A powerful earthquake struck Kumamoto Prefecture at 1:25 a.m., April 16, 2016.

It had a magnitude of 7.3 and a reading of 7, the maximum level on Japan’s seismic intensity scale.

Kumamoto lies in southeastern Japan on the island of Kyushu.

Strong tremors repeatedly hit the area over three days,

claiming the lives of 276 people in all, and devastating as many as 200 thousand homes.

The gate and prayer hall have collapsed.

Many buildings were heavily damaged, including one place of worship with great significance for the people of Kumamoto.

Shinto shrine, Aso Jinja, suffered immense damage.

Unbelievable. What are we to do?

These are our protective deities. It’s truly sad.

Said to be founded 2,300 years ago in 282 BCE, Aso Jinja is one of Japan’s most prestigious shrines.

Work on rebuilding the shrine began immediately.

The structures were mostly of wood, so specialist carpenters were called in.

Restoration took seven years. The whole time, one videographer voluntarily chronicled the shrine’s revival.

Nakashima Masahiko was born and raised nearby, and he would play on the shrine grounds as a child.

I and my family were unscathed and safe.

We get the feeling the shrine sacrificed itself for us and saved us all.

Nakashima shot roughly 20 thousand hours of footage.

It stands as a detailed record of the reconstruction process.

The restoration combined traditional carpentry with state-of-the-art technology –

an unprecedented challenge in the history of Japanese architecture.

Nakashima also documented how nearby residents rebuilt their lives.

- She's so expressve.
- She sure is.

Follow the seven-year journey of rebirth, as Aso Jinja rises from the rubble.

Videographer Nakashima Masahiko took his first photo of Aso Jinja, nine hours after the temblor.

Fortuitously, he was home when his family needed him.

I was back from Tokyo visiting my parents when the quake hit.

The power, gas, and water were cut off,

so I went to fetch water from the shrine’s spring.

That was when I first learnt that Aso Jinja lay in total ruin.

Nakashima was working primarily in Tokyo at the time of the earthquake.

But on seeing the pile of rubble that had been the shrine, he felt driven to volunteer his support in its resurrection.

- This is Aso Jinja?
- Yes.

The shrine has played an important role in the lives of Nakashima’s family.

Nakashima’s 94-year-old grandmother, Fusako.

She was married at Aso Jinja in 1949, after the end of World War II.

The shrine was ever-present as Nakashima celebrated milestones in life.

He, like his grandmother, was married at Aso Jinja.

From the time of the quake, I wondered if there -

was anything I could do in return for the shrine.

Others were also phoning the shrine, concerned.

I first suggested the shrine organize its requests,

then put calls out on its website and social media -

to garner support.

Nakashima immediately devoted himself to public relations for Aso Jinja,

sharing information about the restoration and calling for donations.

In May, once electricity had been fully restored, he began to chronicle the project with his professional camera skills.

This is the first drone footage he shot following the quake with permission from the shrine office.

The temblor had caused extensive damage to the shrine precincts.

Of the shrine’s buildings, the main gate and the worship hall were totally destroyed.

The others suffered damage to their walls and roofs.

Nakashima also documented the work of the shrine staff.

Go straight and enter away from the fence.

At the time of the quake, Uchimura Hiroaki had been at Aso Jinja for 14 years.

The worship hall and the corridors have collapsed.

To collect donations, Nakashima had Uchimura appear in videos to be uploaded online in a PR role, explaining the extent of the damage.

Uchimura recalls their efforts.

The shrine had never posted on socials before,

so it was daunting in the beginning and everything was new.

But the posts led to more people learning about the shrine’s situation.

It felt strangely like providence.

Nakashima uploaded the videos with English and Chinese subtitles.

He also set up it up so that the shrine would receive the advertising revenue to put toward reconstruction.

July 2016, four months after the quake, and the rubble had yet to be cleared. But Nakashima captured a lively scene.

Residents have celebrated the Onda Matsuri for a millennium.

Organized by Aso Jinja, it involves transporting the shrine’s deities

on palanquins through the surrounding fields to check on the progress of the rice crops.

Despite facing much hardship,

I was surprised to see the festival being held before recovery have even started.

It’s fundamental that priests continue to pray to the deities, especially in times like this.

No matter the circumstances or the format, we believed the festival must be held without fail.

Those were uncertain times, so people lacked their usual enthusiasm in life.

But the festival felt different, everyone was energetic on that day.

That same month, the first meeting was held toward rebuilding the shrine.

I am grateful to everyone from various fields for their support in helping us get this far.

I ask for your continued cooperation in making this disaster recovery project -

one that we and future generations will look back on and be proud of.

Attending were experts in shrine reconstruction, including a major construction firm and conservation architects.

November 2016, and actual reconstruction begins.

The specialist carpenters are called "miyadaiku."

"Miyadaiku" are carpenters who repair and erect national treasures and world heritage sites.

They work manually – from preparing the materials to actual assembly –

and have extensive knowledge of not just carpentry but also religion and history.

Once we’ve cleared this, we’ll need time.

The team leader was Yonahara Yukinobu.

To date, he had been involved in the restoration of traditional buildings, such as Izumo Taisha, a national treasure in Shimane Prefecture,

and Shuri Castle in Okinawa Prefecture, which includes structures designated UNESCO World Heritage.

Even Yonahara found the revival of Aso Jinja difficult.

It was the first time I’d seen such destruction, and I knew reconstruction would take a long time.

I felt tense about the state it was in and dispirited with what I had to face.

All nine structures that comprise Aso Jinja were damaged in the earthquake.

But the team’s biggest mission was the revival of the main gate.

This tower-like gate with its intricate parts and vivid carvings is registered as a National Important Cultural Asset.

To maintain their value, National Important Cultural Assets are to be reconstructed with as much of the original wood materials as possible.

In December, a simple structure was erected to protect the gate from the elements.

The challenge begins.

A core team of six "miyadaiku" would be working on the site at any one time.

This restriction allowed for clarity in instructions and safety management.

Their first task was to remove the gate’s roof, piece by piece.

Lift this side first.

Got it.

With the roof removed, the team was faced with a jumble of wood.

These two parts are the same?

And these two parts were probably attached.

But what’s this?

In fact, the largest conundrum the team faced was the lack of original blueprints.

They had no choice but to fumble along as they struggled to put the puzzle back together.

It was difficult to get accurate measurements with the building in ruins.

We tried to figure out how the parts were all connected as we dismantled it.

I remember thinking that we needed to be cautious as we worked.

With small wooden tags in hand, the team numbered even the tiniest parts so they could be reused later.

This provided a clear record of where each was found.

For example, this part was the 16th exposed rafter in the upper roof section to the south on the west side.

When they finished, the team had used more than 10 thousand tags.

The tagged materials were carefully dismantled and removed.

This is the sign bearing the shrine’s name, which hung on the front of the gate.

It was largely unscathed, with slight damage to the frame.

We made sure not to further injure the old wood,

which had already been damaged in the collapse.

We paid meticulous attention.

It took around two years to remove the enormous array of parts.

While the gate was being dismantled, a blueprint for reconstruction was being made.

23 mm.

A team of conservation architects took precise measurements of every part so they could draw up the blueprints.

They compared old photographs and documents, and inferred how the original gate was assembled.

This is maybe the decorative threshold?

You can tell from the clean grain.

This process itself took around three years.

As they were dismantling the gate, the team made an amazing discovery.

On the back of the gable pendant was a written record from when the gate was rebuilt 170 years ago.

Building preparations began in 1843.

I can’t help but stare. It’s moving.

The record also includes the name and age of the master "miyadaiku,"

as well as the names of others involved in the construction, including many local Kumamoto carpenters.

I’m sure they were proud of it. Even now, it’s a magnificent structure.

They were so confident that they wanted to leave their legacy.

We must also do work that we’re not ashamed of.

The "miyadaiku" lived in accommodations near the shrine and bought their lunches at the local supermarket.

They worked five days a week from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. and took breaks every two hours, so they could concentrate on the tasks at hand.

Lunch was an hour. They finished eating in about 10 minutes and used the remainder to build up energy for the afternoon’s work.

One year after the earthquake. Aso Jinja held its spring festival.

This fire ritual celebrates the marriage of the deity of agriculture.

The torches light the path for the bride so she will not get lost on the way to the shrine.

Participants whirl the torches about in celebration of the nuptials.

Yonahara joined in as well.

We got to know the locals better.

It was my first time to experience this kind of rite.

Everyone was in good spirits, and I have fond memories of participating.

Meanwhile, Nakashima also interviewed citizens who helped the shrine recover.

Koito Yoshiyasu owns forested land.

He offered to donate the timber required to repair Aso Jinja.

I wanted to protect the tutelary shrine of the Aso area with local trees.

The shrine was in a sorry state, and -

I have the Nango hinoki cypress trees my ancestors planted,

so I approached the forestry cooperative about donating them.

The circle of support extended to high school students studying forestry.

They talked with their teacher and decided to donate cypress trees they were raising.

We’re honored that the trees that we and our seniors have nurtured will be used.

The training forest has been tended since my grandfather’s and father’s time,

so it’s great that the trees we’ve cared for will be gifted to a building at Aso Jinja.

The trees which took decades to grow and the desire to pledge them –

you can’t attach a price tag to that.

It was a valuable opportunity for us to reaffirm just how important the shrine is to the community.

Restoring the gate's pillars was the project's biggest hurdle.

This special tower-style gate has two roofs.

Therefore, the 22 pillars must have the strength to support both heavy roofs.

However, the temblor split or snapped 10 of them.

Maybe it’s best to number them and put them all here.

It’ll be confusing.

The iron-clad rule to retain cultural asset designation is to use as much of the original wood as possible.

But, the team must also consider the pillars’ strength.

First, they had to fully assess the condition of each pillar.

They used a 3D scanner to precisely measure each pillar’s size, as well as the shape of its missing section.

Then, they measured the shape of the damage to an accuracy of 0.1 millimeter.

This way, they could ascertain how much of the original was usable.

The team decided to use a revolutionary method to restore the gate’s pillars.

July 2020.

The construction company staff, "miyadaiku," and others met to determine a strategy for restoring the pillars.

I would like to open this briefing on the use of aramid rods -

to reinforce the wood in Aso Jinja’s gate.

“Aramid Fiber Reinforced Plastic rods” will be used to join the old wooden pillars with new timber.

This was the first time such a technique was used to rebuild a wooden cultural asset in Japan.

The rods are ropes of the same strong synthetic fibers used in bulletproof vests, hardened with epoxy resin.

The strategy for joining the pillars first involved drilling holes in one end of a new pillar and filling them with adhesive.

The rods would then be inserted and left to set.

The damaged section of the old pillar would be cut off and have matching holes drilled and filled with adhesive.

The rods attached to the new pillar would then be inserted.

This method was new to Yonahara, too.

I personally was not confident about it.

I wondered if strengthening the pillars with resin rods could be trusted.

I harbored my doubts.

The use of AFRP rods in the restoration was proposed by Furukawa Hiroshi, an expert in earthquake-resistant building technology.

Despite 30 years of experience in structural design for cultural asset restorations,

even Furukawa found this project a difficult one.

Looking at the actual building, you could see the pillars were in shreds -

and broken at the joints. I’d never seen anything like it.

It was a cultural asset, so we had to use as much of the old materials as possible -

and make the gate look good and preserve it.

Therefore, we used a special technique.

Furukawa did consider the option of using steel rods to reinforce the pillars.

The rods are steel, right?

And, steel attracts moisture, which in turn causes corrosion.

You don’t have that with aramid rods.

So, I thought the aramid a better choice over steel.

Once he had made his decision, Furukawa spent two years experimenting with AFRP rods

of different sizes and thicknesses, and different adhesives to test their strength.

The rods proved to be strong enough to join the pillars.

December 2020, and work begins on restoring the pillars.

The new wooden pillars have been fitted with AFRP rods.

- Mind the alignment.
- Okay.

The holes in the old pillars are filled with adhesive.

- Drop it this far.
- Say stop.

- Check the alignment.
- Okay.

- Shall we use the middle winch?
- Wait.

- I’ll lower it.
- Wait. Something’s off.

Okay, ready. Lower it.

Okay.

Sato-san, I’m going to lower it.

A little more. Okay.

Move it maybe?

It’s in.

Perfect.

- Did it go all the way?
- Yes.

Yonahara applied his expertise as a "miyadaiku" to the pillar design.

He focused on their appearance.

Old timber contracts, or as we say thins, as it ages, compared to its original size.

I made the new pillars 9 mm fatter all around.

So, in 50 or 100 years, the two parts will probably be around the same size.

Meanwhile, the gate’s ornamentation was also being restored.

Local carpenters and joiners meticulously restored each part, trying to use as much of the original as possible.

Special paints were used to disguise, as best they could, the color difference between the new and old timber.

During this time, Nakashima documented more than reconstruction.

He became friends with Uchimura from Aso Jinja, and they often met.

Nakashima filmed Uchimura’s wedding in 2017.

Today, Uchimura’s first child is born.

Her water broke at 2 a.m. last night.

And I thought the baby would be born straight away.

- You haven’t slept?
- He couldn’t if he tried.

You’re on video.

You did a good job.

Cute.

Her first sneeze.

I felt emotions like I’d never felt before.

But my parents, grandparents, everyone before them probably felt the same way.

I felt invigorated.

After she was born, I naturally felt more strength and the urge to work harder.

I felt an impetus.

Five years since the calamity, and the repaired pillars have been raised.

In April that year, the reconstruction entered a new phase.

Over 10 thousand parts of various shapes and sizes needed to be intricately assembled.

The "miyadaiku" would limber up at the start of their day with radio calisthenics.

Uchida Yuta, then 21, is a Kumamoto native.

He chose a career as a "miyadaiku" after the earthquake struck.

My parents and I came to see the damage done to Aso Jinja soon after the quake.

It made me realize how horrendous the disaster was.

I was studying construction, so I was eager to be involved with its rebuilding.

Right now I’m working on the drooping verge on the gate’s facade.

I’m working with Yonahara-san.

For Uchida, this was a valuable experience, learning the ropes from a veteran "miyadaiku."

Apprentices have to work on site to really understand it.

Just explaining it is not enough.

The only way is to work side by side together covered in dust.

I’ve worked on many such sites, so I want to pass on whatever I can.

On this day, Yonahara instructs Uchida to prepare one of the new parts.

Your outline is off.

When cutting wood, an outline is drawn on the surface, based on the blueprint.

It must be precise. An error of even one millimeter means you have to start again.

When I’m given a task, I do my best to do it properly.

But if I make some small mistake, or even a big one,

I feel dejected, because I should be gaining his trust.

Many people are eagerly anticipating the restoration of Aso Jinja,

so I’m putting my all into making it a building they will treasure in their hearts.

November 2022, and the reconstruction enters its final phase.

Now, for the finishing touch.

The team is hanging the shrine’s name board on the front of the gate.

The sign’s frame had suffered minor damage in the temblor.

Now, it is like new.

By attaching the sign, the team felt like they were breathing life into the gate.

Aso Jinja suffered devastating damage, that day.

Over seven years of hard work later, it has been returned to its former glory.

The main gate was and is the symbol of Aso Jinja.

Over 70 percent of the original building was used to restore it.

Entirely new materials were used to rebuild the prayer hall where people worship and entreat the deities.

This reconstruction put the centuries old wisdom and skill of the "miyadaiku" to the test.

Yonahara is most proud of the outer curve of the roof on the gate.

Having a beautiful curve like that is the most attractive part of the building.

It’s the most conspicuous line.

Again and again, he and his team made fine adjustments to get the beautiful curve just right.

While working on it, I looked from above, below, and the sides to get it right.

Everyone is impressed and that makes me happy.

In December 2023, a ceremony was held to mark the beginning of a new era for the shrine.

Next, the chief priest will intone a prayer.

The climax came as attendees passed through the gate for the first time.

Yonahara also passed through for the first time.

I was absorbed in the reconstruction, and it’s great now that it’s finished.

What else can I say. I’m pleased we did it.

It was a long haul, and I’m glad we could bring it back from the rubble.

I now have the confidence to take on work like this, and I’m proud of it.

People saying it's back to normal, or asking where the new parts are, is the best praise.

Nakashima continues to chronicle Aso Jinja today.

I recall the seven years and a bit since the quake -

and the "miyadaiku" hard at work when I look at the gate.

And I can’t help feeling it is filled with the thoughts of many people.

And I believe people have become stronger people through this building.

The shrine is said to be around 2,300 years old.

And I feel blessed to be born at this time in its long, long history.

I was involved with the project,

thinking the deities had entrusted me to do my best to complete this task.

We’ve done it, and I think we have been able to repay the deities in a small way.

The restoration project took the efforts of "miyadaiku," engineers, and local residents seven years to complete.

Now their work has turned a new page in the two-millennium history of Aso Jinja.