Todaiji temple, an eighth-century Japanese temple and UNESCO World Heritage website in Nara Prefecture, has actually been vandalized, with a building revealing the image of what appears like a cat, cops said Thursday.
Wooden door of a Todaiji temple building in Nara Prefecture reveals a vandalized picture of what appears like a cat on Aug. 3, 2023 (Kyodo)
Someone is thought to have actually utilized their finger to form the image on a wood door of the building annexed to the temple’s Nigatsu-do hall, the cops said, including that they are examining the case as a possible infraction of the cultural homes security law.
At around 6 a.m. on Thursday, a visitor brought the act of vandalism to a temple employee’s attention. The illegal image, around 43 centimeters long and 30 cm large, was discovered engraved into the wall at a height of about 180 cm from the ground.
The building where the vandalism was discovered was constructed throughout the late Kamakura duration, which lasted about 150 years till 1333. It was designated as an essential cultural property in 1906.
Todaiji is popular for its 15-meter-high statue of the Great Buddha and is amongst the Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara on UNESCO’s World Heritage list.
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World Heritage temple in Nara vandalized by going to foreign teenager
