Sonohyan-utaki Stone Gate

photo by そらみみ · CC BY-SA 4.0

photo by Renate Hano · CC BY-SA 4.0

The ninth of the nine UNESCO properties of the Ryūkyū: the other eight are already on the map.

It stands between the Shureimon and the castle ticket office, and almost everyone walks past it without stopping. It is a stone gate one and a half times the height of a man, with a roof of imitation tiles carved from limestone. It was not a gate to walk through: the king stopped here to pray before leaving the castle to go among the people, and the sacred grove that stood behind it is now part of the city.

Gate of Ryukyuan limestone built in 1519 under King Shō Shin in front of the entrance to Shuri Castle. It served as the ruler's place of prayer before official journeys, in particular the pilgrimage to Sefa-utaki. Destroyed in the battle of 1945 and rebuilt in 1957, it is a national Important Cultural Property and since 2000 has been one of the nine properties of the UNESCO site ‘Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryūkyū’.

ℹ️ You can see it from outside, at any time and without a ticket: it stands along the path between the Shureimon and the ticket office of the castle park, so you do not need to enter the paid area. You cannot walk through the gate.

🚉 Yamagawa · 9 min walk

Sources: en.japantravel.com · city.naha.okinawa.jp

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