Tokyo (dpa) - A Buddhist temple in the central Japanese city of Nagano intends to withdraw from hosting the Olympic torch run, a spokeswoman said Friday.

Zenkoji Temple, the city's main landmark, is slated to serve as the relay's starting venue and host an opening ceremony April 26 for the Beijing Olympic torch relay.

But media reports said temple officials conveyed their intention to withdraw to city officials Friday because its monks sympathize with the Tibetan people. The decision was expected to be formalized later in the day.

If the temple officially declines to host the relay little more than a week before the event, it was expected to cause major changes to the 18.5-kilometre run in Japan.

"We have the strong feeling that we are the same Buddhists as the Tibetan people," Jiji Press quoted one of the monks who attended a torch relay meeting as saying.

Nagano earlier had cancelled an Olympic-related event to be held next week mainly to strengthen security and management of the torch run.

The event at a park was to feature photo sessions with the Olympic torch, music performance and sales of Olympic-related goods.

Organizers' decision to cancel the event followed demonstrations and protests during the torch run in London, Paris, San Francisco and New Dehli.