In the castle tower of Okayama Castle in Okayama City and the Yagura, which is an important cultural property of the country, a total of 30 scratches were found that looked like they had been scraped with a hard object. I am investigating on suspicion of.
According to the city of Okayama, on the 18th, a staff member who was cleaning the castle tower of Okayama Castle found that the display case inside the castle had scratches that looked like it had been scraped with a hard object.
Upon inspection by Okayama City and others, similar scratches were found on the pillars and walls on all floors of the castle tower.
In addition, damage was confirmed in three places, the outer wall and the doorway, such as a scratch with a length of about 1 meter was found in the "Tsukimi turret," which is designated as a national important cultural property.
According to the city, the damage amounted to 30 places in total, and the police are investigating on suspicion of violating the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties, assuming that someone was hurt by the damage situation.
Since the beginning of this month, similar damage has been occurring one after another at Matsuyama Castle in Ehime Prefecture and Kochi Castle in Kochi Prefecture.
Shinji Takahashi, chief of the Cultural Properties Division of the Okayama City Board of Education, said, "We take the important property of the people seriously. It is expected that it will cost a lot of money to repair, so it is an unforgivable act." It was.