A Family of Clerics: Temple Wives, Tradition and Change in Contempory J?do Shinshu Temples

This dissertation seeks to understand the position of the priest's wife or bmori (literally, "temple guardian") in the contemporary Jdo Shinsh by weaving together historical, doctrinal, and ethnographic sources. I argue that temple wives occupy an ambiguous position: as women whose existence straddles the domestic and religious realms, they must negotiate their embodiment of the secular norms for wives and mothers with their special responsibilities as residents in a religious household and propagators of the Buddhist teachings. This ambiguity is evident in both the normative discourse regarding bmori, authored by male priests dating back to Rennyo (1415-1499), and in the narratives of women themselves.

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