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(Route 242). On a clear day you can see Kume, Torishima, Aguni, Tonaki, the Keramas and,
sometimes, the Okinawan mainland. It's quite a view.
If you like high places you're in for a treat, for the next stop is 1,017 feet (310 meters)
above sea level, the highest point of the island, Mt Uegusuku ( 宇江城岳 ; Ué-gusuku daké).
Bring a sweater or a jacket, for it's at least 5-10 degrees cooler up here than anywhere else on
Kume.
The way up starts on the right, off Route 242, almost immediately after the Hiyajo Banta
Observation Platform. There's a sign for the Uegusuku Gusuku Ruins ( 宇江城城 跡 ; Ué
gusuku gusuku jōato), for that's where we're going. You can see the outline of the castle from
almost everywhere on Kume. It's perched on the very top of the peak. In all, it's not quite 1.75
miles (3 kilometers) from the Hiyajo Banta Cliffs to the ruins. Some sections of the road are
narrow and/or extremely steep, thus it's not a road for the faint of heart.
The fortress itself is not much, a partially restored ruin at best, but that's really not the
attraction. The attraction is the commanding view of the entire island, which is breathtaking.
It doesn't seem like 1,000 feet; it feels more like 10,000. It's like being in an airplane, and it
gives one pause to contemplate the poor souls driven by the Kume king centuries ago to heft
this pile of stones up this mountain.
Uegusuku Gusuku Ruins, perched on the top of Mt Uegusuku, Kume Island's highest point.
To the north and west you'll see the airport, to the east Tonakijima and the Keramas,
to the south you'll first see several of Kume's next highest peaks, including the 758-foot
(231-meter)-high Mount Ō ( 大岳 ; Ō-také; lit. “Big Peak”), and then you'll see all the way to
Gushikawa Town, Eef Beach and the tiny adjacent islands of Ō, Ōha and Haténo-hama. Oh,
one last thing. Rumor has it that Habu snakes like to live in the rock piles that constitute the
reconstructed walls of the ruins. It might be a good idea to stay of them.
In leaving this mountaintop fortress we'll drive back down the same route we took up. It's
less than 1.75 miles (3 kilometers) to Route 242. From there we'll continue slightly less than
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