In an answer to their prayers, shrines in Tokyo are increasingly allowing high-rise buildings and apartments to be located on their premises to generate much-needed revenue.

However, the construction comes as some neighboring residents oppose the desecration of the religious sites. 

NO OTHER OPTION FOR SURVIVAL

One such development is in the Ebara district of the capital’s Shinagawa Ward, where a prefabricated structure sits at the entrance to a hill where the central hall of Koyama-Hachimanjinja shrine stands.

The building tentatively substitutes for the shrine's key pavilion and office until construction of a housing complex is completed. 

The redevelopment project of Koyama-Hachimanjinja was planned from last spring. The 85-year-old main hall was showing signs of age, according to the religious establishment, with the roof leaking badly.

About half of the shrine’s 3,000-square-meter site will be leased to Tokyu Land Corp. under a 70-year contract to collect refurbishing costs to the tune of 230 million yen ($1.5 million).

An apartment building comprising three floors above ground and one basement level is envisioned on the leased land.

Hajime Morita, 62, the chief priest of Koyama-Hachimanjinja, said the building and the relocated hall will be completed within two years.

“Although our facility will celebrate its 1,000th anniversary in 2030, a plunge in the number of our parishioners was making it difficult to solicit funds to renovate the main hall,” said Morita.

Among the projects that Koyama-Hachimanjinja looked at for guidance was Naruko-Tenjinsha shrine located on Ome Kaido street in Tokyo's Nishi-Shinjuku district.

In addition to its new shrine pavilion, Naruko-Tenjinsha has a towering 27-story apartment building on the premises. Both structures are situated behind a torii.

The strange sight of the two buildings emerges before visitors who traverse a long stone-paved pedestrian approach to the shrine.

The shrine’s operator allowed Mitsui Fudosan Residential Co. to utilize part of its grounds for 70 years under a fixed-term rental agreement.

Taking advantage of the revenue, Naruko-Tenjinsha replaced its core pavilion and another hall to coincide with the completion of the high-rise apartments.

The redevelopment project ended in 2013.

“Upgrading work requires hundreds of millions of yen,” said Juri Kamata, 59, head priest of Naruko-Tenjinsha. “We did not have other options in our quest to keep the shrine in existence amid the decline in the number of our parishioners.”

The apartment building will operate on a limited-period contract and is expected to be dismantled at the term’s end so that the land will be returned to the shrine operator with no buildings on it.

Emiko Kitamura, a resident of the towering residential complex, said she moved into an apartment as soon as it was erected there.

“I have heard that apartment prices were relatively cheaper than properties in other areas at the time of their release but they have seen surges in their value by now,” she said.

Kitamura occasionally pays her respects at the shrine for “good luck,” since her home exists in the establishment’s precincts.

Similar shrine-apartment collaborations are also reported elsewhere in the capital.

They include the Park Court Kagurazaka complex at Akagijinja shrine in Shinjuku Ward as well as the Livio Komagome Myogi apartment building at Myogijinja shrine in Toshima Ward.

Nonresidential high-rises have alike been incorporated into the grounds of shrines.

Kotohiragu shrine in Minato Ward houses the 26-story Toranomon Kotohira Tower, while a modern office building is located within Kitaya-Inarijinja shrine in Shibuya Ward.

Matsushimajinja shrine in Chuo Ward relocated its worship hall to the first floor of an office complex installed on its site.

FINANCIALLY STRUGGLING

Shrine operators are desperate for ways to survive the dwindling birthrate and the trend toward nuclear families that have cut into their revenues.

An estimate presented by Kenji Ishii, 69, a religion professor at Kokugakuin University, shows “35 percent of all religious corporations will have difficulty surviving by 2040.”

Data from the Agency for Cultural Affairs reveals that 540 shrines nationwide, including 25 in Tokyo, have disappeared over the course of the 10 years through 2021.

Shrines and other religious bodies are exempted from taxes. Their commercial activities are taxed at a lower corporation income tax rate than those of ordinary companies. Despite the preferential treatment, shrines are facing increasingly precarious financial situations. 

According to a report by the Association of Shinto Shrines, 70 percent of operators have annual revenues totaling less than 5 million yen. Chief priests receive a yearly income of less than 3 million yen in 60 percent of instances.

Only 20 percent of shrines are reportedly successful in generating revenue by allowing apartments, parking lots and other facilities on their sites.

There might be room for growth if ailing shrines rely on redevelopment programs. But this type of initiative is feasible only for establishments situated in prime locations of the central part of the capital.

Many shrines sit quietly in huge areas surrounded by trees while assimilating into local communities. Many neighboring residents may be reluctant to see nonreligious buildings installed on their premises due to the risk of “the pristine landscape being spoiled.”

Koyama-Hachimanjinja shrine also experienced opposition from people living in the proximity.

Hidenori Ukai, 49, a journalist who is also a Buddhist monk, recounted the difficulty that religious institutions are facing. 

“Shrines and temples need to create new value in this era, which is difficult to survive solely on their own,” he said. “But well aware of their responsibility for contributing to the public interest, operators have to make low-key efforts at the same time, with the aim of providing sites for relaxation as residents are looking for those kind of places.”

The financial gap between shrines in Tokyo and operators in depopulated regions that are increasingly plagued by a lack of supporters will seemingly continue widening.