The Peace Stone was a gift from the Japanese organization Shuyodan Hoseikai, The Society for Promoting Devoted Service and Sincerity. There are only four such stones outside of Japan; in addition to this one, in Sao Paolo, Berlin and San Francisco. Each Peace Stone is a piece of natural rock about two meters high, engraved with Kanji characters.
The Stone at St John’s is inscribed with a poem of eight characters, which translates, “Four Seas are Brothers and Sisters. All nations are in peace.” The poem was written by a famous calligrapher and Buddhist monk, Shunkai Bundo. It was dedicated in 1989.
The stone is granite, about 305 million years old. It was given by Mr and Mrs Bernard Lenehan, on whose property it was found, and whose family was involved in the foundation of St John’s in 1858.
