By Rino Yoshida,
A Japanese Buddhist nun has stepped forward to allege that she was brainwashed and sexually violated by the chief priest of a major sect's temple for over a decade, shocking the country's religious establishment.
The news made big headlines and was all the more shocking as the alleged abuser had been mentored by a top-ranking priest of the traditional Tendai sect, which has roots in China with a history dating back 1,200 years in Japan and a significant following with close to 3 million believers nationwide.
Details of the allegations by Eicho (the woman's Buddhist name) emerged in an exclusive interview with Kyodo News. She spoke of her feeling of betrayal and the way her faith had been abused to sexually exploit her and the complex post-traumatic stress disorder she is now dealing with.
What happened in this cloistered world in the name of faith?
The woman and her legal counsel have petitioned the Tendai sect to have the accused abbot in his 60s stripped of his priesthood and for the same step to be taken against the man's mentor, another abbot in his 80s who holds the top priestly rank in Japanese Buddhism of "daisojo," whom the woman alleges facilitated his disciple's unlawful behavior. Eicho has taken the action as a last resort after making an unsuccessful criminal complaint against the abbot.
Despite struggling with painful flashbacks, Eicho, who unveiled the allegations at a Jan. 31 Tokyo press conference, told Kyodo she came forward to "restore my dignity, which has been stamped from existence for 14 years. I spent my days like a caged bird. My identity had been stolen and erased."
Eicho hopes to raise awareness about sexual violence against women, especially in the context of religion where victims might find it all but impossible to speak out against their assailants for fear of religious retribution.
The following is based on Eicho's account, as the Tendai sect and its priests would not respond to requests for interviews regarding the facts of the case.
Brought up in faith
Eicho's maternal grandfather was a high-ranking Tendai priest in Kagawa Prefecture, western Japan, and she grew up praying to "the Buddha" from an early age, becoming very fond of the teachings as she began cleaning the temple halls with her grandmother as a girl.
Her temple visits were a source of strength, and "the Buddha," she recalls, was "a great presence that gently enveloped" her.
When Eicho was in grade school, the daisojo, who is her mother's cousin, was bestowed the title "Great Acharya" for becoming one of the few to successfully complete the "1,000-day kaihogyo," an arduous ascetic practice performed over seven years that involves repeated walking of a route on Mt. Hiei, which straddles Shiga and Kyoto prefectures and is the location of Enryakuji Temple, the headquarters of the Tendai sect.
Eicho says she was told by her relatives at the time that with the achievement, the high-ranking priest had become "the closest thing to the Buddha", and that she herself came to revere him as a "living Buddha."
Eicho married at age 26. She began living with her husband, but when she needed to care for her ailing parents, she quit her job and devoted herself to their care for nearly a decade.
In July 2009, Eicho's mother passed away (her father had died earlier), and as requested before their deaths, a memorial service was held the following month at a temple in Otsu headed by the high-ranking priest.
At that time, she was instructed by the daisojo to visit his disciple, the abbot at another temple in the Shikoku region. Eicho had not become a nun at this stage but was simply a follower of the Tendai faith.
According to Eicho, shortly after their first meeting, the abbot began making advances to her with persistent phone calls and also stalked her. She consulted the daisojo but was told, "You should assume that whatever the abbot says are words that come from me."
Out of respect for the daisojo, Eicho says, she felt unable even to consult her husband or any other relatives about what was occurring.
Mind control using faith
Eicho says the first time she was forced to have sex with the abbot was in October 2009. Claiming he was unwell, he called her to the temple. But once she arrived, she says, he proceeded to rape her.
After this, Eicho says, the abbot frequently took her to hotels unwillingly where he repeatedly sexually assaulted her. While she was being sexually abused, the abbot instructed her to chant Buddhist mantras, such as namu-kanzeon-bosatsu, an invocation of the Kannon bodhisattva.
Eicho says the abbot would tell her "the Buddha said you need this (sex), so I'm doing it for you instead of him."
Eventually, Eicho was forced to live at the temple with the abbot and forbidden to go outside the compound without permission. She was sexually and verbally abused on a daily basis, she says.
Eicho says the abbot repeatedly intimidated her with threats such as "The Buddha will abandon you" and "You will fall into hell if you disobey me." She says she could never defy the abbot as he told her to "Consider my words to be the words of Kannon himself." Kannon, a popular and frequently depicted deity in Japanese Buddhism, is known as the bodhisattva of compassion.
As the situation grew progressively worse, Eicho says, the abbot often began referring to her as a "dog" or "tick" or "walking genitalia." She says he called her another nickname -- "vagi-chan" -- a portmanteau using the English word for the female genitalia and the suffix "chan," a term of endearment in Japanese.
In March 2010, the abbot cut off the long hair that Eicho had "cherished as a symbol of myself." She says from that day onward for almost four years, she was not able to look at herself in the mirror.
"It was mind control and psychological imprisonment done by taking advantage of my religious beliefs. My existence had been wiped out," she recalled.
Forced to live in the cloistered confines of the temple, she was completely unaware of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster that had devastated the Tohoku region. She says her husband and other family members believed she was undergoing ascetic practices at the temple, explaining why there had been no family interventions.
Eicho tried writing letters to consult with the daisojo but says he did not believe her and never reached out to help her. Since that was the response of the "living Buddha," she says, she had no option but to "continue to be ruled" by the abbot.
Charges are dropped
But gradually realizing that what was happening to her was not right, Eicho took action. She called a women's hotline for advice in 2015. Then in May 2017, she saw a TV press conference held by Japanese journalist Shiori Ito, who had come forward to accuse former TV reporter Noriyuki Yamaguchi of sexual assault.
Eicho said she was "stunned" to see Ito make the accusations. "I was empowered to know that being a victim of sexual violence is nothing to be ashamed of," she said. Because of her willingness to expose Yamaguchi, Ito became a symbol of the #MeToo movement in Japan where people rarely report sexual assault.
Later, with the help of someone she met through social media, Eicho fled the temple in October 2017 and began living in a shelter run by a private support group. After leaving the temple, doctors diagnosed her with complex PTSD and depression.
In 2019, Eicho filed a complaint with police on charges of rape. Although she was hesitant and afraid, she decided to file the complaint on her own. But the charges were not pressed for lack of evidence.
"This was my answer from the Buddha. Dying is my only choice," she thought. But before taking steps to end her life, Eicho says, she visited the daisojo to ask him the "meaning" of the outcome of her complaint. She says he yelled at her saying, "What are you doing trying to bring charges against your relative!" and convinced her to return to the abbot's temple. Under his spell once again, she returned.
Eicho was ordained and became a nun. Life began again for her at the temple. Thinking that she might avoid sexual violence and threats, Eicho drew up a pledge for the abbot to sign in which he promised "not to engage in sexual acts or any act of violence" against her.
Nonetheless, she says the abbot's behavior continued as he would touch her breasts and force her to sleep next to him. Eicho wrote about her harrowing experience in a diary she kept:
"I feel I am being destroyed by my assailant day after day and I can't think of anything else to do but die" (May 20, 2021). "I want to die. I have to do what he says, like a slave, all the time. No one will help me." (May 27, 2021).
One last escape, the press conference
In January 2023, with the news being dominated by the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (formerly the Unification Church), which had come under scrutiny following the assassination of former premier Shinzo Abe by a man who said the controversial religious group had ruined his family financially, Eicho's husband and other family members came to realize that Eicho was being brainwashed.
They successfully convinced her to flee the temple for a second time, but Eicho felt panicked, thinking she would be "abandoned by the Buddha" and even contemplated suicide.
But through an acquaintance, she later met Michiko Sato, the attorney who would come to represent her and sit beside her at the Tokyo press conference in January. It would take her time, she says, to unlearn what she was taught, and to realize that the top-ranking priest was "not a Buddha, but a human being."
One option was to file a civil suit, but she says she thought that the damage done to her was "never something that could be resolved with money."
Instead, she and her attorney decided to demand that both the accused abbot and the daisojo be stripped of their priestly titles to prevent similar damage and ensure that the sexual violence perpetrated against her was recognized.
"Restoring my dignity"
"I'm betting my life on these accusations," Eicho told Kyodo, adding that she is at times plagued by fear, wondering if she can really bring a case against the daisojo, who is revered in the community as a "living Buddha" and is also her relative.
Even now, Eicho says, she can hear the verbal tirades she suffered from the accused abbot repeating in her head. She also continues to shave her head everyday despite her doctor identifying it as a form of "self-mutilation."
"I am covered in scars, both physically and emotionally, from the suffering." Still, she made the accusation because "it was the greatest thing I could do for myself after being erased from existence for 14 years."
"Only when the right punishment is given to both of them will I get justice," she said. "I can't change the fact that it happened and the suffering I feel, but I want to assure myself that 'I am still here.'"
Furthermore, Eicho hopes her tell-all "will change society's view" about sexual abuse.
"There are many women who have been sexually victimized and abused everywhere. Victims whose faith has been used against them find it particularly difficult to speak out because of their faith."
For Eicho, remaining quiet is no longer a choice she can live with. "I feel for the lives, souls, and human rights of so many women fighting with me. I am scar-ridden, but I have no choice but to speak out so that the same thing will not happen again. It is a reality of society that victims have no choice but to do this."
No comment
In late January, the Tendai Religious Office in Otsu received a petition for a disciplinary hearing sent by Eicho, and in March, the Tendai sect commenced an investigation and began questioning her. Speaking at a press conference following her meeting with Tendai officials, she said, "I am finally able to stand in the ring. I am asking again that they be punished properly."
However, there is considerable skepticism about whether there will be a proper internal investigation into the alleged sexual assaults that occurred in the secluded temple located in the small town in the Shikoku region.
Eicho and her legal representative are requesting the establishment of a third-party committee, but are also considering filing for human rights relief outside the Tendai sect to provide aid to remedy Eicho's situation.
Her attorney Sato said, "Just because no one has been convicted in a criminal case does not mean they are forgiven. We hope that the Tendai sect takes this issue very seriously and delivers the appropriate punishments."
After the same press conference, the Tendai Religious Office said, "We consider this a serious matter, but we cannot comment as we are in the middle of an investigation. We will proceed with the investigation solemnly and confirm the facts."
When Kyodo interviewed the accused abbot, he revealed that in mid-March he had been interviewed for three hours by two senior counselors at the Tendai Religious Office.
"I spoke the truth," he told Kyodo. But as for the facts, he added, "I have been instructed by the Tendai sect not to give interviews (about the case). I cannot comment," he said.
The temple where he is the resident priest and believers come to worship has been in existence for more than 70 years, since his grandfather's time, the abbot explained.
"I have been involved with the temple since I was 15 years old. I sometimes consult with believers on a one-on-one basis. I believe that the temple is adored by its believers," he said.
Speaking about the daisojo, the high-ranking priest whom he solemnly respects, the abbot said, "We have had a master-disciple relationship for 40 years." The daisojo said, "I have been asked by the Tendai sect to refrain from commenting. There are many things I want to say, but I cannot say anything."
However, a temple official in Otsu close to the daisojo said, "I know the Great Acharya very well, and he is not the type of person who would knowingly do nothing (about sexual violence)."
The Tendai sect
Tendai is a Mahayana Buddhist sect that originated in China. In Japan, a monk named Saicho, currently known as Dengyo Daishi, who had traveled to Tang China, founded the Enryakuji Temple in 788 on Mt. Hiei and spread its teachings.
Enryakuji's chief priest, known as Tendai-zashu, who oversees all the sect's sub-temples, has become a symbol of the faith. Kokei Oki, born in June 1924, is the current Tendai-zashu, the 258th abbot of the head monastery.
In 1987, the Tendai sect organized the "Mount Hiei World Religion Summit," which brought together religious leaders of different faiths from around the world to pray for world peace. Every year, the Tendai sect holds a "world peace prayer gathering." Enraykuji was registered as a World Heritage site in 1994 and Japan Heritage site in 2015.
Grasping the reality
Miyako Shirakawa, a psychiatrist who treats trauma victims of sexual violence, points out that in sexual violence in religion, it is often hard to recognize the perpetrator's actions, and the victim's complaints are easily ignored.
Moreover, victims themselves are less likely to come forward because they view the accusations themselves as "blasphemy or a betrayal of God," she said.
"Sexual violence within religion is easily concealed, and if it is sexual violence done by someone in a position of authority, victims are often not believed by those around them."
It is more likely to occur in religious communities where there is a power disparity, such as in master-disciple relationships, where the perpetrator uses doctrine and religious beliefs to brainwash the victim to justify their sexual violence, she said.
Shirakawa added victims' worldview of their own faith is often shattered by the sexual violence they experience within their religion.
Sexual abuse of minors by clergy in the Catholic Church has become a worldwide problem, she says. There have also been recent cases of sexual abuse allegations in Japan of so-called second-generation followers of the Jehovah's Witnesses, who say they were abused by senior followers of the group.
"If the accusations are true, Tendai must acknowledge the assault, apologize, and take measures based on human rights. Religion is no deterrent against human desire," Shirakawa said.
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