the "Ancient Temples and Shrines Preservation Law," caught fire on January 26, 1949, valuable seventh-century wall paintings were damaged. The incident accelerated the reorganization of cultural property protection and gave rise to the , which was drafted on May 30, 1950, and went into effect on August 29 of that year. The new law combined the laws of 1919, 1929, and 1933. The scope of the previous protection laws was expanded to cover "intangible cultural properties" such as performing and applied arts, "folk cultural properties," and "buried cultural properties." Before the enactment of this law, only intangible cultural properties of especially high value at risk of extinction had been protected. Even by international standards, a broad spectrum of properties was covered by the 1950 law. The law was the basis for the establishment of the Committee for the Protection of Cultural Properties, a precursor of today's Agency for Cultural Affairs. It allowed the selection of the most important cultural properties; set restrictions on the alteration, repair and export of cultural properties; and provided measures for the preservation and utilization of such properties. The regulations implementing the law specified three broad categories of properties: tangible/intangible cultural properties and "historic sites, places of scenic beauty, and natural monuments." Tangible cultural properties were defined as objects of "high artistic or historic value" or archaeological materials (or other historic material) of "high scholarly value." Designated buildings were required to be outstanding in design or building technique, have a high historic or scholarly value, or be typical of a movement or area. A system for tangible cultural properties was established with two gradings: Important Cultural Property and National Treasure. The minister of education designates important cultural properties as National Treasures if they are of "particularly high value from the standpoint of world culture or outstanding treasures for the Japanese people." All previously designated National Treasures were initially demoted to Important Cultural Properties. Some have been designated as new National Treasures since June 9, 1951. Following a decision by the National Diet, properties to be nominated as a World Heritage Site are required to be protected under the 1950 law. Recent developments in cultural properties protection National Treasures have been designated according to the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties starting from June 9, 1951. This law, which is still in force, has since been supplemented with amendments and additional laws that reorganized the system