[KOREAN TEMPLE ADVENTURES] Buseok Temple holds onto looted statue before its return to Japan

By Dale Quarrington

It’s not often that two nations’ tumultuous past can be summed up in one single object, but such is the case found between Japan and Korea and the Gilt-bronze Seated Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva Statue of Buseok Temple in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province.

Buseok Temple was once home to the statue, which was later housed at Kannonji Temple in Tsushima, Japan. The statue stands 50.5 centimeters in height and weighs 38.6 kilograms. Originally, it was enshrined at Buseok Temple in 1330.

There is considerable dispute as to how this statue of Gwanseeum-bosal (Bodhisattva of Compassion) ended up in Japan. The Japanese claim that it was a gift to the monk who founded Kannonji Temple when he traveled to the Korean Peninsula in 1527. Buseok Temple, on the other hand, claims that the statue was looted in 1378 by Japanese pirates.

Buseok Temple in Seosan, which shouldn't be confused with the more famous Buseok Temple in Yeongju, North Gyeongsangbuk Province, was purportedly first established in 677 by the famed monk Uisang-daesa (625-702). Little is known about the temple's history except that it was later rebuilt during the 1392-1910 Joseon Dynasty.

What’s interesting about Buseok Temple in Seosan is that there appears to be a lot of pilfering connected to this temple beyond this one statue. For instance, there once was a wooden seated statue of Amita-bul (Buddha of the Western Paradise) that dated back to 1689 housed inside the temple’s Geungnak-jeon Hall. However, this statue was stolen in 1980.

Another oddity to this temple is its founding legend. Rather clumsily, Seosan’s Buseok Temple appears to have appropriated the temple legend that’s more closely associated with Yeongju’s Buseok Temple. According to Seosan’s Buseok Temple, which is almost exactly the same as the temple legend from Yeongju, Uisang-daesa (625-702) was studying in Tang China when he met a young woman named Lady Seonmyo at the house where he was staying. Lady Seonmyo fell in love with Uisang-daesa, so she tried hard to get his attention. However, Uisang-daesa remained devoted to his Buddhist studies. When it finally came time for him to return to Joseon, the desperate Lady Seonmyo threw herself off a cliff and into the sea, drowning. After she died, Lady Seonmyo turned into a dragon. Seonmyo the dragon would guard Uisang-daesa as he sailed home. Upon his return, and feeling grateful for Seonmyo's protection, purportedly — and this is where the legend diverges from the one at Yeongju's Buseok Temple — Uisang-daesa decided to found a temple in her honor on Mount Dobi.

It's rather strange that the two temples have the same legend. What’s more likely is that more recently, Seosan's Buseok Temple mistakenly adopted the exact same legend, believing it to be their own.

Seosan's Buseok Temple started as a villa built immediately after the formation of Joseon. The villa was built by Yu Geumheon, a distinguished but disgruntled official of the 918-1392 Goryeo Dynasty who wanted to live undisturbed by the world after the loss of Goryeo, so he retreated to his hometown. He spent his remaining years absorbed in reading. After his death, a monk named Jeokgam converted this residence into a temple and named it Buseok Temple. According to this legend, the name of this Buseok Temple was given to the temple because it's located on top of a cliff on the slopes of Mount Dobi.

So with all this misappropriation going on, it strangely makes sense that the gilt-bronze statue appears to lie at the very center of a dispute between Korea and Japan.

More specifically, in October 2012, the statue was stolen from Kannonji Temple by Korean thieves who had also stolen a Silla-era standing Buddha statue from Japan's Kaijin Shrine. Both were stolen on the same day with the intent of selling them. The thieves were arrested upon their return to Korea and were prosecuted in early 2013. The Korean government confiscated both statues, with the Silla-era standing Buddha being sent back immediately. As for the gilt-bronze statue, Buseok Temple filed a temporary injunction on the statue's transfer back to Japan. This prevented the Korean government from returning it immediately to Japan.

Several years of court filings would take place from 2016 to 2023 over the "Gilt-Bronze Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva Statue" and whether it ultimately belonged in Korea or Japan. In 2016, Buseok Temple filed a legal action against the Korean government to gain possession of the statue. In 2017, the Daejeon District Court ruled in favor of Buseok Temple, citing the documents found inside the statue as evidence proving that the Japanese had stolen the statue from Buseok Temple. The Korean prosecution appealed the results and sought an injunction to suspend the ruling.

In February 2023, the Daejeon High Court overturned the lower court’s ruling, stating that Kannonji Temple had acquired the statue legally and thus was its legal owner. The ruling of the Daejeon High Court was based upon the law of "acquisitive prescription" of the statute. This law governing the ownership of the statue falls under Japanese civil law, which states that a person or entity may acquire ownership of property even if it didn't originally belong to them, as long as they possess it "peacefully and openly" for at least 20 years.

In 1953, Kannonji Temple listed itself as a legal entity. This means that it has been in possession of the statue since that time. In this mind-numbing ruling, the court would also state that it was difficult to define whether the current Buseok Temple is the same 14th-century Goryeo Buseok Temple from which the statue was taken.

Finally, at the start of this year, it was ultimately decided that the statue would be returned to Kannonji Temple in Japan. However, before it returns to Japan, it will be on display at Buseok Temple from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day until Buddha’s Birthday on May 5.

So if you have the time and you want to see the Gilt-bronze Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva Statue before it leaves Korean soil, you’ll definitely need to make your way to Buseok Temple in Seosan.

Dale Quarrington has visited over 500 temples throughout the Korean Peninsula and published four books on Korean Buddhism. He runs the website Dale's Korean Temple Adventures.