Shimotabaru Castle
ryukyuan gusuku in Taketomi, Okinawa Prefecture
Shimotabaru Castle (下田原城, Shimotabaru-jō) is a Ryukyuan gusuku fortification located on Hateruma Island in the Yaeyama Islands (Taketomi, Okinawa Prefecture). Nanjō, Okinawa. The castle ruins were designated a National Historic Site in 2003.
History
Around the end of the 12th century, the development of increased trade with Song Dynasty China and other countries led to the emergence of a ruling class. Many warlords ruled over the Yaeyama Islands until the Oyake Akahachi Rebellion, led by Oyake Akahachi, a native of Hateruma Island, brought the islands under the control of the Ryukyu Kingdom in 1500. Although small in size, Hateruma Island is dotted with fortification ruins and other remains believed to date from this period. One such example is Shimotabaru Castle, located on a cliff about 25 meters above sea level near Odomari Beach in the northern part of the island. Based on the discovery of Chinese celadon ware fragments dating from the 15th to 16th centuries, Shimotabaru Castle is believed to have been built around this time, but the exact date and who built it are unknown.
Shimotabaru Castle measures 150 meters east-to-west and 100 meters north-to-south. Surrounded by cliff walls made of piling coral limestone, it comprises eight enclosures.
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This entry incorporates text from “Shimotabaru Castle” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.