Cease fire!

Article posted on Saturday, April, 17th, 2010 at 6:12 pm

On the 14th of April 2010 an attempt at arson was made upon the Najima Gate of Fukuoka Castle. This is pretty big news in my world as it was one of the first castle-related buildings I’d ever seen. You may recall in a recent post titled Wooden buildings burn where I’d stated that at any time, any one of Japan’s historical buildings could go up in flames, how spooky that this almost came to pass and so soon. Whoever attempted to set the old gate ablaze should have their thumbs cut off then made to text message everyone in Japan apologizing.

The incident:
At about 5:40 on Wednesday morning, two men attempted to torch the gate. Fortunately, all they succeeded in doing was to singe a 30cm square area on one of the doors before hot footing it. An early riser was able to raise the alarm by notifying the police. The investigation continues.

The gate:
The gate was built along with Najima Castle back to 1587 by the Kobayakawa clan. I find it an odd looking gate, partly because of its black and white exterior & partly because there is just something odd about it. As to its structure, it’s a free-standing, turret-topped gate with roof tiles that appear to date from the modern era.