Ordination Ceremony Held at Kyoto's Higashi Honganji

Aug 05, 2026 | News On Japan

KYOTO - Children with freshly shaved heads walked slowly through the corridors of Higashi Honganji in Kyoto as they took part in a Buddhist ordination ceremony marking their formal entry into the priesthood.

The ceremony, known as tokudo, is conducted by the Otani branch of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism. Participants may undergo ordination from the age of 9, the same age at which the sect's founder, Shinran, entered the priesthood.

Children on summer vacation take part in the ceremony each year during this period.

After undergoing a ritual involving a ceremonial razor, the participants received black Buddhist stoles and religious names as proof that they had become ordained priests.

Source: TBS

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