Work has started in Okinawa, southern Japan, to prepare wood for reconstruction of the main hall which burned down in 2019. The underground ruins of the hall are listed as a World Heritage site.

The main hall and six other buildings of the castle were razed to the ground in a blaze in October that year.

The work to rebuild the main hall, led by the Japanese government, started last November, with the aim of finishing it by the fall of 2026. Since then, about 200 pieces of wood to be used in the framework have been brought into a warehouse at the reconstruction site.

On Thursday, media reporters were invited to watch the start of the work to cut wood into beams and pillars. The machinery to be used in the work had been put through a round of test-runs since mid-January.

Carpenters were seen working on an 8-meter long piece of cypress wood, weighing about 400 kilograms, with its outer surface already cut into an octagonal shape. The machinery was used to round off the edges so that the wood has been shaped into a cylindrical column.

Inside the warehouse, carpenters were seen taking measurements of moisture inside pieces of wood. The data is crucial in ensuring that pieces of wood to be used in the framework dovetail perfectly with each other.

Esaki Hideaki, a construction manager from the Okinawa branch of the Cabinet Office, told the media that no mistakes are allowed in the painstaking work involved in cutting pieces of wood to exact specifications.

He said the government intends to provide castle carpenters whatever support they need.