The Nōgata meteorite and its shrine
The oldest meteorite seen to fall that still exists, kept for over a thousand years at a Shinto shrine.
Key facts
- People and tradition
- Japan
- Region
- Asia
- When
- 861
The story
At Suga Shrine in Nōgata, in Fukuoka on the Japanese island of Kyushu, a dark stone of about 470 grams has been kept in a wooden box for more than eleven centuries. Shrine tradition tells that it fell in the grounds one night, with a flash and a loud noise, and its records date the fall to 19 May 861.
The stone was treated as a sacred object and shown to the public only at special festivals.
What science says
In 1979 scientists were allowed to examine the stone, and found that it is an ordinary chondrite of type L6. That makes Nōgata the oldest meteorite whose fall was witnessed and which still survives, more than 600 years older than the Ensisheim stone that fell in France in 1492.
Did you know?
The stone's fusion crust is still visible after more than a thousand years, because it has been kept indoors.
The shrine holds a grand festival every five years at which the meteorite is shown.