After being stolen from a temple in Tsushima City, Nagasaki Prefecture 10 years ago, the priest of a temple in Tsushima City was in South Korea in a trial in which a Korean temple claimed ownership and asked for delivery over a Buddha statue found in South Korea. I will participate in the trial on the 15th of this month for the first time.
I am going to appeal for the early return of the Buddha statue in court.
After being stolen from Kanonji Temple in Tsushima City, Nagasaki Prefecture 10 years ago, the Buddhist statue found in South Korea was taken over by Pseok Temple in central Korea as "it was looted by a lieutenant in the Middle Ages." He insists and is suing the Korean government, which keeps the Buddha statue, for delivery.
The Daejeon District Court in the central part handed down a ruling ordering delivery in 2017, but the Korean government appealed and two trials continued, and the high court said in November last year as a third party with an interest. I admitted the participation of the temple from the standpoint of "assistant participant".
According to Kannonji and others, the chief priest, Setsuryu Tanaka, will visit South Korea next week and attend a hearing in Daejeon's court on the 15th of this month.
This is the first time that the temple side will stand directly in court in this trial.
Abbot Tanaka told NHK that "as stated in the document I have already submitted, I will reiterate that the ownership is here."