"Academic Frontier" Project ¦ Information ¦ Research member ¦ Reports
We performed the Nara inspection with the purpose of seeing cultural assets in Nara and their disaster prevention facilities. We visited Horyuji Temple in the morning. From a temple steward and a Nara Board of Education official, we heard an explanation of the current situation of the mural in the main hall, which was burned in the fire of 1949, and of the temple’s fire-prevention equipment. In the afternoon, we visited the worksite where the Daigokuden portion of Heijokyu is being restored, and there we received an explanation from a Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties official, about the restoration work and underground earthquake-absorbing equipment. After that, we went to Nara-cho, receiving an explanation of the Gangoji Temple from a resident priest and viewing the disaster prevention facilities there. We learned that there is a high concentration of homes nearby, and that Gangoji faces the issue of how much it can reduce the risk of a house fire spreading to the temple.