Kannon Statue Goes on Tour

A wooden statue of the goddess Kannon was stolen from a local temple last month only to find itself being passed around like a hot sweet potato. The “Senju Kannon” (Thousand-armed Kannon) statue, which was made during the Muromachi Period (1336-1573), was quite happily sitting in the Hozoji Temple’s Kannon hall in Shimada, Japan, when a shifty thief nicked it and swapped it for an inferior one. Somehow the Kannon statue ended up in a flea market in the nearby city of Fujieda where a shrewd art dealer spotted it and grabbed the bargain. Buying it for 7000 yen the dealer then sold it at auction for 500,000 (see, told you he was shrewd).From there it was again on-sold to a dealer in the Kansai district. Eventually a collector bought it, only to discover it was on a stolen list. He did the right thing and contacted the Shizuoka Prefectural Police. Investigators believe the original seller is the culprit. There have been three similar thefts in recent months.