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Ride Okinawa

Culture · 文化

Learn the kingdom before you walk its castle walls.

Many of these places are sacred or carry grief. Each page sets out the access rules and how to behave, from the prefecture, the sites themselves and the communities that keep them.

第32軍司令部壕

32nd Army Headquarters Tunnels

Shuri · Naha

MemorialDug from December 1944; abandoned and partly destroyed at the end of May 1945

チビチリガマ

Chibichiri-gama

Yomitan · West coast

Memorial2 April 1945

旧海軍司令部壕

Former Japanese Navy Underground Headquarters

Tomigusuku · South

MemorialDug in 1944; occupied until the commander's death on 13 June 1945; 300 m restored and opened in March 1970

ひめゆりの塔・ひめゆり平

Himeyuri Monument and Himeyuri Peace Museum

Itoman · South

MemorialMonument first raised 5 April 1946 and rebuilt June 1957; museum founded 23 June 1989

嘉数高台公園

Kakazu Takadai Park

Ginowan · Central

MemorialBattle of Okinawa, April 1945

A curving limestone wall of Katsuren Castle crosses the grassy hilltop, and beyond it the Kaichu Doro runs out across the bay toward Henza under a grey sky
UNESCO

Katsuren Castle

Katsuren · Central

GusukuFortified from around the 13th century; Amawari ruled here as the tenth lord until the Shuri army took it in 1458

UNESCO
中城城跡

Nakagusuku Castle

Nakagusuku · Central

GusukuStone walls begun in the mid-14th century; enlarged by Gosamaru from 1440; fell in 1458

UNESCO
今帰仁城跡

Nakijin Castle

Nakijin · Motobu

GusukuSeat of the Hokuzan kings in the 14th century; fell in 1416 (some sources say 1422); overseers lived here until 1665

沖縄県平和祈念公園

Okinawa Peace Memorial Park

Itoman · South

MemorialBattle of Okinawa, 26 March to 7 September 1945; Cornerstone of Peace unveiled 1995

佐喜眞美術館

Sakima Art Museum

Ginowan · Central

MuseumOpened 23 November 1994

UNESCO
斎場御嶽

Sefa-utaki

Chinen · South

UtakiRyukyu Kingdom; the chief priestess was installed here from the first Kikoe-okimi in 1470 to the fifteenth in 1875

A deigo tree in red flower leans over the pond at Shikinaen beside a small arched bridge of grey limestone and a grassy rise
The low red-roofed villa of Shikinaen lies mirrored in the still garden pond under a clear blue November sky
The hexagonal Rokkakudo pavilion with its grey tile roof sits on a tiny island in the green pond of the Shikinaen royal garden in Naha
A limestone bridge with steps over its arch crosses the Shikinaen pond, and the wooden royal villa sits on the lawn across the water
UNESCO

Shikinaen

Naha

GardenCompleted in 1799; rebuilt 1975–1995