Koyu Osawa is the only female contestant and won this year’s Japan’s most beautiful monk contest.

3 contestants participated in the annual contest “The Most Beautiful Monk in Japan”. Photo: Reuters

The second annual contest “Japan’s Most Beautiful Monk” was held at a Buddhist funeral exhibition in Tokyo on August 22.

According to Reuters, the contest was originally scheduled to have 5 contestants, but then two people could not be present due to the storm.

About 40 spectators voted for Koyu Osawa, a Tokyo monk, after the contestants underwent oral and talented exams.

Osawa was the only female contestant ever to participate in the competition and had shown her ability to lead the audience into a meditative state.

Aigen Yokoyama, a monk from Chiba Prefecture, cut 10 layers of bricks with his hand. Renka Haseo, a monk from Aichi Prefecture, performed a segment from his radio program.

In the end, Osawa was the one who won the majority of the audience’s support.

Koyu Osawa,

Koyu Osawa nun won the title of the most beautiful monk in Japan this year. Photo: Reuters

 The nun said she wished to spread not only Buddhism but also the methods of meditation to everyone.

“I want to connect with people who have never meditated or have always wanted to try doing this,” Osawa said.

About 90 million Japanese consider them Buddhists, however, aspects of this religion do not affect their daily lives. Japanese people often go to temples to meet monks on New Year’s Eve to pray for good things, to dispel demons, or to have funerals.

Contest organizer Kazuma Hayashi, director of a Buddhist funeral service company, said he wanted people to be in tune with Buddhism in everyday life.