Entsuin, also known as the rose temple for its unique Western-style rose garden, has long been a tourist fixture in the bay town of Matsushima, Miyagi Prefecture.
But in the seven years Haruka Amano has been serving as a priest at Entsuin, she has never seen the number of visitors fall so drastically, a phenomenon that could threaten the historic temple's future.
Built in 1646 next to Zuiganji, the Tohoku region's most prominent Zen Buddhist temple, Entsuin houses the mausoleum of Date Mitsumune, the grandson of Tohoku warlord Date Masamune, and belongs to the Rinzai school of Zen.
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