how to address a Buddist priest?

[Irena]

Mina-san, Konnichiwa!
Please tell me, how to address a Buddist temple chief priest (in a letter)? I don't know his name. O-..............-sama?, but what's the word for "chief priest"?
Thanks you for your help!
Irena

🙂

 

[Hoyu]

In the West, many times we will address ministers as "Reverend," sometimes we call them "Sensei." Monks are sometimes referred to as "Venerable." But a Chief Priest might even be referred to as "Bishop" in some cases. What tradition of Buddhism is the person you will be writing, and where do they live?

In Gassho,
Kakuzen

 

[NANGI]

Konnichiwa Irena-san!

I think "-sama" is appropriate if you know his name, because the Japanese don't use managerial position(rank) in letter.


NANGI

 

[Irena]

Kakuzen-san, Nangi-san,
Thank you for your help!
Nangi-san! Do you remember you gave me the address of the Mangadera in Kawasaki ? (Domo arigato gozaimasu - again!) I visited Mangadera when I was in Japan few weeks ago, and I just want to write a "thank you letter" to the Mangadera's head priest in my poor beginner Nihongo (I hope I can write some words in hiragana (^-^).
How can I address him?


thank you in advance!
🙂

 

[NANGI]

Konnichiwa Irena-san!

Of course I remember Manga-dera!

If you don't know head priest's name, you can write "ﾂ湘ｭﾅ?yﾅｽ窶ｺ 窶堋ｲﾂ住ﾂ職窶罵" for his name. "窶堋ｲﾂ住ﾂ職窶罵" is head priest in Japanese.

And this is the address.
ﾂ?ｧ211-0051 ﾂ神窶愿楪静ｬﾅ陳ｧﾂ静ｬﾂ催ｨﾅｽs窶吮??ﾅ陳ｴ窶ｹﾃｦ窶ｹ{窶愿?4ﾂ−12ﾂ−14

NANGI

 

[Irena]

Nangi-san! Domo arigato gozaimasu!
🙂