Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the and Nakagusuku-jô site

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the

   Okinawa was a kingdom of its own until the late nineteenth century, and the gusuku are what is left of its stone fortresses. The word means castle, but these are curving walls of pale coral limestone that follow the shape of a hill, with gateways like keyholes and view platforms over the sea. The Ryukyu Kingdom, which was unified under King Sho Hashi in 1429, traded between China, Japan, Korea and southeast Asia, and grew rich as a middle man, with Shuri as its capital. UNESCO listed the Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu in 2000, among them Shuri Castle, the royal burial place of Tamaudun and the garden of Shikinaen.

   Read the complete Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the is where the day begins. Next is Sêfa-utaki.

2. 2. Sêfa-utaki

   For the people of the old Ryukyu Kingdom, there was no holier place than Sēfa-utaki, a grove of forest and rock on the southeastern tip of Okinawa island. An utaki is a sacred site in the Ryukyuan religion, often a grove, a rock or a spring, where gods are believed to descend, and this one was the most important of all. The kingdom's highest priestess, the Kikoe-ōkimi, usually a woman of the royal family, was inaugurated here, and for centuries men were not allowed to enter.

   Read the complete Sêfa-utaki write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Sêfa-utaki comes up about 19 km into the recorded legs. Next is Nakagusuku-jô site.

3. 3. Nakagusuku-jô site

   On the ridge above Nakagusuku Bay the walls of an old castle follow the curve of the hill in a long ribbon of pale limestone, and the shapes are surprisingly sophisticated. Nakagusuku was built, probably in the fourteenth century and extended in the fifteenth, by the lord Gosamaru, who was respected as a master builder, and its walls use a technique of fitted, curved stones with no mortar, in a pattern the Okinawans call nunozumi, cloth-laying, and a more rugged style called aikatazumi, which looks like a jigsaw. Six enclosures step up along the ridge, with gateways, a well and the foundations of halls.

   Read the complete Nakagusuku-jô site write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 42 km into the recorded legs you reach Nakagusuku-jô site. Next is back through Sêfa-utaki.

4. 4. back through Sêfa-utaki

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Sêfa-utaki write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Sêfa-utaki, late in the day. Next is Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the.

5. 5. Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the. That is the ride.