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Japanese flock to shrine to dump god of poverty

Construction worker Takeshi Sakagami, 55, chants as he uses a red bat to bash the “holy” log erected in front of a carved wooden statue of “binbogami”, the deity of poverty, at the Poverty God Shrine in Lida, Japan.

“Go away. Go away. Go away,” visitors chant as they bash and kick a log symbolising their misfortune at a shabby hut enshrining Japan’s god of poverty. New Year is traditionally a time for Japanese to visit their local shrine and pray for good fortune.

But as the nation wallows in a 12-year economic slump people have started flocking to the Poverty God Shrine to take their frustrations out on a holy log erected in front of a carved wooden statue of the “binbogami” or deity of poverty.

The master of rites is Tessen Sakurai, a 71-year-old former banker, who established the tiny shrine in 1998 on a sprawling hill in this rural town some 200 kilometres west of Tokyo. The god of poverty is commonly believed to make people poor and no one wants to be obsessed with him. Hundreds of Japanese spent the New Year holidays cursing their economic demise at the shrine as salaries around the country slump and the unemployment rate hovers near record highs. “You are born with the god of poverty and he lives in your weak heart... Bang at your weak heart,” Sakurai said, handing out a red bat to people who come to pray. Tips from him are unlike those from the priests found at regular shrines, but they are practical. “Don’t kick with your toe, it hurts. Kick with the sole,” he said.

The skinny god stands before visitors as they kick at the log wildly, looking sad with sagging eyebrows and a broken fan in his right hand.

Sakurai quit the bank where he had worked for 20 years in 1969 and embarked on a range of business ventures from golf course development to advertisement.

All of them failed although he had known some good times. “I’ve seen paradise — and hell,” said Sakurai, who has much experience of life burdened with massive debts. He remembers a day in 1996 when he met two acquaintances. One of them said the other was haunted with the poverty god, a claim that enlightened Sakurai. “I realised I’m obsessed with the poverty god, too,” he said, deciding to set up an area for people to get rid of the unfortunate god even though he had never dabbled with religion before.

His place is not an authentic “shrine” registered with Japan’s Association of Shinto Shrines, which dates back to 1946, but visitors do not seem to mind.

The shrine, despite its embodiment of failure, has at least brought its owner Sakurai fortune in the form of donations from visitors. A special session to dump the poverty god permanently costs 1,000 yen (about 8.5 dollars). —AFP

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