A Japanese man tasked with preserving cultural heritage accidentally plowed his car into the country's oldest toilet in a centuries-old Buddhist temple, partially destroying it, police said recently.

Tofukuji Temple in the western Kyoto region houses a toilet said to date back to the 15th century, earning it the designation of an important cultural relic. 

But the original wooden door leading to the site was "ruined" after the driver, a 30-year-old man from the Kyoto Heritage Preservation Association, accidentally backed his car into it on Monday morning. "We've been told it's going to require a lot of work to restore it," a Kyoto police official said. "We will discuss how to restore it in a way that will retain as much of its cultural value as possible."