21st Century Castle Building Stone Wall Renovation, Too Good and Bad Corrosion Support for Conservation of Cultural Properties *** Ideal Butterfly Environment Thanks to Climate Control Technology ***

Pieces of humankind’s irreplaceable heritage are being lost even today due to the ravages of time and man-made Destruction. Even if progress is slow, every little bit of work to preserve and restore cultural properties from the past is deeply significant. Clockwise: the Kaman-Kalehöyük Excavation Project, Turkey; cultural ruins from pre-Angkor Period Cambodia, lacquerware at the Oriental Museum in Venice, Italy; Ain Dara Temple, Syria; the Baluch Tombs, Pakistan; gables on the Yetkha Baha Agamchen temple, Nepal. Each of these is a recipient of a grant from The Sumitomo Foundation for projects to protect, preserve, or restore cultural properties outside Japan.

21st Century Castle Building

Three years since restoration work on its stone wall began, and two and a half years since work being an old unit of commenced on the reconstruction of the buildings itself, Kanazawa Castle has been reborn. The original Kanazawa Castle, located in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, was constructed in 1592 as the stronghold of the local feudal lord, but was almost totally destroyed by fire in 1759. Though rebuilt, the castle suffered several further cycles of fire and reconstruction, and the parts reincarnated this time were three structures that were totally destroyed in an 1881 conflagration—two towers, the Hishi-yagura and Hashizumemon Tsuzuki-yagura, and a long storehouse joining them, the Gojikken-nagaya. “We started planning the construction of the Kanazawa Castle Ruins Park five years ago, when Kanazawa University, a national university built on the site, was moved, and the land was returned to Ishikawa Prefecture,” says Takeshi Otani, chief of Ishikawa Prefecture’s Public Works Department Building and Repair Section. “The date for a ‘greenification fair’ at the site had already been fixed for September 2001, and so we set that as the target for completion of the restoration work.” The two towers served as both castle entrances and watchtowers, while the storehouse served as a weapons arsenal stocked with bows and arrows and other weapons, in addition to other goods. It was of course fortified against attack, and had two floors. “Gojikken-nagaya” literally means “the long building of fifty ken,” a ken length equivalent about 1.8 m, and so the storehouse has a length of over 90m. Built originally around 1809, the three structures were chosen for reconstruction because the original building plans from that age are best preserved, and because they match other old buildings in the vicinity, such as the Ishikawa-mon, another of the castle’s gateways, that were also built in the same period. Wherever possible, traditional building methods were used for the restoration work. For example, the wooden framework of the towers was assembled without the use of any nails, and with slots cut into the pillars and beams in such a way that they interlock cozily. The walls, too, were made as the originals were, by plastering bamboo latticework with layer upon layer of earth. However, because people with such skills are now rare, artisans versed in traditional methods were called from Kyoto to provide training workshops for local Ishikawa craftsmen. At the same time, modern methods were also employed, both to shorten the duration of construction and for safety reasons. For example, Kanazawa has famously changeable weather and a very high rainfall, so to minimize delays in construction work caused by bad weather, a vast temporary roof was erected to cover the whole length of the Gojikken-nagaya. The roof was designed to allow sections to be opened and closed, and beams for the building, the longest of which measured a full 15m, were passed in through the roof using a crane. In other words, this was very much a case of “21st century castle-building,” a skillful fusion of traditional methods with the latest technology that enabled the job to be completed in 28 months, as opposed to a minimum of three years had only traditional means been used. “Coming to the site every day reminded me of my childhood when I often used to play in the ruins,” says Otani. “Now we have this splendid castle where, in those days, there was nothing. Kanazawa Castle is a symbol of the region, and I think that everyone in Ishikawa Prefecture is happy and proud that it has been restored.”