Place of Peace

Place of Peace
Hei-Sei-Ji (平清治)

General information
Type	Jōdo Shinshū (浄土真宗) temple
Location	Furman University
Town or city	Greenville, SC
Country	USA
Website
http://app2.furman.edu/web/placeofpeace/

The Place of Peace^[1] is believed to be the first authentic Japanese temple ever to be dismantled and fully reconstructed in the United States.^[2] It is located on the campus of Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina.

Origins

It was donated to Furman University by Kiyohiro Tsuzuki and his wife, Chigusa, and their 2 children, Yuri and Seiji.^[3]^[4] The Tsuzuki family has maintained residency in Nagoya, Japan and Greenville, South Carolina for many decades. Their connections to Greenville was through TNS Mills, which stood for Tsuzuki New Spinning, supplying spools of thread to the textile mills that were the heart of Greenville's economy.

Place of Peace at Furman University

Construction

This Jōdo Shinshū (浄土真宗) temple was built in Japan in 1984 by Daibun Co. (大文社寺建築　有限会社)^[5] and known as Hei-Sei-Ji (平清治) and Tsuzuki Hondo (都築本堂).^[6] The temple is 900 square feet.^[7] However, the temple was never assigned a Buddhist priest to serve a practicing lay community. If this had been the case, then the temple would not have been removed from Japan.^[8] The temple was renamed The Place of Peace at Furman. As stated in Living with the Wind at Your Back, by David Shaner, Ph.D., "The Place of Peace now serves as an engaged learning space serving to educate Furman Students and the general public about the oneness of all things, which can be experienced in the present moment. Our connection to the environment (sustainability), each other (social justice), and especially ourselves (bodymind) can all be experienced in this very special place."^[9]

In 2004 the Hei-Sei-Ji (平清治) temple was dismantled into more than 2400 pieces^[10] and shipped in 4 containers across the Pacific, up the Panama Canal and arrived in Charleston, South Carolina.^[11] In each container Japanese carpenters crafted wood braces to hold all of the pieces safely in place and to make sure that they didn’t warp due to the humidity. Once the structure arrived in the United States it sat in the Tsuzuki family’s warehouse for almost four years until enough money could be raised for its reconstruction.

Dedication

On September 5, 2008, a dedication was presided over by David Shaner, Ph.D., Professor emeritus at Furman University, and assisted by Jim Eubanks, Abbot, Order of Pragmatic Buddhists. ^[12] Among the honored guests were Dr. David Shi, then, president of Furman University; Masanobu Yoshii, then, Acting Consul General, Consulate General of Japan; Masao Nakajima, President, Aichiken Construction; and Hiroshi Sato, Construction Supervisor. Also, Richard Riley, former U.S. Secretary of Education and South Carolina Governor, who could not make the dedication, was instrumental in helping to bringing the Place of Peace to Furman. Representing the Tsuzuki family was Yuri and Seiji Tsuzuki.

Major Contributors

Major funding provided by Timothy F. Baiden, Bank of America, James E. and Malinda H. Eubanks, Japan World Exposition 70 Commemorative Fund, J. Michael '82 and Elizabeth K. Harley, The Norris Foundation, Margaret C. Robertson '33, Frank '61 and Susan E. Shaw, George W. Willis '48^[13]

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, February 02, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.