tanabata (七夕) festival, near July 7^th, used to be really popular, so she decided to start with that one. There used to be stands selling food and the like, so she tried to recruit people, but most businesses said that there was little prospect of getting money, so they wouldn’t go. The Wives’ Association of the local chamber of commerce agreed to run a shaved ice stand (very important in July), but that was it. The jinja sōdai sold drinks and some food, and a couple of local groups provided music. They also arranged a karaoke competition — very popular with older people, apparently.

This did work, and over a few years the Tanabata Festival became more lively. However, Revd Tagawa started to feel that they had reached the limits of what they could do like this, and that it would not be sustainable.

At this point, she saw an online article about crowdfunding. This was before it was popular (at least in Japan), but she saw the potential. The jinja’s fundamental problem was that the local population was aging and shrinking, and so there were not enough local residents to support it. A crowdfunding campaign was not so much a way to raise money, as to raise awareness.

Even so, at this point almost no jinja had done anything like that, and she didn’t have the courage to take the first step. While she was dithering, a local businessman used crowdfunding to launch a successful event, and a few days later she happened to see him at the jinja. She mentioned that she was interested in crowdfunding, and he responded, “Let’s do it!”.

There were (and still are) differences of opinion between priests, but she took the meeting at the jinja as a sign from the kami, and pushed forward. Writing the project description for the crowdfunding was, she says, a good opportunity to clarify her vision for the jinja.

A lot of people supported the crowdfunding and there was a lot of media interest. She was interviewed not only by the local press, but by the national syndication agency (Kyōdō News 共同通信社). That led to substantial articles in 35 newspapers across the country, many messages of support, and the arrival of people from across Japan to pay their respects at what had been a neglected local jinja.

But, she says, what made her happiest was that people who had moved away from the area were reminded, and came back to visit the jinja.