Zakimi gusuku

Model of Zakimi gusuku, at the Okinawa Prefectural Museum

• Japanese: 座喜味城 (Zakimi gusuku)

Zakimi gusuku is a Ryukyuan fortress, or "gusuku," built on a hill above Yomitan Village.

The fortress is located 127 meters above sea level on Kunisaki-maaji Hill, and covers roughly 6800 square meters. It is believed to have been built by Gosamaru, using stone from his own Yamada gusuku, following the fall of Hokuzan to the forces of Shô Hashi.

The fortress consists of two baileys, enclosed in winding stone walls. The upper, northern enclosure provides a view of the Kerama Islands, Kumejima, Iejima, and Iheya Island. It is connected to the lower, southern enclosure by a gate facing east-southeast; another gate facing south-southwest out of the second enclosure is the only entrance/exit to the fortress. This outer gate may be the oldest such stone-arch gate in Okinawa. Archaeological remains indicate, however, that there may have been as many as five other enclosures. The wooden palace structures with the innermost bailey covered an area roughly 14 x 16.5 meters; the walls are chiefly piled up in the nuno-zumi and notsura-zumi modes.

As at many other gusuku sites, excavations reveal the remains of a variety of ceramics, including both Chinese and Ryukyuan objects, ranging from porcelains, to green and white celadons, and nanbanyaki.

References

• Kitahara Shûichi 北原秋一. A Journey to the Ryukyu Gusuku 琉球城紀行. Miura Creative, 2003. p39.
• Gallery labels, Okinawa Prefectural Museum.[1]