Tsushima Buddha statue finally returned after 13 years of ownership dispute with Korean temple

On the 24th of this month, procedures were started in Korea to hand over the Buddhist statue "Seated Kannon Bodhisattva" that was stolen from Kannonji Temple in Tsushima City, Nagasaki Prefecture and brought to Korea to Tsushima City.
According to letters exchanged with Buseok Temple in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province, which has claimed ownership of the statue in South Korea, the statue will be returned in early May after a memorial service was held at the temple.
On the 24th, Kannonji Temple officials visited the national facility in Daejeon where the statue is kept, and explained that the statue was returned by the Korean side after 13 years, but that it was temporarily transferred to Ukiseki Temple for a memorial service.
The Kannon Bodhisattva Seated Statue, a designated tangible cultural property of Nagasaki Prefecture, which was in the possession of Kannonji Temple, was stolen by a Korean thief group in October 2012 and brought to Korea.
The temple was arrested by the Korean police and the statue was confiscated, but the temple claims that the statue was "looted by Japanese pirates in the Middle Ages." In 2016, the temple filed a lawsuit against the Korean government to stop the statue from being returned to Japan.
The lawsuit by Usekiji Temple came as a complete surprise to the Korean government, which had planned to return the statue to Japan as soon as possible.
In the first instance, the Korean court ruled that the statue had been preserved in a Buddhist altar since 1330.
Based on records from the Goryeo History that state that Japanese pirates invaded the Seosan area five times, the court determined that the statue was taken from Buseoksa through plunder or other means.
The court ordered the statue to be handed over to the temple, stating that it can be reasonably assumed that the statue was taken from the temple by a samurai who had been killed in battle. This ruling caused a backlash from the Japanese side, and became one of the factors that led to a deterioration in Japan-Korea relations.
After the first-instance ruling, the South Korean government appealed, arguing that the connection between the statue and the temple had not been sufficiently proven.
The case was tried at the Daejeon High Court in Daejeon, central Korea. In February 2023, the Daejeon High Court overturned the first-instance ruling and recognized the ownership of the Kannon Temple.
The high court ruled that, "It is possible to acknowledge that the statue was produced by the temple in 1330, and there is also evidence that it was plundered and illegally taken away by Japanese pirates," but added, "The status of the statue at the temple at that time was unclear.
"It cannot be proven that the current Kannonji Temple is the same religious organization as the current Ukisekiji Temple," the report said.
The decision was made and the current ownership was recognized as belonging to the Kannonji Temple. The Ukeseki Temple appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court. In October 2023, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal by the Ukeseki Temple and recognized the ownership of the statue as belonging to the Kannonji Temple.
The Supreme Court ruled that the statue was in the temple. The Supreme Court ruled that the current Buseoksa Temple was the same as the "Seju Buseoksa Temple" that produced the statue in the 14th century, but the second trial ruled that the statue had been acquired by prescription under the Civil Code.
He also pointed out that the South Korean government needs to consider international norms when considering the return of the islands. This issue, along with the former forced labor lawsuit issue, has been one of the causes of the deterioration of Japan-South Korea relations.
Following the Supreme Court ruling, it was expected that the process of returning the statue to Japan would proceed, but for some time thereafter there was no noticeable movement toward its return.
The statue had been kept at a facility of the Korean government, but Buseoksa Temple decided to move the statue from the facility to Buseoksa Temple.
After transferring the statue, they intend to hold a memorial service for 100 days to pray for the statue's peace, and then return it to Kannonji Temple, and sent a letter to this effect to Kannonji Temple in June last year.
The two temples exchanged letters in December last year, with Kannonji Temple approving the memorial service on the condition that the statue be returned immediately after the service. According to Kyodo News, in the letters, both sides stated that "rain will make the ground firm."
"The return of the island is likely to be a symbolic event as the two countries mark 60 years since the normalization of diplomatic relations this year," Kyodo News reported.
On the 24th of this month, the process of transferring ownership of the statue took place at the facility in South Korea where the statue is being kept. Kannonji Temple officials visited the facility and received the following message from the South Korean side:
According to Japanese media, the former head priest of Kannonji Temple, Setsuko Tanaka, said, "We have been able to reach this day thanks to the support of many people. We will do our best to ensure that Japan and Korea can continue to exchange for many years to come."
Mayor Takayoshi Tadashi also made a statement on the same day, saying, "More than 12 years have passed since the theft, and we have been calling for its early return. We are very happy that after going through all this, our precious cultural property will be returned to the area.
"I am extremely happy about this," he said. However, as mentioned above, the statue will be returned to Tsushima after a memorial service is held at Ukishiji Temple. On the 24th, the process of temporarily "loaning" the statue to the Korean side was also completed.
The dispute over the statue, which became one of the most chilling moments in Japan-Korea relations, has finally been resolved after 13 years.