Bra Temple
本覚寺 / 詐欺寺
Kuji, Ibaraki Prefecture
This abandoned location was submitted by Lee Webb – a resident of the UK, and an abandoned location enthusiast. He has been interested in abandoned locations for many years, but last year began sharing his findings. He is particularly keen about the aesthetics of derelict locations; such as the beauty of nature reclaiming the structures and the imagery of places lost to time, and he is also avidly interested in the history and stories. ​
Lee manages Our Abandoned World; a group dedicated to exploring and cataloguing abandoned locations around the world. 
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Help a fellow Hider by checking out the Our Abandoned World Facebook page:
www.facebook.com/OurAbandonedWorld

Bra Temple in Ibaraki has a showcase of abandoned undergarments; supposedly left to deliver a curse.
Image: Interior of Bra Temple
Photo by: しゃれこーべ
Map: https://goo.gl/maps/s2wU9hwCic42
Honkadori (本覚寺), also known as 'Fraud Temple'), is a religious establishment in Ibaraki Prefecture notorious for a staggering number of fraud cases concerning conning devout followers. Upon abandonment, the building earned a reputation as 'Bra Temple' for the hundreds of feminine underwear strewn across the ceilings and walls of the decrepit rooms. While speculated as comical, the undergarments represent a more sinister purpose.

The temple was first initiated as a sister religion adopted from a sector in Kyoto in 1987, however the director of the temple (a businessman originally from Nagoya) had greater interest in financial gains rather than spiritual.

Although the temple was receiving a heavy amount of donations from the sizable number of members across the region, the downfall progress initiated after spiritual services were advertised to the public for a cheap price of 3,000 yen ($30AUD). These services were provided to patrons experiencing negative health believed to be caused from an upset in spiritual factors; headaches, restlessness, lethargy, and insomnia were presumed to be a disturbance in 霊気 (れいき/ reiki / combination of mind, body, and spirit).

As part of the service, a divine monk of the temple would visit the patron and analyse the reasons of the health concerns. After a brief exchange, the monk would announce the issue was a dire problem of deep despair from the spiritual realm, and a more thorough and expensive ritual would be required – often costing a minimum of 10,000,000 yen ($10,000AUD). If the patron refused, the monk would hardsell the expensive ritual, claiming the patron would be facing deep anguish and despair in the near future – resulting in the patron purchasing the ritual in order to avoid consequences.

As the services spread across the nation, the temple began facing backlash as family members and friends of patrons submitted demands for refunds, all of which were promptly refused. By 1999 the complaints had been investigated by Government officials, and it was realized the spiritual services were nothing more than an elaborate scam to bleed victims of sanity and funds. Considered a heinous breach of trust between temple and clients, the Government incarcerated the leaders of the religious organisation (3 – 6 year sentence), and the spiritual commercial laws (霊感商法 / れいかんしょうほう ) with guidelines for donations and profit in regards to religious establishments were tightened. Shortly after, the Wakayama District Court issued a dissolution order to the religious group; the second organisation to ever be handed the order – the first being the Aum Shinrikyo cult which conducted the 1995 subway sarin chemical attack in Tokyo.

Despite the dissolution order, devout followers continue to donate the minimum 500 yen fee per month.

For the following years after the abandonment of the temple grounds, feminine undergarments (bras in particular) were discovered hanging from the ceilings and walls. Upon inspection, the garments had been placed as a curse; each garment had a photo or name attached, along with a parchment dictating a scathing curse.

First believed to have been placed by a group between 2010 and 2016 who resented their yoga instructor for poor practices, the tend continued, and more garments were added to the collection by the users of the internet domain 2-chan (Japan's equivalent of 4-chan). The targets of the curse are believed to receive bitter consequences or devastation for wrongdoings.

Because the temple grounds were once the location of fraud and deceit, it is believed placing a curse on someone who has commit a wrongdoing doubles the effectiveness of any spiritual consequences to that person.
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Abandoned due to a dissolution order, much of the rooms still contain the items of everyday temple life. 
Image: Hall inside the temple
Photo by: しゃれこーべ
Seizing the opportunity to use the building as a vessel for disdain, visitors leave bras with a photograph of someone they hold a grudge against. It is believed a curse will deliver suffering to the person within the photo.
Image: a narrow hallway of hanging bras
Photo by: しゃれこーべ
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