吉野山櫻本坊「想いを力に」大講堂雨漏り修繕工事

The year 2023 marks the 1,350-year anniversary of the founding of Sakuramotobou Temple in Yoshino by Emperor Tenmu.

One of the structures that comprise the temple is the Great Lecture Hall. Suspended out over a steep slope in the Northeast corner of the temple complex, this hall is a vast open space that appears boundless because of a stunning architectural feature: Two walls comprised solely of glass that offer breathtaking views of the surrounding landscape, including the groves of cherry trees for which Yoshino is world-famous.

For many years, this building has served as the final lodging point for Shugendo practitioners departing Yoshino for Mount Omine and the “Practice of Traversing the Distant Peaks” (Okugake Shugyo). In addition, the hall is used for esoteric Buddhist transmission and initiation ceremonies, Sutra-copying and meditation retreats, talks and lectures, and all kinds of workshops, artistic performances, and other events.

In other words, the role that the Lecture Hall plays in the life of the temple is fundamentally different from that of the other structures in the temple complex.　Unlike these halls, which allow worshippers to communicate and establish connections with Buddhist and Shinto deities, the Lecture Hall serves as a place where new connections are forged between people meeting for the first time, and existing relationships strengthened through shared communal experiences. In addition, the structure of the building naturally guides one’s gaze towards the vistas unfolding beyond its windows, thereby rekindling and reinforcing the shared connection to nature that plays a central role in Shugendo teaching and practice.

Unfortunately, the Great Lecture Hall is now in dire need of repairs. Six years ago, its roof began to leak due to widespread corrosion of the corrugated metal panels that date to its initial construction in 1967. Although these leaks have been a continuing problem that has grown gradually worse over time, the situation changed drastically when a typhoon struck Wakayama and southern Nara prefectures (where Yoshino is located) on August 14th and 15th of this year. This storm, which dumped almost a month’s worth of precipitation on the temple in the span a single night, caused severe damage to the interior ceilings, plastered walls, and tatami-mat floor.

Since then, life at the temple has become a constant battle with the elements: Even normal rainfall now results in widespread leakage, meaning that the interior of the Lecture Hall is currently littered with buckets and blue plastic tarps. Since the scale of the damage has surpassed the stage where emergency patches would suffice, the only possible way to save the structure is to re-roof the entire building as quickly as possible.

In order to fund these repairs, Sakuramotobou began to solicit donations from visitors and the members of the temple community several years ago. While these funds are sufficient to commence the construction work, however, they do not suffice to cover the cost of the project in its entirety. Coupled with the recent dramatic rise in the cost of labor, fuel, and building materials, this means that the temple is unable to finance the necessary repairs on its own.

We have therefore decided to launch a crowd funding campaign to coincide with the repairs in order to solicit additional financial assistance from members of the larger community. As a small temple located deep in the Japanese countryside, we are painfully aware that the current economic situation might make such financial contributions difficult, but we ask for your understanding and support in ensuring the continued existence, not just of the Lecture Hall as a structure, but also of the many activities that take place in this sacred space.

With Profound Thanks and Sincerest Gratitude
Sakuramotobou Temple
Yoshino, Japan

CONTRIBUTIONS

Unfortunately, the system for making contributions online via credit card is
currently only available in Japanese. If you would like to support our
project, we therefore ask that you please contact us (Sakuramotobo) directly
via the following Email Address:

info@sakuramotobou.or.jp

We will write you back promptly with instructions for sending us a
contribution directly that we will then deposit into the crowd funding
account on your behalf. We apologize in advance for the inconvenience, and
thank you again for your interest in our temple.