過疎地域における寺院経営―種子島・信楽寺を事例として― ; Management of a Buddhist temple in a depopulated area―A case study of Shingyouji Temple on Tanegashima Island―

Some abandoned temples can be found in present-day depopulated areas. This shows that even when such temples have a history of several hundred years, they cannot cope with current and rapid changes to the social environment. To overcome such a situation, Buddhist priests and researchers have made various proposals and adopted several practices. More recently, temples have been expected to play a role as social capital. This article discusses Shingyouji Temple on Tanegashima Island acting as a medium that connects to the residents of a village. Shingyouji Temple was established as a small non-registered temple (“kodera”) at Nogidaira Village in Nishinoomote City, which is a village with migrants from Koshikijima Island, and then it became a registered temple. Though there were once thirty non-registered temples in Nishinoomote City, my field research confirmed only one kodera of Nogidaira village. Why would the other koderas have disappeared? The outflow of the rural population during the period of high economic growth could help explain the cause, as could the weakening ties among the villagers as a result of changing lifestyles, along with modernization. Two factors that made it possible to develop the non-registered kodera into a registered temple in Nogidaira Village should be pointed out. Firstly, it is the role of a temple as a medium to connect to the residents of the village. In Nogidaira Village, many of the regional events included in monthly religious gatherings have been made through Shingyouji Temple. Thus, the temple has played a role of connecting to the villagers. However, the reason for the persistence of the temple does not always lie in the role of combining the villagers. Another factor is the existence of the medium that connects the regions. Nogidaira Village has local events that are not related to the temple. In other words, this article points out that Shingyouji Temple has been maintained as a result of the mutual effect of the temple and regional events as a medium that connects to the ...