We thought, Why don't we help them make it happen?"
According to reports that Ogi had gathered, the transfer of ownership of the chapel, and the subsequent construction of the monastery, came about in the following way. Brother Gii had inherited the Hollow and surround- ing land from one of the established families in the old village. Along with this, one follower, the head of another old family in the area, decided to con- struct the chapel and contributed the needed funds. When the Church of the Flaming Green Tree was incorporated and tax issues became moot, this par- ticular church member donated the land and the chapel to the church.
Along the south side of the Hollow, a road sixteen feet wide had been built running the entire length of the man-made lake from east to west. This road was lined with cobblestones, modeled on the cobblestone paths that, according to the rich folklore of the region, used to be constructed high in the forest, remnants of which could still be found here and there. On the east- ern edge of this road was the cylindrical chapel, constructed in the latest con- crete technology, a building that at the time of its construction was a hot topic of conversation in architectural circles. After the chapel was built, Mr. Soda's construction company came up with a plan to construct a courtyard out of the road leading up to the chapel, with communal residences running along both sides. But it was at this point that the church broke up.
Many local residents didn't want the buildings to remain unoccupied, and they wanted to complete the ones that had been planned, as well. After accepting the donation of the chapel and the land along the south shore of the lake, the town decided to build a junior high school and a continuing education center there, and there was strong support for this idea. The plans fell through, though, because of the economic timing-the Bubble Economy of Japan had just burst and money was tight. In opposition to those in the Old Town who still wanted to go ahead with the original plan, a rival movement arose calling not just for a cancellation of the continuing education center but the junior high as well-there weren't enough children in the area to justify it, they claimed. In fact, one candidate for town head had run on this plat- form and won election, so the whole plan was back to square one.
This still meant they had to deal with the investment already made in the construction plans. With exquisite timing, just when the town authori- ties were racking their brains as to what the next step should be, the Kansai headquarters of the church began to show an interest in the land. Mr. Soda, the headquarters' leader as well as the one who'd been involved in the origi- nal construction, played a major role in the negotiations. Things didn't al- ways go smoothly, but with the church now taking on the loans from the town, they were able to complete the original second phase of construction pretty much as it had been originally envisioned.
The chapel and the monastery had been kept up-not exactly in a hands- on way but regularly nonetheless-and like some recent ruins were beauti- ful and abandoned, and no discord arose between the local residents and church members from the Kansai headquarters during their intermittent visits. However, with a good number of people expected to move to the town as Patron restarted his religious movement, there were sure to be difficulties ahead. What's more, this was taking place soon after all the uproar involving the Aum Shinrikyo satyan that had been widely reported in the media.
Ogi and Dancer flew from Haneda to Matsuyama airport. When they arrived at the Maki Town JR Station and went into the business district in the Old Town to rent a car, they came across some protest banners and leaflets: DON'T LET OUR TOWN BE TAKEN OVER BY FANATICS! WILL OUR CHILDREN SEE MURDERS ON THE STREETS AGAIN? AND OPPOSE ARRIVAL OF PATRON'S CHURCH!
The banners and leaflets were the work of a group called the Associa- tion to Oppose the Move of Religious Organizations to Maki Town, made up largely of residents of the Old Town. A month before they had put up their banners at the entrance of the Ohashi Bridge over the Kame River, which ran through the center of town, and plastered all the shop windows with their leaflets. Thanks to Asa-san's tenaciousness, these had all been removed a week earlier.
In trying to persuade people to accept the new church coming to town, Asa-san used the following argument. Fifteen years ago, during the brief period when the Church of the Flaming Green Tree flourished, their farm products had sold quite well in Matsuyama, and the farmers in the area had turned a nice profit. The church members' spending alone had been a shot in the arm to the local economy. After the demise of the church, the valley's economy had gone into a tailspin unconnected with the bursting of the Bubble Economy. If it was good for the economy why were people opposing another church?
Already the church had used its resources to pay off loans the town had taken for the junior high school project. And they'd hired people locally to build the monastery. Isn't it natural, now that they own the chapel and the monastery, for church people to move in? With all the benefits you've had so far, how can you possibly join a movement opposing their arrival?
Patron's church doesn't commit criminal acts like Aum Shinrikyo, she went on. According to reports on TV and the weekly magazines, Patron's Somersault took place because he anticipated the danger of his church becom- ing Aum-like and wanted to nip any terrorist plans in the bud. The death of Guide reported not long ago was the work of a terrorist group that has been hostile to Patron ever since the Somersault, with the church its victim. After ten painful years of self-reflection, Patron had chosen this place to build his church anew. Why not just let it happen?
2
After Mr. Soda and his secretary left, Ogi and Dancer heard more details about all this from the head priest of the Fushoku temple and from Asa-san herself. Once this conversation drew to a close, they set off in their rental car, Asa-san leading the way in her own car, Mr. Matsuo as their guide, and drove from the temple to the Hollow. It was already late afternoon, and a strong late-rainy-season downpour was falling.
Right after descending to the river from the temple they came across the newly completed bridge connecting up to the bypass leading to the cross- Shikoku highway. Mr. Matsuo explained how in crossing it they would pass by the road leading down to the Hollow, but today, since he wanted them to remember the lay of the land as it used to be in this region, they drove along the old main road on this side of the riverbank.
The Kame River is lined with dikes now, he said, and is no longer a wild river-it used to flood its banks every year-yet if the water filling the man- made lake to its brim overflowed, Old Town would be flooded. According to Mr. Matsuo, this fact lay behind the wariness with which the residents of Old Town viewed the followers of the Church of the Flaming Green Tree- who lived, at that time, in the chapel and in tents in the banks of the lake- and also lay behind the movement opposing this newest church.
Besides introducing them to the special topographic features of the region, Mr. Matsuo also related some of the highlights of local history. Dancer didn't say anything while she sat next to Mr. Matsuo in the front passenger seat, but when she was alone with Ogi she complained. "That priest thinks that since our church is moving to these woods we have to revere their his- tory just like he does. But aren't Patron and all of us going to create a new history in this region?" she grumbled.