Sun, May 1, 2022
The third installment of “Preserving Japan’s cultural treasures” is on protecting centuries-old castles in an earthquake-prone country.
At midnight on March 16, 2022, a very strong earthquake (“6 upper” on the Japanese seismic intensity scale) hit the prefectures of Miyagi and Fukushima in the Tohoku Region, causing considerable damage. Castles, too, were its victims.
According to Japan’s Cultural Affairs Agency, at the Sendai Castle remains in the city of Sendai, the prefectural capital of Miyagi, the stone walls on the northwest side of Honmaru (the core region of the castle) collapsed over a width of 16 meters. Stone walls of the Torinomon gate also gave away, over a width of 12 meters. Stone walls were distorted in other areas of the castle remains as well.
At the Shiroishi Castle in Shiroishi, Miyagi Pref., damage was done to the keep: The walls crumbled off and kawara (roof tiles made of clay) fell off. When the earthquake struck, the keep and some of the gates were undergoing repair work which had just begun in February 2022, due to another upper-6 quake that hit the region in February 2021, a year before.
Castles in various parts of Japan have been hit hard one after another by earthquakes in the last few years. Kumamoto Castle was severely damaged in the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake. Repair work of the stone walls and the turret* that collapsed is still in progress.
*A government-designated important cultural property
However, the restoration of tenshukaku (the castle tower) — comprising the principal keep (six stories above ground, one basement level) and the subsidiary keep (four stories above ground, one basement level) — was given top priority and completed before others. It came to be regarded as “the symbol of recovery,” and was reopened to the public in June 2021.
In the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, the stone walls of Komine Castle in Shirakawa, Fukushima Pref., collapsed at 10 different points. About 7,000 stones fell to the ground. In the restoration work, detailed data were taken from each one of the fallen stones and listed on what was called a “clinical chart of the stone materials” to make smooth progress. The reconstruction of the stone walls based on this chart was completed in March 2019. The method of using a “clinical chart” became a model of castle restoration for other castles including Marugame Castle (Kagawa Prefecture, see first installment) and Kumamoto Castle.
The Hirosaki Castle in Hirosaki, Aomori Pref., is known for the traditional hikiya* technique they use to move the keep without dismantling it. The keep is now placed on a temporary foundation to repair the castle’s stone foundation for anti-seismic reinforcement.
*What is hikiya?
– Literally, “house tugging”
– A traditional engineering technique used in Japan to move buildings on rails without taking them apart
– Some parts of the Hirosaki Castle stone walls were found to have started leaning after an earthquake in 1983
– In 2015, the Hirosaki Castle keep was moved for the first time in a century in a 15-year repair project (10 years to adjust the stone walls, 5 more years to move the keep back into its original position) to reinforce its stone foundation
Source: Hirosaki Tourism and Convention Bureau website
The Cultural Affairs Agency has been working since last fiscal year to set up new guidelines to evaluate the seismic resistance of castle stone walls. Ways to detect the risk of stone walls collapsing and specific measures to prevent disaster-related damages will be compiled and included in the guidelines.
Natural disasters will continue to do harm. However, the experience and knowledge of castle restoration is building up in various parts of Japan. The accumulation has become a precious asset that enables us to pass on the legacy of Japanese castles to future generations.
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The Himeji Castle in Himeji, Hyogo Pref., is also known as the “Egret Castle” for its elegant white exterior. In 2015, a major restoration of the castle — dubbed the “Great repair of the Heisei era (1989-2019)” — which involved re-coating its outer walls and roofs with fresh stucco was completed. The white hue of the castle had been darkening from mold, wind and rain over the years. The castle is listed as UNESCO’s world heritage site and Japan’s source of pride.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun and other sources)
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