Chatan Castle

About

Chatan Castle (Chatan jōato), or Chatan Gusuku (Okinawan, Chatan gusuku) is a Ryūkyūan gusuku located in Chatan, Okinawa. It was built on a Ryūkyū limestone hill topping at an altitude of 44.7 metres, and consists in five enclosures for a total area of 16,600 square metres. It is naturally protected by a cliff 10 to 20 metres high on the north and a two-stepped cliff on the south, with the Shirahi-gawa River running westward at the foot of the northern cliff. It was an important fortress of the Chūzan kingdom between the second half of the 13th century and the first half of the 16th century. It is the fifth largest gusuku on Okinawa Island, after Shuri, Nakijin, Itokazu and Nanzan.After WWII, it was included in the land seized for Camp Zukeran. It was only returned to Chatan Town on 31 March 2020. Access is still strictly controlled by the Japanese Defense Bureau. Since the destruction of Ichi Gusuku, Chatan Gusuku is the only gusuku in Chatan Town. It has been designated as a National Historic Site in 2020.

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Photography via Wikimedia Commons.