Society

Zenkoji Temple turns to crowdfunding for restoration work

NAGANO, Dec 21 (NHK) - A famous Buddhist temple in central Japan hopes to pay for restoration work by using crowdfunding. It wants to return its famed tea ceremony facility to its former glory.

Zenkoji Temple in Nagano City drew some six million visitors a year before the pandemic. The roughly 1400-year-old temple has started its first-ever crowdfunding campaign to restore a structure built in 1799.

The temple estimates that it needs 10 million yen or about 69,000 dollars to repair the facility, which has a leaky roof.

But it may be difficult to pay for the project amid shrinking donations due to an aging population and a slow recovery in tourism.

A priest at Zenkoji Daikanjin Temple said that he wants more people to know about the situation and seek their help through crowdfunding.

The campaign will run through February 20 next year. Donors can get works of calligraphy created by the chief priest, stamps or daruma dolls.

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