Toyko, Japan - Raitei Arima, a prominent figure in Japan's Buddhist world who is a head priest at Kyoto's Golden Pavilion Temple, or Kinkakuji, will visit North Korea on Tuesday to conduct a ceremony with North Korean priests to commemorate the restoration of the famed Ryongtong Temple in the city of Kaesong.
Arima also heads the Shokoku School of the Rinzai Zen sect of Buddhism. According to his delegation, Arima arrived in Beijing on Monday. It is the first joint Buddhist ceremony performed by priests from the two countries.
The temple, which dates back to the Koryo dynasty period (A.D. 918-1392), was restored last October in the city that once was the capital of the dynasty.
Sources close to the delegation said Arima could be delivering messages regarding Japan-North Korea normalization talks while in North Korea but Arima denied any political role, saying he will go to North Korea just to perform the Buddhist ceremony.
Arima greeted U.S. President George W. Bush last November when the president visited Kinkakuji at the invitation of Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.