Suga Shrine, Nogata

A Shinto shrine that has kept the oldest meteorite seen to fall that still survives, since the year 861.

Key facts

Where

Nogata, Fukuoka, Japan

Kind

Visitor site

Visiting

Open-air site or visitor centre

In 861 a stone fell in the grounds of a shrine at Nogata in northern Kyushu, and it has been kept there ever since as a sacred object, in a wooden box marked with the date of its fall. For more than a thousand years few outside the shrine knew what it was.

In 1979 scientists were allowed to study it, and it proved to be a genuine meteorite, an L6 ordinary chondrite of about 470 grams. The date on the box makes Nogata the oldest witnessed meteorite fall from which the stone survives. It is still kept by the shrine and shown only rarely.

Highlights

• Nogata fell in 861 L6

Related pages

Opening times, what is on display and access to research collections change over time, so check with the institution before you visit.