Aloha,
I've been an off and on fan of Japanese anime and popular culture since
the 80s, mostly because I used to work in the American comic book biz.
The West Coast retail chain I worked for did a lot to bring pop culture
things Japan to American fandom. Not only did I learn this and that
about Japanese publishing and animation and fandom, but I also picked up
a little fan enthusiasm for Japanese robot toys.
In any case, organized religious institutions sometimes turn to popular
culture and fandoms to promote their world views, hoping to attract new,
youthful recruits. (Rap and pop slang Bibles, for example.)
Here, from Sankaku Complex, a leading Japanese Anime and pop culture
site, is a report of one such effort. A Nichiren Buddhist temple in
the Hachiouji City area of Tokyo has turned to moe illustrations of
Buddhist figures to attract youthful and fannish recruits.
"A Nichiren School Buddhist temple has embraced the spirit of moe in
order to win new converts, and has created a series of marvellous moe
illustrations of the Buddhist pantheon in order to connect with
contemporary youth."
MOE, a term of anime fandom, refers to an enthusiastic and cherishing
feeling towards a character as well as to an application of human
characteristics to non-human items in art and illustration.
Often, to my eyes, the art style is pretty sweet and cute, even when
particular artworks show unpleasant subjects. Buddhist figures, in these
temple art works, look so cartoony and light that its an effort for the
likes of me to incorporate them into my own not-so-postmodern sense of
the Buddhist world view. And of Buddhist iconography picked up with a
notion of religious high culture...(They look a lot like Pichaku art.)
The temple also offers these illustrations as cell phone skins (I
think). (Cell phones as devotional artifacts...hadn't thought of that...)
Take a look!
http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2009/07/16/moe-buddhism-draws-otaku-converts/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moe_(slang
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moe_%28slang>)
In an earlier post, I mentioned a similar development with Shinto and
Japanese fandom. This Sankaku Complex article links to that Shinto one.
Musing Out Of the Museums Into The Maid Cafes & Other Otaku Haunts! Rose,
Pitch
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