Japanese contest seeks to demystify Buddhist monks, nuns

[yuiyoshida]

Female Buddhist monk Koyu Osawa, winner of the Handsomest Monk Contest, bows to spectators as she takes part in the contest at Life Ending Industry Expo in Tokyo, Japan, August 22, 2016.

TOKYO - Two Buddhist monks and a nun strolled down a catwalk, showed off talents such as karate moves and answered questions in a Japanese contest on Monday aimed at making Buddhist practitioners more approachable and less solemn.

Koyu Osawa, the nun, who wore a black robe and sported closely cropped hair, was voted the spectators' favourite at the Tokyo event organised by Obosan.com, or "Monks.com", a web-based provider of Buddhist services such as funerals and marriages.

In response to one question, Osawa recalled when a friend was in tears trying to talk her out of becoming a nun.

She said she wanted people to know that being a monk or nun can involve hardships and it is not simply a job relying on donations at a temple.

Kazuma Hayashi, the contest organizer, said he wanted to make monks - often seen as serious, distant figures associated with funerals - more approachable and a part of daily life.

Monks "are not people who you associate with only after you die", he said, but they can help with ordinary struggles.

http://news.asiaone.com/news/asia/japanese-contest-seeks-demystify-buddhist-monks-nuns