Shuri Castle

For close to 450 years the kings of Ryukyu ruled from this hill above Naha. The castle had taken shape by the late 14th century as the residence of the Chuzan kings, and it stayed the seat of government until the spring of 1879, when the king was sent out of Shuri and Ryukyu became Okinawa Prefecture. The Japanese army garrisoned it and schools moved in over the following decades. In 1945 American attacks burned it to the ground, and after the war the University of the Ryukyus built its campus on the ruins.

The first rebuilt Seiden opened in 1992 to mark twenty years since Okinawa's reversion to Japan, modelled on the castle as it stood from the 18th century. In December 2000 the castle site joined the World Heritage list with eight other Ryukyu properties, and the park keeps the stone foundations of the earlier halls on show beneath the Seiden. Before dawn on 31 October 2019 a fire started inside the Seiden and burned for about 11 hours. It destroyed the hall and eight other buildings, and investigators could not determine the cause.

Rebuilding began with a ceremony on 3 November 2022, after oak timber was hauled in procession from Kunigami. Carpenters finished the woodwork in May 2026, the great dragon pillars went up at the front of the hall on 24 July, and the last coat of red lacquer went on in September. Until the opening you can still walk the paid area. The reconstruction exhibition room in the Yohokoriden tells the story of the work, and from the East Azana lookout on a clear day you can pick out Kudaka Island. The 32nd Army dug its wartime headquarters tunnels under these walls, and the prefecture is working to open them to the public.