The flames and the aftermath

     

The flames

May 14th, 1945 – The main tower of Nagoya castle together with the Hon-maru Palace went up in flames.

Below is surely one of the last photos to be taken of the original Tenshu (main tower) of Nagoya castle. The tower (built in 1612), adorned with Japan’s most famed shachi (follow the link for an explanation), and the Hon-maru palace (built in 1615) were also lost. How amazing that that frightening moment in time has been preserved.

The aftermath

I don’t know the exact date that the following photo was taken, but it does appear that a clean-up has taken place. Clearly visible are the stone foundations of the main tower (Tenshu-dai – 天守台), the lesser-tower & the connecting walk way. You’ll notice the two thick-walled and shallow basements. The Hon-maru palace was located in the upper-left section of the image.

About the only good news to come out of all this was that over 1,000 of the Palace’s sliding doors, stunningly decorated with priceless paintings, managed to survive. They’d been tucked away within the castle grounds, in the Nogi storehouse (乃木倉庫). Good on ya Nogi!

The human loss and World War II itself are deserving of unending attention, but I hope you’ll understand that my focus here is Japanese castles. I wouldn’t be able to do justice to the topic in any case.

For the post When did castles lose their Tenshus?, I did some research and was a little surprised to learn that during World War II just seven castles had lost their main towers due to Allied bombing. I say just, but happily it was limited to those seven; it could easily have so been much higher.

During an NHK documentary on Japanese castles, an elderly Japanese gent recalled the time he was witness to bomb that had entered through a window on the top floor of Himeji Castle. Of course it didn’t explode. It turned out to be a dud, so it rattled around the room before finally coming to rest.

It sounds all a bit fantastical, but what am I going to say, that he’s a liar? Anyway, Himeji got lucky, and just to recap, the unlucky seven were:

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  • http://twitter.com/Tornadoes28 Jon L

    It still is so unfortunate that so many castles, historic buildings and especially civilians were lost to the Allied bombing in WWII

  • http://twitter.com/Tornadoes28 Jon L

    It still is so unfortunate that so many castles, historic buildings and especially civilians were lost to the Allied bombing in WWII

  • Anonymous

    Absolutely. And, it just seems to happen again and again.

  • Anonymous

    Absolutely. And, it just seems to happen again and again.

  • Anonymous

    Absolutely. And, it just seems to happen again and again.

  • Anonymous

    Absolutely. And, it just seems to happen again and again.

  • Anonymous

    Absolutely. And, it just seems to happen again and again.

  • Anonymous

    Absolutely. And, it just seems to happen again and again.

  • Anonymous

    Absolutely. And, it just seems to happen again and again.

  • Anonymous

    Absolutely. And, it just seems to happen again and again.

  • http://www.budgettrouble.com/ Anna Ikeda

    Unfortunately, that’s the stuff that wars are made of… :(

  • http://www.budgettrouble.com/ Anna Ikeda

    Unfortunately, that’s the stuff that wars are made of… :(

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_C5RYQJRNCMN5A6MVRBXMBXR7MI YoshiI

    These two photos are priceless and damn precious! Too bad that Hiroshama prefecture lost two castles and suffered the atomic bomb…
    Great entry!
    Have a wonderful Sunday evening.
    Yoshi

  • Thepoolofzen

    Good post. Sorry it is taking me so long to look at them. These are some cool photo’s you’ve been able to find. The first one does a tremendous job of capturing the ravaging nature of the flames. Looks hot!

    Keep ‘em coming!

    and thanks for the comment on the PoZ

  • Sam

    Whenever I look at that first picture, I keep on think of Kurosawa’s film, Ran, in which the main character leaves a burning castle tenshu. Both scenes, one real, one imagined, are both frighteningly similar.

  • Anonymous

    Death to warmongers!!

  • Anonymous

    Yes, it is tragic. Fortunately, we can enjoy peace in Japan, though it came at a high cost.

  • Anonymous

    Thanks Matt. No sweat, there are no deadlines. That top photo is pretty awesome, hey. I’m not sure if the photographer was hoping for points for artistic merit. Just kidding, I know what you mean. :P

    And, that was an enjoyable post on PoZ.

  • Anonymous

    Thanks Matt. No sweat, there are no deadlines. That top photo is pretty awesome, hey. I’m not sure if the photographer was hoping for points for artistic merit. Just kidding, I know what you mean. :P

    And, that was an enjoyable post on PoZ.

  • Anonymous

    Thanks Matt. No sweat, there are no deadlines. That top photo is pretty awesome, hey. I’m not sure if the photographer was hoping for points for artistic merit. Just kidding, I know what you mean. :P

    And, that was an enjoyable post on PoZ.

  • Anonymous

    Thanks Matt. No sweat, there are no deadlines. That top photo is pretty awesome, hey. I’m not sure if the photographer was hoping for points for artistic merit. Just kidding, I know what you mean. :P

    And, that was an enjoyable post on PoZ.

  • Anonymous

    I hope no castles were harmed in the making of that film :P Burning castles are great in movies but are a terrible shame in real life.

  • Anonymous

    I hope no castles were harmed in the making of that film :P Burning castles are great in movies but are a terrible shame in real life.

  • Anonymous

    I hope no castles were harmed in the making of that film :P Burning castles are great in movies but are a terrible shame in real life.

  • Anonymous

    I hope no castles were harmed in the making of that film :P Burning castles are great in movies but are a terrible shame in real life.

  • Sam

    In the case of Ran and Throne of Blood, he actually built replica to scale castles just so he could have a battle in them and finally have a real castle burn down :P Incredible! Kurosawa had a great eye for detail. So much more real than CGI

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