TOKYO: Fire and police investigators inspected the burned-out ruins of Shuri Castle on Okinawa on Friday to determine the cause of the fire that nearly destroyed the symbol of the Japanese island’s cultural heritage and history of struggle.

The fire on Thursday burned down the three main halls and four nearby structures at the castle in Okinawa’s prefectural capital of Naha. It took firefighters 11 hours to extinguish the blaze.

More than 130 investigators inspected the site on Friday, according to local officials. They believe the blaze started inside the Seiden, the castle’s centerpiece, around 2:30am when no one was around.

The late hour and the castle’s design, with a spacious wooden main hall connected to other main buildings by hallways, might have allowed the fire to spread quickly.

Shuri Castle is a Unesco World Heritage site which dates from the 1429-1879 Ryukyu Kingdom era. The castle, burned down during World War II, was largely restored in 1992 for the 20th anniversary of Okinawa’s reversion to Japan that ended the island’s 27-year US occupation. Historians and other experts had continued the restoration efforts until recently.

Many Okinawans expressed deep sorrow over the damage to the castle, which is a symbol of their cultural roots as well as the history of their struggle since the 1879 annexation by Japan.

Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki said his heart was broken, but expressed his determination to reconstruct the castle. Tamaki, who cut short a trip to South Korea and returned to Naha on Thursday, was in Tokyo on Friday meeting central government officials to seek their support.

Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2019