Monk Yoneta Kogyo, who has been guarding the temple for five generations in a small town in Hokkaido..

The temple itself could disappear if it had less than 4 million yen in annual income from daily temples and less than 4 million yen and less income from simplifying funerals and less income from government bonds, REITs, and stocks

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Monk Yoneta Kogyo, who has been guarding the temple for five generations in a small town in Hokkaido, Japan. It eventually turned to the financial market because it could not cover the temple’s maintenance costs that were more than 100 years old.

Instead of asking believers to donate more, they invested the donations they had already received in U.S. government bonds, Japanese Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), Hyundai Motor and BYD stocks. The result was not bad. Over the past two years, it has made an average annual return of more than 10% to cover some of the maintenance costs of about 25 million yen and more than 200 million won in our money. Thanks to the return on investment, the scope of construction was expanded than originally planned.

According to Bloomberg News on the 16th, more and more monks are making this choice in Japan. The reason is simple. The cost of maintaining the temple goes up, but the money coming in is decreasing. Japan’s Buddhist population has declined by about 14% over the past 20 years. While the elderly died, the younger generation moved to large cities, and their connection to religion also weakened.

The temple’s finances are already tight. According to a survey of 7,000 temples in 2021 by the Hongan Branch of the Pure Land Jinjong, a large Japanese Buddhist sect, about half of them had an annual income of less than 4 million yen. In rural areas, one monk is in charge of several temples, and there are many cases where they work in other professions, such as teachers and government officials.

Traditionally, Japanese temples have earned considerable income from funerals and cemetery management. However, through COVID-19, the culture of simplifying funeral ceremonies has spread, and in recent years, high prices have overlapped, leading households to reduce funeral and ritual costs. Unlike famous temples, which charge tourists admission fees, most temples are not easy to find new sources of income.

The question is whether the monk can invest to make money. The Dianji Temple in Nara Prefecture still holds most of its assets in cash and invests only about 10% in foreign currency-denominated insurance products. Kono Yusho, deputy governor of Kono, described such investments as a “thoroughly defensive choice.”

“In principle, there is a contradiction that monks should not engage in profit-seeking activities,” he said. “But if you don’t do anything now, the temple itself can disappear.”

The large end is also moving. Cho Dong-jong, which has about 15,000 temples nationwide in Japan, puts about 10% of the 13 billion yen worth of funds into Japanese government bonds and 2% into bonds from the Japan International Cooperation Organization (JICA). According to the Bank of Japan, the size of corporate bonds held by non-profit organizations such as religious organizations and schools was about 5 trillion yen as of March, double the level in 2023.

Monk Yoneta is currently holding an investment seminar for believers. “The era of temples and monks receiving special treatment is completely over,” he said. “How the temple will raise funds and manage its assets is now a matter that cannot be ignored.”