Aso Shrine is located in Ichinomiya, at the northern foot of Mount Aso.
It is said to have been founded over 2,000 years ago, and its sacred object is the crater of Mount Aso.
Aso Shrine, the Ichinomiya of Higo Province, is the head shrine of the approximately 500 Aso shrines across the country.
The historic Aso Shrine suffered extensive damage in the Kumamoto earthquake of 2016. Both the tower gate and the worship hall collapsed, and the sight was heartbreaking for many of the shrine’s faithful.
However, thanks to the hard work of local craftsmen and construction companies, the restoration of Aso Shrine, which retains its ancient history despite its new look, has now been completed.
Aso Shrine’s “Romon” is one of Japan’s three great tower gates
The tower gate of Aso Shrine is counted as one of the three greatest tower gates in Japan, along with Kashima Shrine in Ibaraki Prefecture and Hakozaki Shrine in Fukuoka Prefecture.
The tower gate of Aso Shrine, built in 1850, collapsed in the Kumamoto earthquake in April 2016. But the Aso Shrine tower gate was fully restored in December 2023!
In order to preserve its value as a cultural asset, as many of the original tower gate’s materials have been reused as possible, and processing has been kept to a minimum.
②A symbol of the Kumamoto earthquake recovery：Aso Shrine’s “haiden”
The worship hall of Aso Shrine was designed in 1942, but construction was delayed due to the war and was not completed until 1948.
It is praised as a modern shrine building made from Taiwanese cypress, and was designated an Important Cultural Property of Japan in 2007.
It was completely destroyed, along with the tower gate, in the Kumamoto earthquake in April 2016, and reconstruction was completed approximately five years and three months later, in July 2021.
Wood from Kumamoto Prefecture and the Aso region, as well as Aso Central High School’s experimental forest, was used for the reconstruction and restoration, with approximately 80% of the wood used being from Kumamoto Prefecture.
コメント