Two newly made shachihoko ornaments have been installed on the top roof of the large tenshu tower of Kumamoto Castle in Chuo Ward, Kumamoto.
The castle's heroic air has returned with these replacements, put up after the originals fell off the large tower and broke apart in the Kumamoto Earthquake in April 2016.
A Kumamoto Prefecture-based artisan of traditional onigawara decorative roof tiles made the new shachihoko, basing them on extant historical shachihoko ornaments and other items to be close to the originals from the era when the castle was constructed.
One of the shachihoko ornaments was installed on the large tower on April 7, while the other was put up on Saturday.
A ceremony was held in Ninomaru Park to display the shachihoko ornament before its installation.
Families took pictures with the brand-new ornament, which is about 1.2 meters tall and weighs about 100 kilograms.
A 91-year-old man from Asahikawa, Hokkaido, visited the castle with his family -- five people in total spanning three generations. "I want to enjoy rare valuable time with all of my family," he said with a smile.
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