Promotion of registration of ‘3 types of Buddhist temple collections’ owned by Tokyo temples
Prime Minister Kishida “It is a valuable documentary heritage… we are responding to its registration”
Controversy is expected as the Japanese government is attempting to register the woodblock print of the Tripitaka Koreana, owned by a temple in the country, as a UNESCO Memory of the World Heritage Site.
Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a press release on their website on the 28th and announced that the ‘Memory of the World’ review committee under the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has selected two cases as candidates for registration as UNESCO’s Memory of the World.
The selected candidates are ▲’Three types of Buddhist scriptures’ owned by Zojo-ji, a temple in Tokyo, ▲Visual materials of the atomic bombing on Hiroshima (?島) There are 1,532 photos and 2 videos from 1945).
The Japanese government plans to submit the application to UNESCO by the end of November. After expert review, the UNESCO Executive Committee will deliberate on whether to register in 2025.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (岸田文雄) was asked a related question by reporters at the Prime Minister’s Office on the 28th and said, “All of them are valuable documentary heritage suitable for registration as a (Memory of the World). “We will respond for registration,” he said.
However, none of the three Buddhist temple series that the Japanese government is seeking to register were created in Japan.
The three Buddhist scriptures are Buddhist prints printed on Tripitaka Koreana woodblocks during the Southern Song Dynasty in China (12th century), the Yuan Dynasty in China (13th century), and the Goryeo Dynasty in Korea (13th century). There are 5342 volumes, 5228 volumes, and 1357 volumes, respectively.
Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology introduced that these Tripitaka Koreana were “collected by Tokugawa Ieyasu, who founded the Edo Shogunate in the early 17th century, and donated them to Zojoji Temple.” He added, “Afterwards, it overcame crises such as the Great Kanto Earthquake and the Great Tokyo Air Raid, and has been handed down to Jojoji to this day.”
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology explained the significance of the push for registration, saying, “While many Tripitaka Koreana were lost due to dynasty changes and wars, the fact that three Tripitaka Koreana made before the 15th century were preserved in almost complete condition is unprecedented in the world.”
Japan selected three Buddhist temple series as candidates for registration in 2021, but UNESCO did not register them. This time, the Yomiuri Shimbun pointed out that high-definition images were released through the Internet, emphasizing their significance as digital records.
If the Japanese government applies to register Goryeo Tripitaka Koreana, Korea’s representative heritage, as a UNESCO Memory of the World Register, it is expected that there will be strong opposition from the Korean Buddhist community and others.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.