A Jodo sect Buddhist high priest who claimed to be guided by the hand of Kannon, the Goddess of Mercy, has been arrested for acting as a masseur without a license, police said.
Kanshin Tazaki, 53, used his Nara Prefecture temple to maintain the thriving shiatsu massage clinic a former priest had established decades ago, attracting clients from across Japan and building an enormous reputation for offering effective relief from aches and pains.
Tazaki, who was arrested for breaking the Masseurs Control Law by allegedly practicing without a license, admits to the allegations.
"Merciful Kannon guided my hands to patients' painful areas," the high priest told the police.
Though the clinic attracted hundreds of clients who sang its praises, police said they had little option but to arrest Tazaki.
He took donations for providing massages without a license, a spokesman for the Nara Prefectural Police said. "Some people have apparently complained of being burned at his hands," they quoted a local resident as saying.
Police said the specific charge for which Tazaki was arrested involved the three massages he gave a 70-year-old woman after November last year.
Despite lacking the legally required license to practice massage, Tazaki is accused of charging the old woman 1,000 yen each time he gave her a rub down, saying the money was a donation to his temple.
The former priest also used the temple to practice shiatsu massage for decades. Tazaki gained his interest in the massage technique about 20 years ago, when a session with the former priest healed a sore back.
Following his cure, Tazaki became the former priest's disciple. When the priest died eight years ago, Tazaki took over the thriving clinic, opening the doors of the house of worship three days a week to offer a more physical form of healing than the spiritual work he normally concentrated on.