A painting in the main hall of Sensoji temple in Tokyo peeled off on July 8, seemingly the result of wear and tear. - ASAAAARUKO/TWITTER, CARI_MELI/TWITTER
TOKYO (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): Japan’s centuries-old temples, preserved as heritage sites that are visited by millions each year, appear to be gradually succumbing to wear and tear but also sometimes as victims of tourist-inflicted vandalism.
The local police in the Nara prefecture on Friday (July 7) questioned a Canadian teenager after he was seen carving the word “Julian” into a pillar at the Toshodaiji Temple, a Unesco World Heritage Site. He is suspected to have violated laws for cultural property protection.
A Japanese tourist at the temple had seen the 17-year-old using his fingernails to scratch the letters on a pillar in the eighth-century temple’s Golden Hall and alerted temple staff, Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun reported.
“We are worried that the same thing could happen again. Even though it may have been done without malice, it is still regrettable and sad,” a monk at Toshodaiji told Japanese media.
The teenager told officers he was “bored” during the temple visit, Japanese broadcaster Yomiuri TV reported.
For now, the temple remains open to tourists, with a sign in English and Japanese reminding visitors not to damage the hall.
In western Japan’s Nagasaki prefecture, the head priest of the Watatsumi Shrine in 2020 banned foreign tourists on account of their bad behaviour including vandalism, abusive language and theft of amulets.
Separately at the Sensoji temple in capital city Tokyo, a painting in its main hall peeled off on Saturday, seemingly the result of wear and tear.
Photos of the Ryunozu, or dragon painting in Japanese, hanging from the ceiling above the heads of unaffected tourists to the Asakusa temple were circulated online on the weekend.
An employee of Sensoji’s education department told Japanese media that the painting, measuring around 6.5m by 5m, fell off at around 11am on Saturday, adding that no one was injured even though many visitors were in the temple.
Painted by Ryushi Kawabata in 1958, the Ryunozu was part of a restoration project in the temple after its main hall was destroyed during air raids on Tokyo in World War II.
Temple staff said other paintings had been restored about three years ago, adding they hoped the Ryonozu could be restored soon.
Shrines, castles and temples in Japan, especially historical structures constructed in wood, periodically undergo renovation or repair works.
