Japan heritage worker backs car into oldest toilet at Kyoto temple

A man whose job it is to help preserve Japan's cultural heritage has accidentally smashed his car into the country's oldest toilet at a centuries-old Buddhist temple.

The communal loo at Tofukuji in Kyoto dates back to the 15th century and is designated an important cultural asset.

Its ancient door was ruined after the employee hit the gas without realising the car was in reverse, police said.

No one was injured and the actual latrines inside remained intact.

The unnamed man, who works at the Kyoto Heritage Preservation called police soon after the crash, telling them he had crashed into the temple. He was said to be visiting the temple on business, according to the Sankei Shimbun newspaper.

A photo in the newspaper showed what appeared to be the car after it drove into the toilet's 700-year-old wooden door and pillars.

Toshio Ishikawa, director of the Tofukuji Research Institute, was "stunned" by the scale of the accident.

Another official said that although the damage is repairable, restoring the outhouse to its original state would require "lots of work".

The unused communal toilet - known as tōsu - was built in the first half of the Muromachi period (1336-1573) and is located inside Tofukuji temple.

It's nicknamed the "hyakusecchin", which means 100-person toilet, as it was used by more than 100 trainee monks at the temple practicing religious self-discipline, the newspaper Asahi Shimbun reported.

The paper describes it as a structure containing a stone row holding around 20 circular holes.