Nakijin gusuku

• Japanese: 今帰仁城　・　今帰仁グスク (Nakijin-jou / Nakijin gusuku)
• Type: Okinawan Gusuku
• Founder: Haniji
• Year: c. 1315-1320s
• Destroyed: 1416?

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.

Though there had been 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. It is located on the Motobu peninsula, on a rocky outcropping, facing out over the South China Sea.

The castle is separated from the main mountain mass of Motobu on the east by a steep drop into a gorge with a stream at the bottom. A steep drop to the north and northeast from the castle drops down to the shoreline. A small harbor inlet here once served the castle, while Unten harbor, the main port of the Hokuzan kingdom, lay roughly 5-6 miles to the east.

The royal residence was located at the highest and innermost part of the complex and was surrounded by a small garden with a spring. Three shrines (uganju) stood at the highest point of the precipice. In a less inner enclosure, located at a somewhat lower elevation, were residences for certain vassals, along with administrative buildings. As was typical of gusuku construction at this time, the stonework of the walls was very solid, but quite rough, with a relative lack of precision fitting or fine cutting. Roughly 1500 meters of limestone castle wall remain today.

The castle saw three generations of rulers before being attacked and destroyed by the armies of Chûzan in 1416. Lords of Hokuzan governing in subordination to the royal capital at Shuri would continue to make their residence here for several centuries afterwards.

As a tourist site, the ruins are particularly known for the beautiful view out over the South China Sea, for the impressive grandeur of the castle walls, and for the overall amount of space taken up by the castle grounds. Hokuzan in general was characterized by wider spaces, or at least less dense settlement and population, than Nanzan and Chûzan, the other kingdoms on the island at that time. Nakijin is also consistently among the first places in the country to see, and celebrate, the sakura blooming each year.