TOKYO – The clock of the Fumonji temple of the Myagi prefectures was recovered after being swept away by the waters of the 2011 tsunami. The hands started moving again after 10 years, last February, after a strong shock that hit Fukushima and Miyagi.
Bunshun Sakano, the monk-spiritual leader of the temple to which the watch belongs, said he received a beautiful inspiration from this second life of the object he had unearthed ten years ago. “It’s a sign of encouragement, The real reconstruction has yet to happen,” said Sakano, even more determined to work hard in the destroyed area.
The Hanakama district of the city of Yamamoto, where the Fumonji temple is located, has been cataloged as a hazardous area, surrounded by completely abandoned areas. Sakano bought the watch, about 80 centimeters in diameter, from an antique shop in Fukushima prefecture. Featuring a spring-loaded movement, it was made by Seiko and was probably around a century old.
On February 13 this year, a violent 6.1 earthquake struck the region, the same as the tsunami. When Sakano went to check the state of the temple the next morning, to his surprise he heard the ticking of the clock: the hands had started to move again. And they never stopped. “Maybe they are telling me to continue with a new determination,” Sakano told local media.
The Buddhist monk has been taking care of the local community hit hard by the earthquake for ten years. He has opened a café and a weekly market where the population sells their things. For a year now, however, due to the pandemic, the market has closed. And Sakano, reports the local newspaper, Mainichi Shimbun, he was losing hope on the possibility of continuing with his good works. The clock was the signal he waited for.
The Fumonji Buddhist Temple is located a few hundred meters from the coast. The 2011 tsunami waves overwhelmed him, reaching the first floor ceiling and almost completely destroying the Buddha statue.
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