What was believed to be Japan’s oldest toilet has been destroyed in an accident involving a conservation worker employed by a company that claims to preserve artefacts and relics. The 30-year-old worker, an employee of the Kyoto Heritage Preservation Association, accidentally accelerated while reversing his car, which got rammed into a wooden door. This was located inside the Tofukuji temple in Kyoto, according to Koudou Uno, a spokesperson for the Tofukuji Temple.
The driver, who remains unnamed, was unhurt and caused no damage to human life as there were no other people present in the Temple. He immediately called the police to the site.
The toilet, also known as the “tosu” restroom, was built about 500 years ago during the Muromachi period (approximately from 1336 to 1573). It was used by the trainee monks of its time and was declared to be an important cultural property by the Japanese government in 1902.
The temple could accommodate about 100 monks at a time, and consisted of 20 toilets, which gave the restroom a nickname: “hyukasecchin”, or “100-person toilet”. These were supposedly in use until the Meiji era (1868-1912). These rows of toilets were not allowed to be visited but could be seen through gaps in the building’s exterior. They were essentially simplistic holes cut into the stone and did not come along with a bidet. They were located at a site of convenience for the aforementioned monks; right beside the meditation hall, where they spent a significant amount of time.
Despite all the noise surrounding this accident, experts say that the damages are repairable. “We’d like to restore it before the autumn foliage season, but it will probably take until the new year [to repair it],” said Toshio Ishikawa, who was “stunned” by the extent of the damage, but was relieved that no one involved in this incident was hurt. Koudou Uno says that temple management is in talks about how best to restore the damaged doors, which were 2.4 m in length and 2.8 m in width.
“We were thankful that nobody was injured and that we can repair the doors of the toilet — there is some happiness in this misfortune,” said Uno.
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