Last week my friend Jesse became a monk in a ceremony called a "tokudoshiki" (Japanese: 得度式). The monks were very gracious to allow me access to take photographs and although I was able to take many I will try to be respectful by only posting a few of them. Allowing photographs at an event such as this is very unorthodox.

The ceremony was very long, perhaps four or five hours in total. At this point in the ceremony Jesse had not yet had his head shaved nor received his new name.