100-Day Public Viewing Ceremony
to Be Held at Buseoksa Seolbeopjeon Hall
from the 24th Until May 5
Gilt-bronze Seated Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva Statue from Buseoksa Temple, Seosan, Chungnam / Seosan City
On the 24th, Seosan City in South Chungcheong Province announced that the 100-day Public Viewing Ceremony for the Seosan Buseoksa Gilt-bronze Seated Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva Statue will be held at the Buseoksa Seolbeopjeon Hall from the 24th until May 5th.
The Seosan Buseoksa Gilt-bronze Seated Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva Statue was created in 1330 at Buseoksa in Seosan, but was taken to Tsushima, Japan due to raids by Japanese pirates at the end of the Goryeo Dynasty. It was smuggled back into Korea in October 2012 by a thief.
Buseoksa claimed ownership of the statue and filed a lawsuit, but in October 2023, the Supreme Court ruled that ownership belongs to Kannonji Temple in Tsushima, Japan. As a result, the statue will be returned to Japan on May 11th.
This public viewing ceremony was made possible after Buseoksa requested to enshrine the statue at its original location, even for a single day before its return to Japan, and Kannonji Temple in Japan granted permission.
According to the city, at 10 a.m. on this day, a transfer ceremony was held at the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage, attended by about 50 people including Buseoksa Chief Monk Won-Yu and Tanaka Sesuryo, the chief monk of Kannonji Temple in Tsushima, Japan.
The ceremony for the Gilt-bronze Seated Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva statue held on the 24th at Buseoksa Temple in Seosan, Chungnam. Photo by Seosan City
After the transfer and handover procedures were completed, the statue was moved to Seosan Buseoksa and enshrined in the Seolbeopjeon Hall, where a notification ceremony was held to report the enshrinement to Buddha.
At the notification ceremony held at 3 p.m. on the same day, attendees included Seosan Mayor Lee Wan-seop, Seosan City Council Chair Cho Dong-sik, Sudeoksa Monk Seoljeong, Central Council Chair Monk Jugyeong, and Buseoksa devotees.
Mayor Lee Wan-seop said, "It is very regrettable that we have to send a national treasure-level cultural heritage, imbued with the brilliant Buddhist artistic spirit of our people, to Japan," and added, "We will spare no administrative and financial support so that as many people as possible can view the statue while it stays at Buseoksa, even if only for a short time."
The city refurbished facilities for the enshrinement of the statue and supported the installation of security equipment and systems to ensure a smooth and safe public viewing ceremony.
Meanwhile, the city, together with South Chungcheong Province and the Seosan Buseoksa Gilt-bronze Seated Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva Statue Enshrinement Committee, plans to publish a white paper documenting the repatriation activities of the statue from 2013 to 2024, which will be distributed to visitors attending the public viewing ceremony.
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