WORLD
Shuri Castle, once the heart of Okinawa's Ryukyu Kingdom, destroyed in fire
Baku, October 31, AZERTAC
Large parts of Shuri Castle, a symbol of Okinawa Prefecture and popular tourist attraction in the city of Naha, were destroyed in a fire early Thursday morning, authorities said, according to The Japan Times.
The cause of the blaze remains unknown.
There were no reports of injuries, police and fire officials said, but about 30 nearby residents were temporarily evacuated.
The fire had been completely extinguished by around 1:30 p.m., an official at the fire department in Naha said.
About 4,800 square meters of the facility were destroyed by the blaze, including the main, north and south buildings. The main building was made from wood, while the north and south buildings also incorporated steel. No sprinklers had been installed, the fire department said.
“All the (three) main buildings have burned down, and nothing remains,” said Daisuke Furugen, an official with the Naha Fire Department.
Efforts to extinguish the fire involved 30 fire engines and some 100 firefighters, he added.
Fire officials said it is highly likely the fire started inside the main building, a grand red structure with traditional tiling on the roof, and spread quickly to nearby buildings. A security company reported the fire to the fire department at around 2:40 a.m. after a fire alarm went off at around 2:30 a.m.
The castle long served as the heart of the Ryukyu Kingdom, which ruled the island prefecture from 1429 to 1879, but was destroyed in the Battle of Okinawa in the closing days of World War II. The structures were reconstructed in 1992, and the castle ruins were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000.
“Five hundred years of Ryukyuan history (12th-17th century) are represented by this group of sites and monuments,” the entry on the UNESCO website explains. “The ruins of the castles, on imposing elevated sites, are evidence for the social structure over much of that period, while the sacred sites provide mute testimony to the rare survival of an ancient form of religion into the modern age.”
The reconstructed main hall in particular is praised in the entry as “a great monument symbolizing the pride of the Ryukyu people.”
During the July 2000 summit of the Group of Eight major economies in Okinawa, leaders had dinner in the castle’s north hall.
And the Olympic torch relay for next year’s Tokyo Summer Games was due to pass by the site as it travels around the country ahead of the games.