News South Korea Can Keep Buddhist Statue Stolen From Japan

South Korea Can Keep Buddhist Statue Stolen From Japan, Court Says (Published 2017)

SEOUL, South Korea — A court ruled Thursday that a South Korean temple can have a Buddhist statue that was stolen from a Japanese temple in 2012, on the grounds that it had been taken from Korea centuries earlier by Japanese pirates.

Japan called the ruling "regrettable" and urged the statue's return. The dispute is being closely watched by both governments, whose relations are often roiled by historical disputes.

The 20-inch gilded bronze statue, of a bodhisattva known as Kanzeon in Japan and Gwaneum in South Korea, was taken from a Buddhist temple on Tsushima, a Japanese island halfway between the two countries, by South Koreans who also stole another statue from a Shinto shrine there. The thieves were caught while trying to sell the artifacts in South Korea, and the statue from the Shinto shrine was eventually returned to Japan.

But a South Korean temple, Buseoksa, which says the bodhisattva statue was made there in the 14th century, won a court injunction in 2013 preventing its return until it could be determined whether it had originally been brought to Tsushima legitimately.

The statue shows the bodhisattva, a being on the path to enlightenment, in the lotus position. It has been in the government's custody since 2013, and on Thursday a district court in Daejeon, a city south of Seoul, ruled that it should be given to Buseoksa. The government, which was the defendant in the civil suit, did not say whether it would appeal.

Upbeat monks at Buseoksa, in the west coast city of Seosan, prepared for the statue's homecoming. The temple's chief monk, the Venerable Wonwoo, hailed the ruling as a milestone that should inspire South Koreans to try to bring home what he claimed were 70,000 ancient Korean artifacts that had been looted and brought to Japan. Buddhists and other South Koreans have rallied behind Buseoksa's campaign.

The Japanese temple, Kannonji, was not a direct party to the lawsuit, but it argued at the trial that the statue had not been removed from Korea illicitly, noting that there had been legitimate trade in goods, including Buddhist statues, between Korea and Tsushima in ancient times. The statue has been designated an important cultural asset in Japan.

After an investigation, South Korea's Cultural Heritage Administration said in 2014 that the statue had probably been taken to Japan by plunderers, though it could not reach a definitive conclusion.

Scholars supporting Buseoksa's cause cited a document found inside the statue's belly in 1951, which they said showed that the statue was manufactured in Seosan in the 14th century. They said it did not record a transfer of ownership to the Japanese temple, although such a document normally would.

They also presented the court with historical documents showing that parts of Korea's west coast near Seosan had been visited by pirates from Japan during the 14th century. And they said the statue had burn damage, which they said could be a sign it had been plundered by pirates.

"There is enough reason to think that the statue belongs to Buseoksa," the presiding judge, Moon Bo-gyeong, ruled Thursday.

In Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga called the ruling "very regrettable." He urged South Korea to take "appropriate" action to ensure the statue's swift return to Japan.

"The Japanese government has appealed to the Korean government through various diplomatic channels to request the return of this statue to Japan as soon as possible," he said at a news conference.

A spokesman for the South Korean Foreign Ministry, Cho June-hyuck, said the ministry would try to resolve the matter with Japan "based on mutual trust."

Nothing against South Korea, but I laughed at the implication that a South Korean court would be regarded as impartial in this matter.

If there isn't clear evidence of whether the statue was plundered or transferred, maybe they could agree to a shared ownership arrangement in which it's transferred between the Japanese and Korean temples every ten years or so.

It seems to me that regardless, some sort of statute of limitations ought to apply. At some point you just have to let it go; I think 500 years is well beyond that point. Besides, two wrongs don't make a right.

That case has finally been settled:

South Korea's supreme court rejected a South Korean temple's claim to a disputed Buddhist statue stolen from a Japanese temple more than a decade ago. In yesterday's ruling, the Supreme Court affirmed a high court decision that the centuries-old sculpture belongs to Japan's Kannonji temple despite being looted from the Korean Peninsula by Japanese pirates in medieval times.

The seated statue of the Kanzeon Bodhisattva was stolen from Kannonji temple in Tsushima, Nagasaki Prefecture, in 2012 by South Korean burglars. The statue is designated as a tangible cultural property of the prefecture. The thieves were apprehended in 2013 and the statue was confiscated by the South Korean government. Kannonji temple and the Japanese government requested the statue's return. However, Buseoksa temple in South Chungcheong province, located in west-central South Korea, claimed that the statue was looted in the 14th century by Japanese "wako" pirates. Buseoksa temple filed a lawsuit, demanding the statue's return from the South Korean government. It argued that the statue was created as an offering to the South Korean temple around 1330. On the other hand, Kannonji temple said a monk who founded the Japanese temple received the statue when he traveled to the Korean Peninsula in 1527. In 2017, a district court acknowledged the South Korean temple's ownership of the statue, a ruling appealed by the South Korean government. However, the high court later overturned the district court's decision in February in favor of the Japanese temple.

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thomas said:

That case has finally been settled:

South Korea's supreme court rejected a South Korean temple's claim to a disputed Buddhist statue stolen from a Japanese temple more than a decade ago. In yesterday's ruling, the Supreme Court affirmed a high court decision that the centuries-old sculpture belongs to Japan's Kannonji temple despite being looted from the Korean Peninsula by Japanese pirates in medieval times.

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Photo credit: Nagasaki Prefectural Board of Education via Asahi Shinbun
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S. Korean top court rules for Japanese temple in artifact case | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis

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Museums in England liked that

Buseoksa Temple in South Korea has reaffirmed its agreement to return a stolen Buddhist statue to its rightful owner, Kannonji Temple in Tsushima. However, Buseoksa Temple has stipulated that a 100-day ritual involving the statue must be conducted at their temple in South Korea before its repatriation. This condition was initially proposed earlier this year, stating that the local community should be allowed to worship the statue during the ritual before its return to Japan. Negotiations between the two temples have been ongoing to finalize the details of the ritual and the subsequent repatriation of the statue.

The statue of the Kanzeon Bodhisattva was stolen from the Japanese temple in 2012 by South Korean burglars. The thieves were arrested the following year and the statue was confiscated by the South Korean government. The sculpture is a tangible cultural property of the Japanese prefecture. Despite the request from Kannonji temple and the Japanese government to return the statue, the South Korean temple claimed ownership, arguing that the artifact was looted from Korea by Japanese pirates in medieval times. In October last year, South Korea's supreme court ruled that the statue belongs to the Japanese temple. While recognizing the looting as a historical fact, the court acknowledged that the Japanese temple had possessed the statue long enough to acquire legal ownership.

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Here's a video of the statue from last year:

The stolen Buddha statue has arrived in Tsushima:

A 14th-century Buddhist statue stolen in October 2012 and taken to South Korea has been returned to its original temple in Japan, according to a source familiar with the situation. The statue, which depicts the Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva and is designated a cultural asset by Nagasaki Prefecture, belonged to the Kannon Temple on Tsushima Island. It was handed over to representatives of the temple in South Korea on Saturday, marking the end of a long-running dispute that had strained relations between Japan and South Korea.

The statue, which was airlifted to Fukuoka Prefecture on the southwestern main island of Kyushu and then transported to Tsushima by ferry, is expected to be stored at a museum after a ceremony at the temple, the source said. After the statue was stolen, the South Korean authorities arrested the thieves and confiscated it. In 2016, however, Buseoksa Temple in the country filed a lawsuit claiming that the statue had been plundered by Japanese pirates hundreds of years ago. In 2023, South Korea's Supreme Court ruled in favour of Kannon Temple's ownership. The return procedures were completed in January.

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