What to See in Naha - Top Sights and Attractions

Castle in Naha, Japan. Shuri Castle was a Ryukyuan gusuku castle in Shuri, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. Between 1429 and 1879, it was the palace of the Ryukyu Kingdom, before becoming largely neglected. In 1945, during the Battle of Okinawa, it was almost completely destroyed. After the war, the castle was re-purposed as a university campus. Beginning in 1992, the central citadel and walls were largely reconstructed on the original site based on historical records, photographs, and memory. In 2000, Shuri Castle was designated as a World Heritage Site, as a part of the Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu. On the morning of 31 October 2019, the main courtyard structures of the castle were again destroyed in a fire.^[1]

Sonohyan-utaki is a sacred grove of trees and plants of the traditional indigenous Ryukyuan religion. It is located on the grounds of Shuri Castle in Naha, Okinawa, a few paces away from the Shureimon castle gate. The utaki, or more specifically its stone gate, is one of a number of sites which together comprise the UNESCO World Heritage Site officially described as Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu, and has been designated an Important Cultural Property by the Japanese national government.

While the gates were once opened only for the king, today they are always closed, and so the gates have in a way become a sacred space themselves, representative of the actual sacred space behind them. Many travellers and locals come to pray at the gates.

The stone gate was first built in 1519, during the reign of Ryukyuan king Shō Shin, though the space had been recognized as a sacred utaki prior to that. Whenever the king left the castle on a journey, he would first stop at Sonohyan-utaki to pray for safe travels. The site also played an important role in the initiation of the High Priestess (聞得大君, kikoe-ōgimi) of the native religion.

The gate is said to be a prime example of traditional Okinawan architecture, and shows many signs of Chinese influence, along with a Japanese-influenced gable in the karahafu style. It was severely damaged in the 1945 battle of Okinawa, but was restored in 1957, and officially designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000, along with a number of other sites across Okinawa Island. The utaki, i.e. the sacred grove itself, was once much larger than it is today, an elementary school and other buildings having encroached upon the space.^[3]

Museum in Naha, Japan. The Okinawa Prefectural Museum & Art Museum is a museum in the most southern prefecture of Japan. The museum complex in the Omoro-machi area of Naha, the capital city of Okinawa Prefecture. It opened in November 2007, and includes art, history, and natural history museums focusing specifically on Okinawan topics.

The museum building, constructed largely of local Okinawan limestone, was designed with the imagery of Okinawa's gusuku (castles) in mind. It contains roughly 24,000 square meters of floor space on its four above-ground levels and one basement level. The art museum and history/natural history museum are located on opposite sides of a common lobby, and visitors can buy admission to one or the other, or a combination ticket.^[5]

Lush city park with a koi-filled lake. Fukushūen is a traditional Chinese garden in the Kume area of Naha, Okinawa.

The garden was constructed in 1992, in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the sister city relationship between Naha and Fuzhou in China. The Kume neighborhood where the garden is located, previously known as Kumemura, was for centuries the center of Chinese culture and learning in the Ryūkyū Kingdom, and a symbol of the significant role of Chinese cultural influence in Okinawan history and culture.

The garden was built nearly entirely with the use of wood and stone from Fuzhou, with the help of artisans from Fuzhou, and according to specifications representative of traditional gardens in Fuzhou. It thus contains many of the elements essential to the design of a traditional Chinese garden. It is walled, divided into individual sections, features much asymmetry, rocks including scholar's rocks, and water in the form of a single pond which extends into most sections of the garden. Several bridges in a variety of styles extend over the pond, which houses koi and turtles, a symbol of longevity and wisdom in Chinese culture. The centerpiece of the garden perhaps is its waterfall, located on the west side of the pond, directly facing the east entrance. The rock pile it flows from contains an artificial cave, and can be entered, and climbed; stairs cut into the rock lead to a Chinese-style pavilion, one of two high points in the garden allowing for a view of much of the garden, and the surrounding scenery.

The garden also has gates on the four cardinal directions, a number of six-sided pavilions, sculptures, bells, several inscriptions painted large on wood and stone, and in one building, a small exhibit of Chinese paintings and of a model of the style of ship that would have journeyed to Fuzhou during the time of the Ryūkyū Kingdom to bring tribute and to engage in trade. The Chinese and Japanese concept "borrowing of scenery " is also used, adding to the sense of the garden's size. One element indicative of Okinawa, however, is seen in the plants and trees chosen for the garden. Trees such as Murraya paniculata, a relative of the orange and mikan, called gekkitsu in Japanese, and Acacia confusa, called sōshiju in Japanese, both native to the Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan, and parts of Southeast Asia, were chosen for their aesthetic qualities, particularly for their flowers, which allow the garden's appearance and atmosphere to change with the seasons in a particular way appropriate for a traditional Chinese garden.

Access to the garden is open to the public; there is a small admission fee. The garden is open from 9 AM to 6 PM and is closed on Wednesdays.^[8]