Thursday, 22 October 2015

What's the difference between these words for 'priest'?


What's the difference between these words for 'priest'?


宮司 [ぐうじ]
高僧 [こうそう]
住職 [じゅうしょく]
神職 [しんしょく]
僧侶 [そうりょ]

出家 [しゅっけ]
禅僧 [ぜんそう]
神主 [かんぬし]
お坊さん [おぼうさん]
牧師 [ぼくし]
神父 [しんぷ]


Thanks!



Answer



Shinto




  • 宮司: The head of a shrine.

  • 神職: Literally "God(-related) job", people who do various rituals of Shinto.

  • 神主: A rather casual synonym of 神職. Practically, in many small shrines, this is the same person as a 宮司.


Buddhism



  • 僧: A monk of Buddhism.

  • 僧侶: Synonym of 僧.

  • 高僧: A 僧 with high social status.

  • お坊さん: A friendly and colloquial synonym for 僧.


  • 住職: The head of a temple (who is of course a 僧侶, too)

  • 禅僧: 僧 of Zen Buddhism.

  • 出家: to enter the Buddhist priesthood (suru-verb)


Christianity



  • 牧師: A pastor.




If you need a generic term for "clergy", use 聖職者, which includes everything above except 出家.



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