Collapse of 1700-Year-Old Aso Shrine

	Figure 1. The tower gate, front, and worship hall at Aso Shrine in Aso, Kumamoto Prefecture, are seen collapsed on April 16, 2016, after a powerful earthquake hit the area early that morning. (Mainichi)

Following the initial tremors on April 14^th, the tower gate and hall of worship of the Aso Shrine completely collapsed after a magnitude 7.3 earthquake hit the region again at 1:15am on April 16^th(Mainichi). No ground failures or casualties were reported for this incident.

Figure 2. The Romon (tower gate) before collapse(JapanGuide).

Aso Shrine is one of the oldest shinto shrines in Japan. The Romon (tower gate) and Haiden (hall of worship) were designated by the government as important cultural properties. The original location of this complex was first dated in year 281AD and was rebuilt several times due to earthquake damages in the past. The current buildings of the shrine were rebuilt in the Tempo Era (1830–1843) with traditional Japanese wood and tile structure, around 200 years of age(Everything).

Figure 3. The Haiden (hall of worship) after collapse (RocketNews).	Figure 4. The Romon (tower gate) after collapse (RocketNews).