earthquake, with asbestos, and covered inside with wood such as Chamaecyparis obtusa or Paulownia tomentosa. The height of the container for the photograph was to be 50 cm. Maintenance The maintenance of the photographs of the Emperor and Empress was the utmost duty of the principal of the schools. There were cases of principals committing suicide when the photograph of the Emperor and Empress was burned. Because of marked humidity within the Ho-an-den, some photographs became stained, and in that case, a written explanation was necessary. Other Hō-an-den In the early part of the 1940s, a Ho-an-den was erected inside Tama Zenshoen Sanatorium, a leprosarium. Abolition Immediately after the end of World War II, educational reforms were issued by the GHQ, namely the prohibition of the support of National shintoism on November 15 and the return of the photographs of the Emperor and Empress on December 28, and the order of the destruction of the Hō-an-den (on February 18, 1946 in Kumamoto City). Many Hō-an-den were destroyed or buried, while a small number of them were left as they were, and some of them were designated as local war memorials. Because Hō-an-den were so strongly built, Kumamoto city ordered that the roof parts should be completely destroyed and the feeling of sacred places should not be left, and it might be left if it was used for the purpose of warehouses. There were ceremonies when the photographs of the Emperor and the Empress were burned. The copies of the Imperial Rescript on Education, distributed in Kumamoto Prefecture were brought back to the building of the Ministry of Education in September 1948, while the photographs of the Emperor and the Empress were collected and burned in a ceremony on February 2, 1946 at Sekidai Elementary School. In Okinawa, teachers held a burning ceremony of photographs of the Emperor and the Empress. In Miyakojima, Okinawa, it was on August 31, 1945. Remnants Some Hō-an-den were transferred to other places such as shrines. A number are now used as memorial monuments to the deceased. Preserved Hō-an-den may be found not only within the current territorial boundaries of Japan, but also in Sakhalin, Taiwan, and Brazil (though not in Manchuria). In Kumamoto Prefecture, five Hō-an-den and one Hō-an-ko (safe-type) have been recorded. Twelve surviving examples have been registered for protection as Tangible Cultural Properties. A Table of Hō-An-Den and Hō-An-Ko in Kumamoto Prefecture See