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Guide to Japanese Castles

Shuri Castle

首里城

Shuri Castle
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Founder
Year 13-14 Centuries
Reconstructed 1992 (wood, concrete)
Type Hilltop
Structure 2 levels, 2 stories
Condition Reconstructed
Admin's Rating ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Historical Site National Historic Site
Historical Value Top 100 Castles, UNESCO World Heritage Site
Location Naha, Okinawa
Map Google Map
Access Bus
Website Shuri-jo Castle Park
Notes not personally visited, all pictures donated by David. I would love to visit this and some of the other castles of Okinawa someday.
History The castle was originally founded somewhere in the 13-14th centuries. It was modified and expanded several times coming into its hieght of power during as a palace and fortress for the Ryukyu kings who established the unified Ryukyu kingdom in 1429. These kings ruled for abour 400 years until the Meiji government ousted the king in 1879 and established the prefecture of Okinawa. From 1609 the kingdom was under the control of the Satsuma clan and thereby the Tokigawa Shogunate but they kept some freedom regarding their relationships with China.

Obviously Shuri Castle was neither influenced by the same factors as typical mainland castles nor does it have many of the same structures or types of architecture. The castle and other related sites in the area were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2000.

Viewer Comments

(4) | Post Comment
  • john    April 03, 2010 at 06:16 AM
    Shuri castle doesn't look much like a japanese castle, as from the outside it is very much reminescent of a chinese castle or palace, but on the inside;however you can tell
  • Gaijin Okinawa    March 08, 2009 at 03:22 AM
    Kaisan, don't be a know-it-all. It's in Japan right? It's a castle right? Did you read what the guy wrote above? He writes how it's different than usual ones.
  • Kaisan    March 07, 2009 at 07:14 AM
    I am not sure if the castle stand as the same class of castle of Japanese castle. Okinawa used to be a culturally and language distinct island nation than the Japanese Isles. It only got annexed and assimilated into Japanese in the recent history.
  • Okinawan Boy    November 15, 2008 at 01:19 AM
    Visit Okinawa's Shuri Castle and realise the hard detail it took to rebuild the landmark. The Okinawans were nearly wiped out by the U.S. and the original castle still stood before WWII. Today, it's an art work by the revival of the people of Okinawa, and today, 3 million Okinawans live in the world as opposed to 1/3 being wiped out by Americans.