Senso-ji Temple is the oldest temple in Tokyo. The name Asakusa appeared for the first time in the history of Japan in 628, when a small statue of the Kannon was caught by two fishermen in Asakusa. The people in the village built a small temple for the statue not knowing anything about its origin. The statue has been kept hidden in a sealed wooden box since 645, when a Buddhist monk who had been invited from Nara to see the statue suggested doing so. The box was opened once in 1868 by officers sent by the government to execute orders regarding the separation of Shinto and Buddhism. The temple received constant support from powerful samurai and it became a family temple of the Tokugawa shogun in the early 17th century. Most of the temple buildings were lost during the Second World War. The main building was reconstructed in 1958, and the five-story pagoda in 1973.