Bloomberg BusinessWeek, May 8, 2017 (II)

choi

(5) Jason Clenfield and Katsuyo Kuwako with Pavel Alpeyev, Japan's Priests Turn to Property Development.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/a ... roperty-development

Note:
(a) summary underneath the title in print: Shrines are costly to maintain, and they occupy prime land

(b) "Shintō 神道 elders at the centuries-old Unesco World Heritage Site of Shimogamo Shrine upset some neighbors when they bulldozed a swath of old Kyoto forest to build an apartment complex with units selling for more than $2 million apiece. * * * Shimogamo Shrine began its adventures in real estate to get out of a financial pinch, says Hideaki SEO 妹尾 秀明, a planner at the development arm of West Japan Railway, which managed the shrine’s project. For seven centuries, Shimogamo Shrine has performed a radical—and costly—ritual of spiritual renewal, ripping down and rebuilding its giant wooden structures every 21 years."
(i) Shimogamo Shrine  下鴨神社
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimogamo_Shrine
(Its formal name is Kamo-mi[-]oya-jinja 賀茂御祖神社)
(ii) Japanese Wikipedia.org: "創建 不詳; 賀茂別雷神社 [also known as] 上賀茂神社 とともに賀茂氏の氏神を祀る神社であり、両社は賀茂神社（賀茂社）と総称される。"

my translation: Together with 上賀茂神社, 下鴨神社 worships clan god of Kamō 賀茂/ 鴨/ 加毛 clan. Both combined are called 賀茂神社.
(iii) The apartment complex built by Shimogamo Shrine and the development arm of West Japan Railway JR西日本不動産開発株式会社 is very upscale.
(A) J.gran The Honor 下鴨糺の杜
http://www.jgran.jp/shimogamo/design/index.html
(B) I am clueless about the English name. But 糺の杜 is explained. Firstly read (c) for definitions of 杜, 原生林 and .

糺の杜 (pronounced "tadasu no mori") is also written as 糺の森
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/糺の森
("下鴨神社の境内にある社叢林である。 賀茂川と高野川の合流地点に発達した原生林で、およそ12万4千平方メートル（東京ドームの約3倍）の面積がある。森林の全域が1983年（昭和58年）に国の史跡として指定を受け、保存されている。また、1994年（平成6年）には下鴨神社全域が世界遺産に登録されている")

My translation: is the forest within Shimogamo Shrine. It is a virgin forest at the confluence of two rivers, roughly 124,000 square meters (three times the area of Tokyo Dome [opened in 1988]. The entire forest in 1983 was designated as the nation’s historic site, and preserved. Further, in 1994 the whole of Shimogama Shrine entered World Heritage
(C) 'Historic' or 'historical'?
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/usage/historic-or-historical

choi

(c) Japanese-English dictionary:
* kamo かも 《鴨》: "duck"
   ^ Please take notice that the second vowel is short in the duck, whereas long in 賀茂 etc.
   ^ The Chinese pronunciations for kanji 賀, 茂, 加 and 毛 are respectively, ga (rarely ka), mo, ka and mō.
   ^ The 'shimo" is Japanese pronunciation for 下.
* mori 森(P[rincipal]); 杜 【もり】 (n) (1) forest; (2) (esp. 杜) (See 鎮守の杜) shrine grove
* gen-sei-rin 原生林 【げんせいりん】 (n): "virgin forest"  (Again, the "sei" is a long vowel of "se" in Japanese transliteration.)
* shi-seki 史跡(P); 史蹟 【しせき】 (n): "historic landmark; historic site; historic remains"

(d) "many of Japan's 180,000 temples and shrines are in deep financial trouble, says Yoshihide SAKURAI 櫻井 義秀, a professor of sociology of religion at Hokkaidō University 北海道大学. * * * Many people in Japan visit Shinto shrines for weddings and New Year's Day [Japan abolished lunar calendar in the early days of Meiji reign], and Buddhist temples for funerals" but in other times pay little for the upkeep of places of worship.  "To make money, Japanese priests have hosted speed-dating events, rapping battles [rap is a genre of American music], and televised flower-arranging contests."

(e) Developers "and homebuilding giant Sekisui House Ltd, are pitching projects to priests. * * * In the central district of Osaka, wrecking balls are busy demolishing an old building 御堂会館 Ōtani Shinshū Buddhists used for weddings and funerals. When construction is finished in 2019, a 17-floor business hotel operated by the Excel Tokyu Hotel 渋谷 エクセルホテル group will stand beside the temple's main hall. In Tokyo, Mitsui Fudōsan Co 三井不動産株式会社 has so far developed an office tower and two condominiums on land leased from shrines."
(i) 積水ハウス (pronounced "sekisui ha-u-su") was founded in 1960 in Osaka. 積水 is a Japanese surname, but I fail to find out who the founder was, despite great efforts. The seki is Chinese pronunciation for 積.
(ii) Ōtani Shinshū should be "Shinshū Ōtani." 真宗大谷派
(A) 真宗 is short for 浄土真宗 Jōdo Shinshū, a sect of Buddhism. And 真宗大谷派 is a school of 浄土真宗.)
(B) Founder 宗祖 of 浄土真宗, Shinran 親鸞 (1173-1263) died in Kyoto and was buried at a place there called Ōtani 大谷.

choi

(f) "Nashinoki Shrine 梨木神社, a 100-year-old Shinto complex right outside the walls of Kyoto's imperial palace * * * [a tourist from Tokyo drank] from the shrine's spring. Nodding to a sign inviting visitors to fill their water bottles for a $2 donation, she says: 'It used to be free.'"
(i) The "ri" and "nashi" are, respectively, the Chinese and Japanese pronunciations of 梨. (The "r" in Japanese is similar in sounding to "l" in English. 五十音 does not have "l.")
(ii) The "ki" is Japanese pronunciation of 木.
(iii)
(A) 梨木神社
http://Nashinoki.jp
(B) The ja.wikipedia.org says about this shrine: "明治維新に大きく貢献した三條實萬（さねつむ）・三條實美（さねとみ）父子を祭神とする。境内の井戸の水は「染井の水」と呼ばれ、京都三名水の一つとされる。京都三名水（醒ヶ井・県井・染井）のうち、現存するのはここだけである。"

my translation: the gods of this shrine are father (Sanetsumu SANJŌ) and son  (Sanetsumi SANJŌ), [nobility] who made a great contribution to Meiji Restoration. The water of Somei 染井 well on the shrine site is called 染井の水. Among the three famous wells of Kyoto, only this well is extant.
(C) 染井
www.nashinoki.jp/page/somei
(water from this well was used for dyeing in an empress household)
(D) The Japanese pronunciation of the verb 染める (pronounced someru) and the noun 染め (some).
(iv)
(A) Tokyo Imperial Palace 皇居 (pronunciation: kōkyo)
(B) Kyoto Imperial Palace  京都御所
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Imperial_Palace
(The palace is situated in the Kyoto-gyoen (京都御苑), a large rectangular enclosure 1,300 metres (4,300 ft) north to south and 700 metres (2,300 ft) east to west which also contains the Sentō 仙洞 Imperial Palace gardens)

(g) "For priests who feel uncomfortable with development that's too nakedly commercial, builder Sekisui House may have a solution: 'pilgrimage lodgings.'  Visitors have long been able to get a taste of the monastic lifestyle by paying the equivalent of a few dollars and volunteering to help with chores in exchange for a night in a bare-bones temple dormitory. This is not that, explains Sekisui spokesman Masayoshi KUSUNOKI 楠 正吉. 'It's basically a business hotel' "
(i) In Japan 楠 or 樟 refers to the same tree: Cinnamomum camphora.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamomum_camphora
(evergreen; is native to China south of the Yangtze River, Taiwan, southern Japan, Korea, and Vietnam; volatile chemical compounds in all plant parts, and the wood and leaves are steam distilled for the essential oils)
(ii) Temple Lodging (Shukubo). japan-guide.com, undated
www.japan-guide.com/e/e4905.html
("Some temples in Japan, especially in popular pilgrimage destinations, offer temple lodgings (宿坊, shukubō) to visiting pilgrims and tourists. Temple lodgings offer an excellent chance to get a taste of the simple, traditional lifestyle of Buddhist monks. Kōyasan is one of the best places in Japan to experience a night at a temple, with more than 50 temples in town serving as shukubo")
(A) Kōyasan 高野山 (Mount Kōya; where temples of Shingon sect 真言宗 of Japanese Buddhism cluster)
(B) ja.wikipedia.org about 高野山 (actually mountainS): 和歌山県伊都郡高野町にある周囲を1,000m級の山々に囲まれた標高約800mの平坦地に位置する]

My translation: Located at Kōya-chō, Ito District, Wakayama Prefecture [south of Osaka] he mountains are more than 1,000m, surrounding a plateau of 800m elevation