Wednesday, 30 October 2019

Fire engulfs Japan's Shuri Castle, a World Heritage Site in Okinawa

quote [ A fire broke out at Shuri Castle, a World Heritage Site on Japan's southern... ]

Firefighters try to extinguish a fire at Shuri Castle, listed as a World Heritage site, in Naha on the southern island of Okinawa, Japan October 31, 2019, in this photo taken by Kyodo. Mandatory credit Kyodo/via REUTERS

TOKYO (Reuters) - A fire broke out at Shuri Castle, a World Heritage Site on Japan’s southern island of Okinawa, early on Thursday, completely destroying the main hall and other structures as firefighters continued to battle raging flames, media reported.

Television footage showed the multi-structure castle reduced to a skeleton, shrouded in flames and smoke hours after emergency responders received the first call about the fire, around 2:47 a.m. (1747 GMT), public broadcaster NHK said.

Shuri, built more than 500 years ago as the royal castle of the Ryukyu Kingdom, has been destroyed and rebuilt after many fires - most recently in the Battle of Okinawa in 1945.

Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim; Editing by Christian Schmollinger

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
[SFW] [travel] [+5 Sad]
[by lilmookieesquire@11:53pmGMT]

Comments

coffeejoejava said @ 9:45pm GMT on 31st Oct [Score:1 Interesting]
The original castle was destroyed in WWII during the Battle of Okinawa. the Japanese 32nd Army had their headquarters located in tunnels beneath the castle and it was destroyed by artillery fire.

I have been to that castle many times. It sit high above the city of Naha and the view from the ramparts was amazing. Sitting there, drinking a beer, listening to the locals play the Sanshins......It is heartbreaking to hear that it is gone.

Apparently, they had fire protection on the outside of the structure but none inside as it was not required by local building codes. IF they rebuild it (IF they can) I guarantee it will have fire protection inside.
5th Earth said @ 2:27am GMT on 31st Oct
Shit.
eggboy said @ 12:43pm GMT on 31st Oct
I was at Toda-Ji the other day, and they say that that burnt down twice. Still looks very impressive, tbh they'll probably just build a slightly better and more fireproof one in it's place.
mechanical contrivance said @ 1:02pm GMT on 31st Oct
Is it really a 500 year old castle if it's been destroyed and rebuilt multiple times?
conception said @ 5:19pm GMT on 31st Oct [Score:1 Funsightful]
Pedantic Snarky Answer: You are somewhere between however many years old you believe you are to about five days old depending on which part of you you are measuring.

Pedantic Technically the Truth Dickfor Answer: If they mean "500 year old castle" to refer to the styling of it, e.g. 500 year old is a descriptive adjective rather than a factual one, then sure it is.

Normal person answer: No
Kama-Kiri said @ 5:39pm GMT on 31st Oct
The news reports have a bit glib with the headlines, but it's still a significant loss.
5th Earth said @ 6:09pm GMT on 31st Oct
It's an old philosophical debate, but I understand it's actually pretty common for Japanese temples to be totally rebuilt from the ground up and still considered the "same" temple.
mechanical contrivance said @ 6:13pm GMT on 31st Oct
Just put a sign on it that says "Replica" and I'll be satisfied.
lilmookieesquire said @ 10:27pm GMT on 31st Oct
They rebuild them from scratch every twenty years actually, in part to train a new generation how to build them.

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