Graffiti on the walls of the temple over 400 years ago "Stop contemporary people" Gifu, July 17, 5:47
At a temple in Mitake Town, Gifu Prefecture, a graffiti that seems to have been written more than 400 years ago was found on the wall of the main hall where dismantling and repairs are being carried out, and it is thought that it was written by travelers at the time.
The graffiti was found at Gangoji Temple in Mitake Town.
The main hall, which has been designated as an important cultural property of Japan, has been dismantled and repaired over a period of 10 years from 2017, but in August of last year, "Tamanawa" located in Kamakura City, Kanagawa Prefecture, from the wall behind the main temple. We found graffiti that seems to be a place name, such as "Shimotokuni" in present-day Tochigi prefecture. In addition, there is also the letter "Tensho 6th year (1578)" in which Oda Nobunaga played an active part, and it seems that graffiti was written more than 400 years ago.
According to the Cultural Heritage Preservation Technology Association, which supervises the construction, it may have been written as a memorial to travelers visiting the temple on a nearby highway.
“I think it should be preserved because it's precious, even though it's a graffiti,” says Ms. Imi Uchiyama of the Cultural Property Building Preservation Technology Association.
Bunho Ogawa, a priest at Gokoji Temple, said, "Thank you for the material, but for modern people, I want people to stop using graffiti."