Chie no Wa: Delray Beach and Miyazu

The stone lantern you see here is a replica of an original from Miyazu, Japan, the sister city of Delray Beach. The object is called a chie no wa, which translates as wisdom ring. In Miyazu, the original stands near a temple dedicated to Monju, the Buddhist deity of wisdom.

Miyazu and Delray Beach have maintained a sister-city relationship since nineteen seventy-seven, one of the small bridges of people-to-people diplomacy that connect American communities to counterparts across the Pacific. The lantern was donated to Delray Beach as a gesture of that friendship. Sister-city programs like this one trace their origins to President Eisenhower's People-to-People initiative of nineteen fifty-six, which aimed to build international goodwill through cultural exchange.