Zakimi Castle Ruins

Introduction

Zakimi Castle stands on a 127-metre hill in Yomitan in central Okinawa, built in the early fifteenth century, in 1416 or 1422, by the noted castle builder Gosamaru, the Aji of Yomitan. It guarded the road from Chuzan to Hokuzan and served as a base for trade with China and southern countries before being abandoned around the sixteenth century. Two linked enclosures follow the terrain, and the coral-limestone walls run not in straight lines but in soft star-shaped curves, a style as defensive as it is elegant. The prized features are two arched stone gates, the oldest surviving arches in Okinawa, closed with wedge stones: the inner gate is a reconstruction while the outer one is largely the original repaired, with square keystones in one and triangular in the other, differences far clearer standing beneath them than in any photograph; pulling the wedge in wartime was said to bring the arch down and seal the passage. In 1944 the Japanese army used the site as an anti-aircraft position and after the war the US military turned it into a radar station, damaging parts of the walls; excavation and repair between 1973 and 1985 produced what visitors see today. In December 2000 it joined the Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of the Ryukyus on the World Heritage list and was designated a national historic site the same year. From the walls you can see Cape Zanpa and the Onna coast, and on clear days the Kerama Islands and towards Naha. Entry is free around the clock with free parking; bus 29 from Naha stops at Zakimi, followed by a ten-minute uphill walk.

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