| Zusammenfassung: | This article will discuss the tension between the principle of celibacy (professed renunciation of secular life) and the fact of marriage by male priests in the Sōtō School. Although one hundred and forty-five years have passed since the government edict of 1872 that recognized marriage by Buddhist clergymen under secular law in Japan, this thorny problem is still far from being resolved, and has instead become a field of contention with many varied voices. This study examines recent developments with particular attention to detail of public hearings held on the temple wife problem. The Sōtō order established a forum for public hearings on the temple wife problem at its administrative headquarters (shūmuchō). In a series of sessions held over a five-year period starting in 2006, the spouses of priests presented their views to the forum, voicing their anger, apprehension, and criticisms regarding the present state of the Sōtō School. In concluding, I argue that gender equality movements in the Buddhist orders must seek the involvement of women and men who hold themselves apart from gender problems, and engage tenaciously in dialogue to reach a shared awareness of the problem.
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