Hey, good morning everyone!
Today we are going to Shuri jo, which is the main royal castle here in Naha, in Okinawa, Japan.
We are getting ready to leave the city, it's actually kind of in the city, but we do have to take a monorail to get there,
so we're just finding where that is now and then we'll fast forward you over to the castle.
Shuri castle. Easily the most impressive and commanding structures from the ancient Ryukyu Kingdom.
Inhabited from 1429 to 1879, this castle was the cultural hub for Okinawa and its surrounding islands.
The castle saw many owners over the years after the fall of the Ryukyu Kingdom.
Both the Japanese and American armies had turns controlling the structure until it became a college in 1950.
It wasn't until the year 2000 that the castle was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Approaching Shuri castle you get an immediate sense of the power that existed here.
Not far from this gate, were the stone gates of Sonohayan Utaki.
It was custom for the king to stop at this site, go through the gates to the sacred location inside, and pray.
Once inside you reach another gate called Kyukeimon,
which took you to an inner field called Oochibara.
Housed within the courtyard is a replica of the bridge of nations bell.
The original bell was cast in 1458. It weighed over 1400 pounds.
Despite being heavily bombed by the USA during the Battle of Okinawa, the bell survived largely intact.
An inscription on the bell tells of the intimacy the Ryukyu nation had with its neighbors.
It read "The kingdom of the Ryukyu is a splendid place in the south seas,
with close intimate relations with the three nations of China, Korea and Japan.
Between which it is located, in which express much admiration for these islands,
journeying by various countries by ship, the kingdom forms a bridge between all nations filling its land with precious goods and products of foriegn lands.
In addition to the hearts of its people, emulate the virtuous civilization of Japan and China.
Wow! Now those are words I can live by.
Travel places you've never been, find the things that make that country amazing, and incorporate them into your own life.
Okay, no sooner than I finished saying that "I feel like we should have paid by now", we did come across a place where you can pay.
It's right inside this main courtyard.
You get to go through some of the areas for free, but then once you actually get to the castle, and go inside the castle, you will have to pay.
It's 820 yen, so probably around $9 Canadian.
It's more expensive than any of the other UNESCO World Heritage Sites we've been to on this trip so far,
but as far as a museum and historic site, $8 isn't too bad.
Okay, so I was talking about paying admission, there are discounts available if you have a one or two day monorail pass.
Instead of 820 yen, it is 660 yen.
So it's a fairly good discount.
Unfortunately, we're not going to be taking the monorail that often, so we didn't bother getting a day or multi-day pass,
so we ended up paying the full price, but like I said, if you do have that pass, make sure that you get the discount here at the castle.
Akane just noticed that with these constructions, they're actually painted on the front part of this.
I couldn't even tell.
I wouldn't have known any difference.
I thought that was just scaffolding right in front,
but uh I'm going to take you a little bit closer, maybe you'll be able to see exactly what i'm talking about,
how it's just on the actual vinyl that's hiding the construction.
Walking into the main courtyard is where you get your first glimpse of the castle.
Two sandstone dragons sit on either side of the entrance. The Great Dragon pillars represent the king.
Off to the side of the main castle are two buildings: the Bandokaro and Nanden.
The first was a location where visitors of the castle made their messages to the king.
The other was a banquet hall where officials of Satsuma clan were entertained.
In addition to the entertainment, the king would often perform daily office work within this building.
Depending on where you are in the castle it is either okay, or not okay, to take photos or video.
Just make sure, they got signs everywhere telling you whether or not you can or cannot take videos and pictures in that section,
just be respectful of the artwork and their requirements I guess,
and make it a lot better.
Out back was the garden.
It backed onto the king's study, and was the only elaborate garden within the castle grounds.
One thing that I've noticed, and I don't know why it kind of became apparent to me now,
but ever since we've been here at Okinawa, I haven't noticed a lot of birds.
I'm not sure why.
Lots of butterflies, lots of bugs, lots of everything else, but a very distinct lack of birds actually.
I think it's just because, like certain areas, it's so quiet.
If you're not like right into like the forest where there's all those like bugs,
or cicadas, or whatever those buzzing bugs are,
it's so quiet, there's not a whole lot of birds, and i find it very kind of strange for such a tropically climate area
where usually there's tons of birds and stuff like that.
Very strange.
I think we've all waited a lifetime to step into a real-life throne room.
I know the kid in me really likes this room for so many reasons.
The overabundance of decorations,
brightly covered walls,
and the power of the words spoken in this room had effects that rippled out throughout the country.
The room is immaculate, and quite literally, fit for a king.
You always see the old pillars, or pillar spots in all the ruins and stuff like that,
and i guess i never really understood how they fit into a building plan.
I always thought they'd be like in the center, but this castle was a prime example of how it actually works really well,
and how it incorporates each pillar into the building itself,
and it's not like "in the way" like i thought it would have to be.
Shuri castle was a gem back in its day.
Today it's been returned to its former glory.
The castle hasn't had the easiest life after being destroyed by fire 3 different times, and seeing war ravished the castle.
Even after all it's seen, the castle has continually been a source of inspiration for the people of the island
and continues to remain a visual reminder of the perseverance of Okinawan culture, and their way of life.
As we're walking around, we're supposed to be doing 3 UNESCO Sites today, and as we're walking around we are looking for the second one.
It turns out that the stone gate that I showed you at the very beginning, well that's it.
It is a single structure.
It's not a whole site like a lot of the other ones have been so far.
If you're looking for it, it is that single gate. I will put it up here again so you can see it one more time,
and I guess I will just include it in this video.
Alright everyone, I believe we have done all the interior and exterior to the ground.
We spent about 1.5 - 2 hours walking around, taking our time, reading all the information.
If you're going to be coming, 2 hours is probably good for you as well.
If you like the video, let me know hit that thumbs up button.
If you're new, I want to say welcome, I hope you enjoyed the video, and I hope you subscribe for more of them.
We're going to be doing some cool stuff here in Japan,
and then of course, we're always on to the next adventure.
Alright guys, hope you like this UNESCO World Heritage Site, and I hope to see you all in the next video!