“Ama” or “Bikuni” means a female priest, and “Ama-dera” or “Onna-dera” means a female temple.
In principle, Buddhism prohibits women. Therefore, there are no women monks practicing in temples. Of course, it is possible for women to believe in Buddhism and to enter temples to pray. But the temples themselves are managed by men only, and the monks who practice there are also men only.
So how does a woman become a monk? By shaving their hair and entering the Buddhist religion, called ordination. Women live in a women-only temple called an “Ama-dera”. “Ama-dera” is also called “Onna-dera”. Contrary to ordinary temples, all monks and practitioners are women.
“Ama-dera” and “Bikuni” are similar to the relationship between a Christian convent and nuns. I am an atheist, so I apologize if I am wrong.
Female monks are called “Bikuni” or “Ama”. To become a monk is to renounce the secular world. However, “Bikuni” who do not belong to a nunnery have no means of earning a living. For this reason, some “Bikuni” were engaged in prostitution for a living. However, this is a story from old Japan, before modernization.
Buddhist precepts do not allow meat eating. Sex is also forbidden. Therefore, in temples where only men lived and nunneries where only women lived, homosexuality naturally flourished. There are still many records of homosexuality.
