In February 1602, when the 59th high priest of the Fuji School was in office, Tokugawa Ieyasu established a shogunate government in Edo (present-day Tokyo). A couple of decades later, around 1635, the government began instituting a new Buddhist temple parish system. The system was designed to solidify the regime’s control over the populace, as well as to prevent the spread of Christianity. It was established nationwide by 1638, at which time a Christian revolt in Shimabara (#1) was quelled by government forces. Under the parish system, all the people of Japan were required to register with a Buddhist temple in their area, ostensibly for census reasons and to prove that they were not Christian. However, the system had far reaching implications throughout Japanese society. Each Japanese subject was required to obtain a permit from their local Buddhist temple. Without such a permit, one was not allowed to work or travel. As Japanese society became dependent on the temple parish system, the authority of chief priests became immense. Even a top parish lay leader, if he did not visit his temple on an appointed day, could have his name deleted from the register and be reported to the government.

The Buddhist temple parish system wasn’t the only means used to manipulate the Japanese people at that time. The Tokugawa shogunate also prohibited religious debate. Sects were banned from publicly praising their own religions as well as from criticizing others. This law became effective around 1615 and essentially prevented religious propagation. Since the parish system also made it extremely difficult for people to change parishes, or even to learn about different sects, their desire to improve their spiritual lives was greatly stifled. As a result, Buddhism in Japan became conservative and ritualistic.

Since the government discouraged propagation, sects were forced to look for different ways to grow and increase their influence. Many temples started conducting new and more elaborate rituals in order to entice parishioner to visit them more frequently and to give more offerings. Many temples emphasized rituals and formalities related to death: ornate funerals, posthumous Buddhist names, memorial services, Buddhist tablets for the dead(#2), thrice-yearly tomb visits, and so on. For this reason, some critics refer to Japanese Buddhism, as it was practiced after the establishment of the parish system, as “Funeral Buddhism.”

The parish system also required priests to view their parish members’ corpses when they died. Upon confirming that the deceased were in fact dead and not practicing Christianity, priests would then bestow posthumous names and recite special funeral prayers. Families that failed to make appropriate offering, risked being labeled Christians, a penalty punishable by execution. Indeed, the members of many sects were required to make offerings to priests at every service they attended, or else risk being labeled Christian and reported to the government. Priests had such great power over their followers that many temples began demanding all sorts of donations from their followers, especially for renovation and construction projects at the temples.

In June 1641, Nisshun, the nineteenth high priest of the Fuji School, received a deed from the newly appointed third shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu reclaiming Taiseki-ji’s property and assigning its status as a head temple within the parish system. At this time, Taiseki-ji started to register its parishioners and to vouch for their non-Christian status. In accordance with the law, Taiseki-ji stopped its propagation efforts. And, in following the trends of the wider Buddhist community, the temple started to emphasize rituals and formalities such as funerals and memorial services. As a result, Taiseki-ji’s parish members grew dependent on their priests and became negligent in their personal practices, such as gongyo. Instead of doing gongyo, they would go to the temple and make offerings to the priests who would then pray on their behalf. This priest-based faith became the norm within the Fuji School (known today as Nichiren Shoshu). Indeed, to this very day Nichiren Shoshu priests still offer these kinds of prayer services for lay believers: “prayer for health,” “prayer for traffic safety,” “prayer for warding off evils,” “prayer for good grades” and so on. Followers are also still expected to make specific offerings to the priests in return for these prayers.

This dependency on priests is the antithesis of the self-reliant faith that Nichiren Daishonin clearly advocates in his writings. He exclaims: “Muster your faith and pray to this Gohonzon. Then what is there that cannot be achieved?” (WND,412). “The fact that her prayers have gone unanswered is like a strong bow with a weak bowstring, or a fine sword in the hands of a coward. It is in no sense the fault of the Lotus Sutra”(WND,489). And “Whether or not your prayer is answered will depend on your faith; [if it is not,] I will in no way be to blamed” (WND, 1079). In light of these passages, it is obvious that to rely on a priest to pray for one’s happiness and enlightenment is contrary to the Daishonin’s intent. These things must come from within.

Unfortunately, the government-dictated parish system resulted in even more corruption of Japan’s Buddhist community. The system’s strong emphasis on the priest’s role of monitoring and reporting on the actions of each sect’s members, caused priests to grow lax in their roles as spiritual teachers and guides. All the newfound power and influence, caused many priests to pursue of material gain and status over spiritual improvement.
The parish system encouraged Japanese Buddhist clergy to develop a sense of superiority over lay believers. Since priests essentially acted as government agents, they began to view their relationship with lay people as that between lord and serf.

Fortunately, with the end of the Tokugawa shogunate in the nineteenth century, the power of Buddhist clergy began to fade. Unfortunately, however, many Japanese priests and their followers still cling to outdated, anachronistic views of the relationship between clergy and lay people. The behavior of many priests in Nichiren Shoshu today, for instance, including their leader Nikken Abe, serves as a case in point. Nichiren Shoshu’s emphasis on a power-relationship between priests and lay people, and the resultant corruption of the priests themselves, has direct roots in the Tokugawa Buddhist parish system.