The crowdfunding project to restore the Torii gate at the Watatsumi Shrine in Tsushima, Japan, ended on January 10, 2021. It amassed a total fund of 27,103,882 yen (approximately $260,435) from 2014 backers, more than five times that of the initial goal. A lot of the contributions came from players of the PlayStation 4 video game Ghost of Tsushima. [Thanks, Famitsu!]
On November 27, 2020, the project was established to restore a Torii gate broken by a typhoon in September 2020. It reached its initial goal of 5 million yen on December 1, 2020. Now that the crowdfunding project has closed, the shrine plans to finalize the budgets by March 2021.
The restoration of the Torii gate is scheduled to begin in April 2021 and end around August 2021. A stone monument that lists the names of backers who donated at least 10,000 yen is also planned to be built within the fiscal year. However, it is noted that the coronavirus pandemic may delay the entire schedule.
The Watatsumi Shrine is located in the Toyotama region of Tsushima. In Ghost of Tsushima, the Shinto shrine closest in proximity would be the Scarlet Rock Shrine. Although the game’s shrine was built for Tsukuyomi, the real-life Watatsumi Shrine is dedicated to Hikohohodemino Mikoto and Toyotamabime.
The island of Tsushima in Japan served as the basis of Ghost of Tsushima, which is immediately available on PlayStation 4. The game is also playable on the PlayStation 5 with a Game Boost option. It won the Player’s Voice award in The Game Awards 2020.
