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The garden & villa were destroyed in the Battle of Okinawa in 1945, and some dugouts created by soldiers during the Battle can still be seen in the grounds. Shrapnel, possibly from an American shell, was also discovered on the site. Reconstruction of the garden and buildings was completed in 1995, and the site is now administered by the City of Naha. It is a nationally-designated "site of scenic beauty," and was designated a [[World Heritage Site]] in 2000 alongside a number of other sites, comprising the collective World Heritage Site "Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu."
The garden & villa were destroyed in the Battle of Okinawa in 1945, and some dugouts created by soldiers during the Battle can still be seen in the grounds. Shrapnel, possibly from an American shell, was also discovered on the site. Reconstruction of the garden and buildings was completed in 1995, and the site is now administered by the City of Naha. It is a nationally-designated "site of scenic beauty," and was designated a [[World Heritage Site]] in 2000 alongside a number of other sites, comprising the collective World Heritage Site "Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu."
==Neighborhood==
The gardens originally occupied nearly the entire village of Shikina, but the ''[[yaadui]]'' phenomenon of the 1700s marked the beginning of the expansion of the area outside of the garden as a residential area, as [[Scholar-aristocracy of Ryukyu|scholar-aristocrats]] in financial difficulties began moving from [[Shuri]] in search of more affordable places to live. The residential district thus created came to be called Maji. Residents formed a ''[[kyodotai|kyôdôtai]]'' (local administrative collective) in the early [[Meiji period]], and in [[1909]] part of this neighborhood was split off as the new district "Hantagawa." Maji was formally made an official district in 1916.
The area features a number of significant natural springs, including the Itokusen, as well as many [[Okinawan tombs|graves]]. The latter were formally grouped into the Shikina Cemetery (''Shikina reien'') in 1956; the graves of a number of notable historical figures, including [[Tei Junsoku]] and [[Nomura Ancho|Nomura Anchô]], were among those incorporated into the cemetery.
==References==
==References==