Temple Death and Revitalization

Abstract Buddhist temples have had a significant role and function in Japanese society for centuries. In recent decades, depopulation, urbanization, and general secularization have severely impacted the raison d’être of especially rural temples with significant social and cultural consequences of the growing number of empty and abandoned temples. Awareness of such material symbols of Japanese Buddhism’s crisis has led local initiatives to rethink and revitalize temples, converting religious “waste” into alternative “afterlives.” This article analyzes such empty temples ( akidera 空き寺) and abandoned temples ( haiji 廃寺) within the framework of religious waste management and revitalization. After discussing the historical role of these temples and the recent decades’ decline in numbers, the article examines the infrastructure and processes involved in their transformation and dissolution before exploring empirical cases of temple revitalization, with tourism as one domain used as possible channel to temple “rebirth.”