Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
of a snake museum, a small zoo and a
habu
snake versus mongoose show. he snakes are
sacrificed six times daily to the predator mongoose. Some people object to these “demonstra-
tions” as unnecessarily cruel, for the snakes really don't have much of a chance against the
mongoose and are invariably killed.
5
GUSUKU (FORTRESS) RUINS
御城
The southern section of Okinawa has quite a large number of
gusuku
(fortress) ruins, but they
are just that—ruins—not too interesting for most casual visitors. If this does interest you,
here's a list of many of them, but again, they are mostly piles of stones. Close by to Point Ky-
an are the ruins of Gushikawa Castle (
具志川城
) and Kyan Castle (
喜屋武城
). Near Okinawa
Peace Park is Itomansatsuki Gusuku Ruins (
糸満城
), and near Gushikama village, just be-
low Okinawa World, are the Ona Castle and Gushikama Ruins. Further along the east coast,
north to the Chinen Peninsula (
知念半島
; Chinenhantō), are several more ruins, including
Minton Castle; Chinen Gusuku (
知念城
), Azama Castle (
安座真城
) and Sashiki Gusuku (
佐
敷城
). To the north, at the boundary of what we'll call Central Okinawa, at Urasoe, there are
the ruins of Urasoe Castle (
浦添城
). None of these ruins amount to much, at least to a non-
archeologist. The better or more substantial or restored
gusuku
are further north.
Gusuku Fortress
(
御城
)
Gusuku
is the Okinawan word for a castle or fortress. In Japanese it is
shiro
. The Kanji characters are
the same. There are
gusuku
(or
gusuku
ruins) throughout the Ryukyus, but many of the finest ex-
amples are on Okinawa. Many have been declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The
gusuku
's hey-
day was between the 13th and 18th centuries when feudal lords, called
aji
, ruled the Okinawan king-
dom. Each had his own fortress. The best examples on the island today are Naha's Shuri Castle, Nak-
agusuku in central Okinawa, Zakimi in Yomitan, Katsuren Castle on the Katsuren Peninsula and Nakijin
on northern Okinawa's Motobu Peninsula. A secion of the Katsuren Castle ramparts is shown above.