JJRS > Volume 22 Issue 1-2 Jizoku (Priests’ Wives) in Sōtō Zen Buddhism: An Ambiguous Category

Kawahashi Noriko

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Most modem Japanese Buddhist organizations, particularly the schools of Zen, continue to espouse the ideal of world-renunciation. This has led to a reluctance on the part of the Zen organizations to officially acknowledge the presence of the priests’ wives (jizoku). The wives are thus left with no recognized place in the temple structure, despite the indispensable part they play in managing the temples’ day-to-day affairs. The present article describes the diverse roles of the jizoku, shows something of the difficulty of their position, and suggests possible changes in the Buddhist organizations that might improve their status.