SAGA - A trainee monk has been arrested on suspicion of setting fire to Entsuji, a temple in Imari, Saga Prefecture, after a June blaze destroyed its main hall and living quarters, with the suspect telling investigators he had become dissatisfied with the amount of training and the way he was being instructed.
The fire broke out on June 30 at Entsuji in Matsushimacho, Imari, completely burning down the temple's main hall and the kuri, a building used as living quarters by the chief priest and monks. Two trainee monks were inside the kuri at the time of the fire, but both escaped unharmed.
According to the Imari City Board of Education, Entsuji is said to have been founded around the 14th century, while the main hall that burned down was built in 1884 during the Meiji era.
A nearby resident said flames rose high into the air and red sparks were visible, adding that the area around the main hall appeared to be burning.
Police questioned people connected to the temple and examined security camera footage before concluding there was strong suspicion that the fire had been deliberately set. In the early hours of July 6, they arrested Yoshi Morinaga, 28, one of the trainee monks who had evacuated from the kuri, on suspicion of arson of an inhabited structure.
Morinaga has admitted the allegation, telling investigators, "I became sick of everything in my life."
Morinaga had been training at the temple since April last year. He told investigators he had been dissatisfied with the instruction he received and the volume of training, saying he was assigned more sutra chanting and other training than other trainees and that, in addition to being scolded verbally, he was sometimes struck with a keisaku discipline stick or slapped on the head.
Source: FBS Fukuoka Broadcasting News
