News Photo of Prison Sentencing of Joshu Sasaki
News Photo of Prison Sentencing of Joshu Sasaki
STATEMENT BY TRANSLATOR:
The four women surrounding the Fusu are a widow in her 40’s who evacuated to Matsushima during the war, an Ikebana flower arrangement teacher in her 20’s, a Geisha from Sendai, and
women [plural] in Tokyo, and with among these women there are two children to whom Sasaki Fusu gave a name [名前をつけた], and from a woman who is in Tokyo he received repeated
demands to give her money, but after this case came to light, the interchange with the woman in Tokyo seems to have been cut off.
...
On the evening of the 9th, Sasaki Fusu made the following comments to a reporter who came to see him in the Fusu’s office at Zuiganji:
... With regard to the matter of women, this is my distress as a human being. ...
INFORMATION ON THE JAPANESE CRIMINAL TRIAL SYSTEM
The translations contain news reports, from two separate newspapers, of the court of appeals' ordering Rev. Sasaki imprisoned for a term of 8 months which, according to a statement by him in the articles, he did not further appeal. For reference in reading the articles, I should explain that Japan has a system of criminal trials and appeal a bit different from the United States. In Japan, the lower court (the "District Court") conducts a trial before a panel of three judges. No jury system was employed in Japan at the time. In this case, the lower court sentenced Rev. Sasaki to a 1 year term of imprisonment. Rev. Sasaki then filed an appeal to the court of appeals (the "High Court"). Unlike in the United States, the court of appeals does not limit itself primarily to ruling on errors in law interpretation and procedure by the lower court, but instead the High Court conducts a detailed retrial of the case, including re-presentation of the evidence and factual arguments by defense lawyers and prosecutors. More information on the Japanese trial system can be found here (LINK).
The retrial before the High Court would have been before a panel of three judges, and their verdict would have to be unanimous. The High Court again rendered a verdict of guilty, although entering a verdict of "not guilty" on one question, nullifying and replacing the lower court verdict with its new verdict of guilt on other matters, and imposing a sentence of 8 months incarceration. It is interesting that both the District Court and High Court could have selected to impose a "suspended sentence", meaning a conviction in which no actual prison time would be served if the convicted defendant does not re-offend within a certain period of time. That is often done in cases with first offenders or where there are extenuating circumstances (SUSPENDED SENTENCES). In this case, however, both courts opted instead for actual imprisonment of Rev. Sasaki based on the circumstances of the case, citing (if one quote reporting the Judge's statement is accurate) as one reason that a portion of the embezzled funds were used for a pleasure/spending spree [遊興費] in a way inappropriate for a religious figure/man of the cloth (宗教家).
Although exact calculation is difficult, 1 Yen in 1954 had no less than 5x the purchasing power of 1 Yen today (LINK, see also LINK).
FINAL WORDS
Let us completely put aside this particular case involving Rev. Sasaki, any question of what happened in this matter, and speak in general terms about all the scandals and controversies which have appeared in the Zen and Buddhist world over the years.
I do not demand perfection from any Zen Teacher. They are only people. But I do demand that they do what they can to avoid harm to others. Most (the vast vast majority of Zen Teachers I know) do just that.
Sitting with the beautiful AND the ugly in this world ... finding that which simultaneously transcends and holds, breathes in and breathes out, "beautiful vs. ugly" ... is our Practice.
Is it not the same when we find a certain ugliness amid the beautiful in Buddhism too? A naive student who demands ONLY beauty and goodness in the world ... even the Buddhist world ... one sidedly rejecting the sometimes distasteful or even criminal, may miss the Real Treasure that shines through all of it. That is so even as, in our Wisdom and Equanimity, we keep pulling the weeds we can and nurture the flowers we can, praise the good and punish the wrongdoer. All at Once, the Eye of Buddha holding all.
If there are questions or comments, please write: Jundo Cohen jundotreeleaf[a]gmail.com
THE TRANSLATIONS:
NOTE: Copies of microfilm images for 30 individual documents were received from the Miyagi Prefectural Library. All are contained at the first links below. The articles translated by me were selected as representative, adding new or relevant information without redundancy. Other articles may be translated and added by me in the future. Documents in English and original Japanese should be viewable on screen below, or can be downloaded as PDF files.
I - ORIGINALS OF ALL JAPANESE FILES
Zuiganji All Documents 01-05 ZIP
Zuiganji All Documents 06-10 ZIP
Zuiganji All Documents 11-15 ZIP
Zuiganji All Documents 16-20 ZIP
Zuiganji All Documents 21-25 ZIP
Zuiganji All Documents 26-30 ZIP
II - Article 5
SUMMARY: Details of interrogation of Sasaki Fusu, description of alleged embezzlement and financial improprieties,
the chief police investigator quoted that portion of embezzled funds was used for a "pleasure/spending spree (遊興費) and ... as a gift/offering to/financial support for women"
(scroll down with bar above to read)
III - Article 8
SUMMARY: Interview with Sasaki Fusu, when asked about connection to women quoted as "That’s a matter of personal life, please let me keep that hidden within my own chest",
details of alleged embezzlement and financial improprieties, humorous story of Sasaki Fusu in the Geisha world.
(scroll down with bar above to read)
IV - Article 21
SUMMARY: Details of alleged embezzlement and financial improprieties, police search of temple,
police cited "Everything from accounting to outside commercial liaisons were in the sole hands of Sasaki Fusu, whereby the involved parties each knew only pieces of the facts of the improprieties",
police cited also describing difficulty to "gather information related to women in the Geisha world/pleasure district [花柳界] among the ways that money was used by Sasaki Fusu",
description of women and children surrounding Sasaki Fusu, who is quoted "With regard to the matter of women, this is my distress as a human being"
(scroll down with bar above to read)
V - Reports of Court Convictions and Sentencing
SUMMARY: Rev. Sasaki convicted of embezzlement and sentenced to 8 months imprisonment after trial by appellate court,
superseding original conviction and sentence to 1 year imprisonment by district court. Appellate court described as finding that
a portion of the embezzled funds were used for a pleasure/spending spree [遊興費] in a way inappropriate for a religious figure/man of the cloth (宗教家).
(scroll down with bar above to read)
VI - Description of Zuiganji Affair in the Book "The Temple of Aspiration"
SUMMARY: Description of the career of Rev. Sasaki in Japan and the "Zuiganji Affair" in the 2009 book
"The Temple of Aspiration: Zuiryu-ji, a One-Hundred Year History of the Hokkaido Dojo" by Tokuji Matsumoto
(scroll down with bar above to read)
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