Cashless Offerings

The last research report from Issue 277 of Shintō Shūkyō that I want to talk about is “Possibilities for Doctrinal Research Regarding Cashless Payment at Shinto Shrines”, by Hasebe Haruhiko. This is a topic I have mentioned several times before, because with the decline in the number of people carrying cash it is becoming increasingly important for jinja, as a matter of economic survival.

Hasebë starts by looking at the general situation. He notes that the number of religious corporations accepting cashless payments has increased in the last five years or so, although it is still a minority, and that there are no longer any fundamental legal problems with them doing so. The issue is whether it is religiously appropriate.

He then covers some of the religious issues that have been raised about cashless payments in Shinto in earlier work. First, there is a positive argument for accepting them. Historically, offerings to jinja were often of the most advanced products of the time, and cashless payment is the most advanced form of money at present. Therefore, offering cashless money to the kami is in line with that tradition. He then notes responses from Kawamura Tadanobu to a couple of common objections. The first is that, if someone makes an offering by credit card, the money enters the jinja’s account a few days later. However, there are earlier precedents for making the actual offering later, specifically in prayers for victory in war (probably WWII, but the report does not say). The second is that there is a transaction fee, so not all of the offering goes to the jinja. There are two responses to that. The first is that the historical kō, groups that organised to send a representative to an important jinja with their requests, let their representative pay travel expenses out of the offering, which is a form of transaction charge. The other is the observation that banks have started charging to deposit coins, so that the presence of a transaction charge is not unique to cashless payments.

Hasebë also raises an issue he has not seen discussed. It is common for cashless systems to offer points or cashback promotions. In that case, the person might get part of their offering back. It makes no difference to the jinja — the money comes from the company — but psychologically it might be significant for the person making the offering.

His main concern, however, is with the reasons for doing things. Jinja often do things, such as offer interesting goshuin or omamori, in order to attract more people to pay their respects. Accepting cashless offerings is part of making it easier for people to do so, by lowering the barrier to entry. Another researcher has referred to this as “light religion”, or possibly “religion lite”. (The Japanese is unambiguously about lack of weight.) The decline in the number of ujiko means that jinja must attract other adherents to survive, but Hasebë is concerned about whether the jinja can offer a religious justification for doing that.

I think there is an important concern here. While this is an oversimplification, I think we can see the fundamental issue as follows. Jinja are for the kami, not the people who visit. Thus, if you want to make a change, you have to be able to say why it is good for the kami. It is taken as given in Shinto that the continued existence of a jinja is good for the kami enshrined there, so this does not mean that jinja should accept economic failure. It does, on the other hand, provide a different perspective. It is not enough that we can say that people would appreciate a change. If we think the kami would not like it, then we should look for a different change — or leave things the same if there is not a problem.

Of course, the kami are not renowned for being clear and explicit about their desires, but even so I think this would make a difference to how issues were thought about, and would lead to priests looking for a “religious” reason for their plans.