Nakagusuku udun, or the Nakagusuku palace, was the mansion of the Crown Prince of the Ryûkyû Kingdom, located just outside Shuri castle, the royal palace.
Much as the British heir apparent is known as the Prince of Wales, in Ryûkyû the Crown Prince always held the magiri of Nakagusuku as his domain, and was known as Prince Nakagusuku, or Nakagusuku ôji. His mansion in Shuri was therefore known as the Nakagusuku Palace, or Nakagusuku udun - not to be confused with Nakagusuku castle, which stood in his domain.
The mansion of the Crown Prince faced south. It was first built during the reign of King Shô Hô (1621-1640), and was located between the Shureimon and Chûzanmon just outside the royal castle grounds. The front areas of the mansion served as administrative spaces, while the Crown Prince's private quarters and other living spaces were further back. In the rear of the compound was the women's area of the house, an area known as the uchibaru. As in the uchibaru of Shuri castle, or the Ôoku of the shogun's palace, men were forbidden to enter this space, with the Crown Prince and a few others the only exceptions. The two spaces together covered an area of roughly 3,000 tsubo.[1]
Just before the fall of the Ryûkyû Kingdom, in 1873, the mansion was relocated to a site just a short distance away, on the north side of Ryûtan pond. The Prince and his family moved into the mansion at the new location in 1875. Once Shuri castle was taken over by Japanese administrators & military after the fall of the kingdom in 1879, Nakagusuku udun became the primary royal residence for those members of the royal family who did not relocate to Tokyo.[1] Much of the kingdom's treasures were also moved to Nakagusuku udun, where they were cared for by a team of stewards.
Shô Family Treasures & the Battle of Okinawa
As the war escalated in 1943-1944, numerous air-raid shelters were constructed on Okinawa and in locations throughout Japan; in case of an air raid, residents were supposed to bring their most prized possessions with them into the shelters. Due to wartime policies forbidding individuals from employing men aged 16 to 55 as domestic workers (in order to keep those men available for the war effort), however, the men watching over the mansion and the treasures stored there were mostly, if not entirely, on the older side and were unable to easily move all the family treasures to any other location. Furthermore, Japanese imperial military officer Major Nagano Hideo had commandeered a portion of the mansion for his own lodgings, making it even more difficult for the family's stewards to manage the space and its contents. Sakuma Seibun was the head chamberlain at this time, overseeing the mansion and its contents for Baron Shô Jun along with Hanagusuku Seian, Misato Anshi, Nakama Chôshin, and Tomigusuku Chôkô; they were some of the only people who had thorough knowledge of the family collection.
In late March 1945, as the Allied invasion of the island approached (Allied forces made landfall on April 1), these stewards asked Maehira Bôkei for help in safeguarding the treasuresi.ven
During the Battle of Okinawa in April 1945, those stewards attempted to protect some of the most precious artifacts by hiding them in a drainage ditch just outside the mansion. Some of these objects, including perhaps the only extant historical manuscript copy of the Omoro sôshi, were taken by American soldiers; this copy of the Omoro sôshi was returned to Okinawa in 1953, but other objects from the mansion, including a royal investiture crown, have not been recovered, and are either still in a private collection, or were lost, destroyed along with the Nakagusuku palace itself in the 1945 battle.
The original site of the Nakagusuku palace was renamed Shimu nu yakuen (下の薬園) when the palace was relocated. This site later became that of the Okinawa First Prefectural Middle School, and is today the site of Shuri High School. The latter site, on the north side of the Ryûtan, later became the site of the Okinawa Prefectural Museum. As this museum has now been moved to the Omoromachi neighborhood, there were for many years discussions about plans to rebuild the Nakagusuku Palace as a historical site and community center. Following the loss of several of the main buildings of Shuri castle in a fire in Oct 2019, however, these plans are likely to be put aside, while focus is placed on rebuilding the castle.
References
- "Nachikasan Nakagusuku udun," exhibition flyer, Shuri Castle Park, 2012.
- Plaques on-site at former locations of the Nakagusuku Palace.
- "中城御殿復元へ １５年にも着工計画," Ryukyu Shimpo, 28 Jan 2012.