After watching the news of the terrible earthquake that hit Japan yesterday, which was the strongest earthquake in the recorded history of Japan, I felt a strong desire to share with you this somber monument to the victims of the Great Kanto Earthquake from 1923, which with a magnitude of 8.3 was the earthquake that caused the largest number of victims in the history of Japan, about 140,000.

Tokyo Irei-do (Tokyo Memorial Hall) is located in Ryogoku, Tokyo, and was designed by the architect Chuta Ito in 1930. Rebuilt in 1951 (after a World War II destruction), the memorial is shaped as a Buddhist temple, with a three-story pagoda. Also called Tokyo Memorial Temple for Two Great Disasters, the monument is dedicated to the victims of the Great Kanto Earthquake and to the victims of the WW II bombings.

Pagoda, Tokyo Memorial Hall for the Casualties of the Great Kanto Earthquake, Ryogoku, Tokyo

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Yesterday’s Japan Photo: Sunset at Hijiri Bashi