Posted on 06/01/2026 10:37:20 AM PDT by Red Badger
Reikado Hall on Miyajima Island's Mount Misen has been known as the home of the "eternal flame" for over 1,200 years.
And the thing about eternal flames is that if they do get out of control, you can't really put them out. Otherwise they're not so eternal are they?
And then the inevitable happens:
A Buddhist hall in Western Japan known for housing an "eternal flame" that has been burning for over 1,000 years caught fire and burned to the ground on Miyajima Island. pic.twitter.com/8HPHGdDu4A— The Associated Press (@AP) May 21, 2026
Yep, according to News on Japan, the eternal flame burned Reikado Hall to the ground:
Firefighters, including a firefighting helicopter, were dispatched to the scene, and the blaze was mostly extinguished after about two hours. However, Reikado Hall was completely destroyed, and the fire also spread to surrounding forest areas.
No injuries have been reported so far.
But don't worry, someone grabbed a flaming stick from the temple and used it to set fire to something else, so technically the fire hasn't gone out.
And they plan to rebuild the temple.
In fact, this isn't even the first time the eternal flame has destroyed Reikado Hall.
Reikado Hall has suffered repeated fire damage throughout its history. More recently, the structure was completely destroyed in a fire in 2005 before being rebuilt the following year.
Maybe this time around, they might think about fireproofing that place a little.
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
Firefighters, including a firefighting helicopter, were dispatched to the scene, and the blaze was mostly extinguished after about two hours... the fire also spread to surrounding forest areas.... someone grabbed a flaming stick from the temple and used it to set fire to something else
The story does say that someone caught the flame while the fire was burning — some ad hoc torch, I image — so the flame technically lives on. The way the Olympic Torch lives on.
I’m not bit on eternal flames. I’ve always thought the one at JFK’s quasi religious cult site should have been turned off years ago.
I would have done it with a straight face in the name of energy conservation and reducing CO2 emissions.
After letting that sink in for a few years, I would then move all three of the Kennedy brothers over to the sexual predator section, if Arlington has one of those, and bury them in unmarked graves.
That's critically important from a spiritual/philosophical point of view. The Eternal Flame can't be just any random bunch of plasma, it has to be That Particular Plasma.
I'm not being the least bit sarcastic. I respect and agree with the principle.
That said, my own interpretation would also include continuity of the fuel, since the flame's constituent components include material from the fuel. So transferring the plasma to a flaming stick, and then "something else", and eventually to another new Eternal Flame device with the appropriate fuel, has to be done properly.
Herd they declined to pay for fire insurance too!
While Japan severely limits the number of muslims in that country, it only takes one to perform an act of terror or desecration.
Efernal flame?
Turns out that's not a quite accurate description. GoogleAI, quoting from the New York Times, says:
Because the monks manage the sacred embers separately and reacted quickly, the Eternal Flame itself was rescued entirely unharmed and temporarily relocated.This also implies that the fuel I mentioned in my comment above is some sort of wood, which of course makes sense in that context.
Aside: I find the concept of an "unharmed flame" rather charming.
Something tells me this is the same ‘cultural enrichment’ that France has enjoyed with its churches in recent years.
Unfortunately.
😁🔥
(🕺 also shows up in the emoji search for “flame”, figures)
Yeah, thats because its fire.
“Play with fire, you might get burned.”
Yep, I got burned when I was fiver years old, too.
I was standing too near a trash fire, when something popped, and sparks set afire my frayed blue jeans (we didn’t call them Levi’s in 1958). I ran to the house, and stood outside yelling for mommy. I didn’t run inside because I didn’t want to set the house on fire.
I have quite the scar, to this day.
When wood and paper are your traditional building materials you should not be suprised if it burns down.
CC
It I’ll be a pedo loving Muzzie who did it.
Japan should shove the bastards right off the cliffs of Okinawa
Technically, it's only 21 years.
The building burned to the ground in 2005 and was rebuilt in 2006.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.