Shikinaen

photo by そらみみ · CC BY-SA 4.0

photo by そらみみ · CC BY-SA 4.0

A royal villa from 1799: this is where the king received the Chinese envoys before showing them Shuri.

The garden is laid out around a heart-shaped pond, with a Chinese humpback bridge and a Chinese-inspired pavilion on the central island. As you walk around it, the view changes with every step: this is the ‘stroll garden’ technique (回遊式庭園), designed expressly for the foreign guests the king wanted to impress before receiving them at court. In 1800 it hosted the Chinese envoys Zhao Wenkai and Li Dingyuan, who had come for the investiture of King Sho On.

Built in 1799 as a suburban residence of the royal family, it was used for the royals' leisure and to receive foreign envoys. In 2000 it was inscribed by UNESCO in the same group as Shuri, and it is also a Special Place of Scenic Beauty of Japan (特別名勝), a designation it had already received, at the ordinary level, in 1941.

ℹ️ April–September 9:00–18:00 (last entry 17:30), October–March 9:00–17:30 (last entry 17:00). Closed on Wednesdays (the following day if the Wednesday is a public holiday). Adults 400 yen, children 200 yen; Okinawa residents over 65 pay half.

🚉 Kenritsu Iryo Center mae · 9 min walk

Sources: city.naha.okinawa.jp · okinawastory.jp

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