A unique aspect of Japanese culture is that most people practice both Buddhist and Shinto customs. The idea of having two religions might seem odd, but there’s some division of divine labor between the two. For example, Shinto shrines are where weddings take place, and funerals are held at Buddhist temples.

So it makes a certain kind of sense that Ongakuji, a temple whose name translates as “Music Temple,” offers funeral services for broken record player needles.
Located in the town of Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, and founded in 824, Ongakuji owes its name to the captivating sound of the wind as it rushes through nearby pine trees, drawing comparisons to the music played by Bodhisattvas. Since 2020, the temple has been holding a once-a-year Record Player Needle Memorial Service, in which a priest blesses the no-longer usable equipment, giving it a more dignified sendoff than simply chucking it into a trash can.
Of course, if you’re enough of an audiophile to be considering a funeral for your record player needle, you’re no doubt already aware that the needle, properly called a stylus, is located inside a housing called the cartridge or pickup. These too are eligible for memorial services at Ongakuji, along with broken, bent, or worn down needles that have been removed from their cartridges.
▼ A box of cartridges, awaiting their blessing

Ongakuji offers its Record Player Needle Memorial Service in collaboration with Nagaoka, a Yamagata Prefecture-based record player needle manufacturer. They describe the purpose of the service with:
“We hope that this will serve as an opportunity to show appreciation for the needles that have provided us with good music and good memories in our daily lives, as a reminder of the importance of periodically replacing your player’s needle, and instill a custom of listening to records in high sound quality.”
This year’s Record Needle Memorial Service will be held on March 9, and those unable to personally carry their needles to the temple can mail them to Nagaoka’s Tokyo office (address Tokyo-to, Shibuya-ku, Sendagaya 4-3-2, Nagaoka TRD Record Memorial Service Clerk), from where Nagaoka will transport them the rest of the way.
There’s definitely a tongue-in-cheek aspect to the whole thing, as there’s no widespread belief in Japan that technological equipment has a living soul. At the same time, the Record Needle Memorial Service does have a connection with deep-seated Japanese cultural values about gratitude, respect, and avoiding wastefulness, similar to the funeral service held for pagers in Tokyo a while back.
Source, images: PR Times
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12 Comments
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TrevorPeace
How stupid does it get?
tokyo_m
Good to see Japanese temples staying relevant and connecting so well with young people.
/s
ジョージ
Hopefully, the needles can be reincarnated (recycled).
Much stupider things happening in the world. At least this bit of strangeness doesn’t seem to be hurting anyone (assuming they don’t just burn the lot afterwards).
kohakuebisu
Spirituality for inanimate objects....no thanks. It belittles geniune spirituality.
Strangerland
How is genuine spirituality defined? What is it about this practice that prohibits if from being considered spiritual?
wallace
Sorry to sound like a broken record but stupid is stupid.
wallace
A needle in a spiritual haystack.
Patricia Yarrow
Jeepers, people, chill out a bit. I find this utterly charming, and part of why I enjoy living in Japan. For all we know, stylus and cartridge may indeed have some sort of spirituality, which is what Shinto is all about. After all the human hand touching of them, they deserve a respectful ceremony. Cheers for the pagers ceremony, too.
NCIS Reruns
Record player needle is incorrect. Those are phono cartridges. Record player needle is incorrect.
englisc aspyrgend
And why not, a bit of humour while encouraging recycling (one hopes) and no doubt it generates a bit of money to help keep the place going.
A little eccentricity is no bad thing as we wend our way through this vale of tears.
3RENSHO
Does this Memorial Service involve a cash transaction? I doubt Ongakuji are providing this service for nothing...