Changes

*''Destroyed: after [[1665]]''

*''Destroyed: after [[1665]]''

Nakijin gusuku was the residence and administrative center of the Okinawan kingdom of [[Hokuzan]], which controlled the northern part of [[Okinawa Island]] in the [[Sanzan Period]] of the 14th-15th centuries. The fortress covers roughly 38,000 square meters - double the territory of [[Nakagusuku castle]], and roughly the same land area as [[Shuri castle]] - and is often cited as the largest of Okinawa's ''gusuku''.<ref name=kitahara>Kitahara Shûichi. ''A Journey to the Ryukyu Gusuku'' 琉球城紀行。 Naha: Miura Creative, 2003. p47.</ref>

Nakijin gusuku was the residence and administrative center of the Okinawan kingdom of [[Hokuzan]], which controlled the northern part of [[Okinawa Island]] in the [[Sanzan Period]] of the 14th-15th centuries. The fortress covers roughly 38,000 square meters - double the territory of [[Nakagusuku gusuku|Nakagusuku castle]], and roughly the same land area as [[Shuri castle]] - and is often cited as the largest of Okinawa's ''gusuku''.<ref name=kitahara>Kitahara Shûichi. ''A Journey to the Ryukyu Gusuku'' 琉球城紀行。 Naha: Miura Creative, 2003. p47.</ref>

Though there had been [[anji|Lords]] of Nakijin prior to the creation of the Hokuzan kingdom, and thus some form of chiefly residence can be presumed to have been on or near the site before, it is believed that the ''gusuku'' form of Nakijin castle only emerged at the founding of the kingdom, or perhaps later; some sources give the year [[1383]] as the year that Haniji, generally cited as the first king of Hokuzan, became lord of Nakijin gusuku.<ref name=kitahara/> The fortress is located on the Motobu peninsula, on a rocky outcropping, facing out over the South China Sea.

Though there had been [[anji|Lords]] of Nakijin prior to the creation of the Hokuzan kingdom, and thus some form of chiefly residence can be presumed to have been on or near the site before, it is believed that the ''gusuku'' form of Nakijin castle only emerged at the founding of the kingdom, or perhaps later; some sources give the year [[1383]] as the year that Haniji, generally cited as the first king of Hokuzan, became lord of Nakijin gusuku.<ref name=kitahara/> The fortress is located on the Motobu peninsula, on a rocky outcropping, facing out over the South China Sea.