Nakagusuku Castle

A branch of the Nakagusuku lords began building in stone here in the mid-14th century, and the southern, western, first and second enclosures stood by the century's end. In 1440 the king moved Gosamaru from Zakimi to Nakagusuku to guard against Katsuren, and Gosamaru added the third and northern enclosures. He drew a well inside the northern wall so the castle could hold out through a long siege. In 1458, on the fifteenth night of the eighth lunar month and in the middle of a moon-viewing party, Amawari attacked at the head of the Shuri king's army and Gosamaru died.

The walls show three ways of building in stone. In the southern enclosure the builders stacked rough, unworked rock. The first and second enclosures use squared blocks laid in even courses, which people also call tofu stacking. In the third and northern enclosures the masons of Gosamaru's time fit polygonal stones together in a tight turtle-shell pattern. In 1853 a party from Commodore Perry's fleet surveyed the ruin and its artist Heine made four sketches. The expedition likened the arch of the rear gate to Egyptian work.

The castle served later as the district office and, after 1879, as the Nakagusuku village office until the Battle of Okinawa burned it. Near the main gate a gap in the wall marks where the Japanese army began cutting an air-raid shelter and gave up because the stonework was too solid. Volunteer guides from the Gusuku no Kai lead free walks, and the castle holds night walks and stargazing evenings through the year.