{"id":170903,"date":"2025-05-13T11:35:45","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T02:35:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/?post_type=news&#038;p=170903&#038;lang=en"},"modified":"2025-05-13T11:35:45","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T02:35:45","slug":"stolen-buddha-statue-returned-to-tsushima","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/news\/stolen-buddha-statue-returned-to-tsushima\/","title":{"rendered":"Stolen Buddha Statue Returned to Tsushima After 12 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A bronze statue of the Kannon Bodhisattva, stolen from Kannonji Temple in Tsushima, Nagasaki Prefecture in 2012 and taken to South Korea, has been returned after over 12 years. A memorial service was held on May 12 with local residents in attendance. The statue was later moved to Tsushima Museum, where it will be publicly displayed starting May 16 for one month. The city is considering a permanent exhibition this fall. The statue was retrieved after Korea&#8217;s Supreme Court ruled in 2023 that ownership belonged to the Japanese temple, dismissing claims by Korea\u2019s Buseoksa Temple that it had been looted centuries ago. The statue was flown to Fukuoka and transported to Tsushima by ferry and police escort. <\/span><b>Source:<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/www3.nhk.or.jp\/lnews\/nagasaki\/20250513\/5030023997.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NHK<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-170896\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/fnn_tsushima-buddha_2025_cl.jpg?resize=1400%2C791&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Stolen Buddha Statue Returned to Tsushima After 12 Years\" width=\"1400\" height=\"791\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/fnn_tsushima-buddha_2025_cl.jpg?w=1400&amp;ssl=1 1400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/fnn_tsushima-buddha_2025_cl.jpg?resize=300%2C170&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/fnn_tsushima-buddha_2025_cl.jpg?resize=1024%2C579&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/fnn_tsushima-buddha_2025_cl.jpg?resize=768%2C434&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stay informed with the latest Fukuoka &amp; Kyushu news and events in English. Sign up for our <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/mailmagazine\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">free weekly newsletter <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">today and never miss a beat. Opt out anytime, your privacy is our priority. Get the inside scoop with <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/mailmagazine\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Now<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Summaries based on public content, errors may occur during translation. Images credited independently. Send feedback using <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/contact\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">this <\/span><b>form<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A bronze statue of the Kannon Bodhisattva, stolen from Kannonji Temple in Tsushima, Nagasaki Prefecture in 2012 and&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29305,"featured_media":170901,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"class_list":["post-170903","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","location-nagasaki-prefecture","news-category-general","en-US"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/170903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29305"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170903"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}