A historic Buddhist hall on Miyajima Island in western Japan has been destroyed by fire, taking with it one of the country's most revered sacred flames — though the flame itself was safely preserved before the building was lost.

The Reikado Hall, part of the Daishoin temple complex on Mount Misen — the highest peak on the sacred pilgrimage island of Miyajima, in Hiroshima Prefecture — caught fire on Wednesday morning. Around 30 firefighters were deployed to battle the blaze, and aerial footage showed the building engulfed in flames and smoke before it was left charred and gutted. The fire was confirmed extinguished on Thursday.

The hall was revered for housing an "eternal flame" said to have been lit in 806 by Kukai, the Buddhist monk who founded the Shingon school of Buddhism in the ninth century. Temple authorities say the flame has burned continuously for more than 1,200 years. Authorities believe the fire may have been caused by the sacred flame itself, though the flame was moved to a safe location before the structure was destroyed. Notably, this is not the first time the hall has been lost: the original building also burned down in 2005, and the eternal flame survived that incident as well.

The flame carries significance well beyond the temple. It serves as the source for the "eternal flame" kept burning at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, which honours the victims of the 1945 atomic bombing of the city — giving the fire at Reikado Hall a resonance that extends across Japan's modern history as well as its ancient spiritual traditions.

In a statement on the temple's official website, Daishoin's custodians expressed gratitude for messages of support received in the aftermath of the fire, noting that the process of reconstruction had already begun. Miyajima Island, located in Hiroshima Bay, is one of Japan's most celebrated sacred sites and attracts pilgrims and visitors from across the country and the world.