Wed, Dec 9, 2020
NAHA — A museum in Naha has started the transfer of a model of the main hall of Shuri Castle to a museum in Tokyo for an upcoming exhibition. This is the first time that the Seiden main hall model will be exhibited outside Okinawa Prefecture.
The model will be displayed at the Heiseikan of the Tokyo National Museum for the exhibition “Japanese Architecture — Traditional Skills and Natural Materials,” which will introduce traditional Japanese architecture using models of buildings.
The exhibition, which will start Dec. 24, is part of the government’s Japan Cultural Expo program and the Tsumugu Project backed by the Cultural Affairs Agency, the Imperial Household Agency and The Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings in a public-private partnership.
The model is one-tenth scale, measuring about 1.7 meters high, 3 meters wide, and 2.3 meters long.
Shuri Castle’s main hall was destroyed by fire in 1945 during the Battle of Okinawa. In 1953, it was reproduced by a carpenter — the late Asae Chinen — who had been involved in a repair project at the castle before World War II. The main hall was restored in 1992, but it was destroyed again by fire in October 2019.
The central and Okinawa prefectural governments have been making efforts to reconstruct the castle.
On Dec. 5, the model was carried out of the storehouse of the Okinawa Prefectural Museum and Art Museum, and transferred to a shock-absorbing transport platform.
The model will be transported in a large container truck on Dec. 7, before leaving Naha Port on Dec. 8.
(From The Japan News Dec. 7 issue)
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