A sacred eternal flame in Japan accidentally burned its own ancient temple to the ground (3 photos + 2 videos)
Japanese firefighters and police in Hiroshima Prefecture are scratching their heads over this completely absurd emergency. 
On the sacred island of Miyajima, the wooden Reikado pavilion, belonging to the ancient Buddhist monastery Daisein, burned to the ground. The tragicomic aspect of the situation is that a sacred "eternal flame" had been continuously maintained in this hall for over 1,200 years. 
The flame managed to successfully survive medieval civil strife and even the American nuclear bombing of Hiroshima in 1945, but ultimately simply burned down its own walls. 
According to the preliminary investigation, the wooden structure burst into flames precisely because of the sacred flame tended by monks for centuries. A simple spark struck the old wood. However, the Japanese managed to save the ancient relic itself. One of the temple's attendants managed to spot the smoke in time, picked up the embers, and carried them to a safe place, where the fire continues to burn.
Luckily, no one was injured, although three dozen rescuers had to fight the blaze, as it had already spread to the nearby forest. Incidentally, this is far from the first such incident in Japan in recent days – just a week earlier, another ancient wooden temple from the 15th century burned to the ground.
To protect a fire from wars and bombs for twelve centuries, only to end up burned by simple carelessness – that takes skill.
