A ceremony was held Monday at Kumamoto Prefecture's Aso Shrine to mark the completion of reconstruction work on the worship hall, which collapsed in the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake.
The shrine, located in the city of the same name, was devastated by the main earthquake that hit the prefecture on April 16, 2016, and the remains of the worship hall were dismantled and cleared away. As it was not a designated cultural property and thus not eligible for public subsidies, more than half of the construction costs of about 725 million yen were covered by donations.
Reconstruction began in August 2019, with a foundation of reinforced concrete with rebar to make the structure more earthquake resistance. It uses 80% prefectural timber, including cypress grown by students of local Aso Chuo High School.
In the Kumamoto Earthquake, six structures at Aso Shrine designated by the national government as important cultural properties were damaged, including the tower gate, one of the three largest in Japan. Assembly work on the tower gate is progressing and is scheduled for completion in December 2023.
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