collapsed, and several of the castle's shachihoko ornaments fell from the roof of the keep and broke apart. It sustained further extensive damage the next day on 15 April following a 7.3 magnitude earthquake where some portions were completely destroyed. While the keep itself withstood most of the earthquake with little structural damage, two of the castle's turrets were severely damaged and partially collapsed, more of the exterior walls at the foot of the keep also collapsed, and large amounts of kawara roof tiles on the keep's roof were also disrupted and fell from the roof as a result of the quake. The fallen roof tiles are actually deliberately designed to have done so – when the castle was constructed, such roof tiles were used so that in the event of an earthquake, the tiles would fall off the damaged roof, preventing it from being weighted down and collapsing into the building's interior. As of June 8, 2016, the efforts to repair the castle have begun. The restoration of the main tower will be completed by 2019. The restoration of the Nagabei Wall was completed in January, 2021. The repair and restoration of the entire castle is scheduled for completion by the year 2052. On April 7, 2018, the newly made shachihoko ornament had been installed on the top roof of the large tenshu tower with the second one being installed on April 12. Gallery Old photographs Present exterior See also Japanese castle List of Special Places of Scenic Beauty, Special Historic Sites and Special Natural Monuments History of Kumamoto Prefecture 1889 Kumamoto earthquake References Bibliography Benesch, Oleg. "Castles and the Militarisation of Urban Society in Imperial Japan," Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Vol. 28 (Dec. 2018), pp. 107-134. External links Kumamoto Castle official homepage (in Japanese, English, Korean, Chinese) Castles in Kumamoto Prefecture Buildings and structures in Kumamoto Special Historic Sites 100 Fine Castles of Japan