Japanese monk rapping it up for Buddhism

TOKYO: He raps. He chants. And this month, Japan's famed hip-hop loving monk, better known as MC Happiness, will tap dance on stage, in the name of Buddhism.

Kansho Tagai heads the 400-year-old Kyoouji Temple in central Tokyo, offering softly chanted prayers throughout the day amid traditional bell chimes and wafts of incense.

But once in a while he raises the volume, and the tempo, of these prayers, going before an audience to rap Buddhist sutras, or teachings, to hip hop beats, in modern Japanese.