JAPAN ALMANAC
Interpretive illustration of Shuri Castle red palace structures and gusuku walls; not a site photograph.

Castle Atlas / No. 100

Shuri Castle

Shuri Castle belongs to the Ryukyu Kingdom’s gusuku world rather than the tower-centered castle grammar of much of mainland Japan.

Open in Google MapsOfficial visitor source

History

What historically stood here

The Japan Castle Foundation records 首里城 as a 平山城 site in 那覇市, with the founding label 14世紀頃、1715年（正徳5年）. The listed builder or associated clan is 不明; principal lords are 尚氏.

The site’s history spans Ryukyu Kingdom, modern reconstruction, post-2019 rebuilding.

Today

What you are actually seeing today

You are seeing a World Heritage gusuku site whose buildings are modern reconstructions. The main hall (Seiden), destroyed by fire in 2019, has been rebuilt again and opens to visitors on November 23, 2026.

Current condition
Reconstructed gates, turrets or buildings
Terrain
Hirayamajiro: hill-on-plain castle
Condition note
Reconstructed: 門. Classified 2026-09-24 from the structured fields at https://cmeg.jp/w/castles/9939.

Architecture And Defense

How to read the place

  • gusuku context
  • Ryukyu royal center
  • stone walls
  • reconstruction landscape

Cultural-property notes in the Foundation row: 国指定史跡.

UNESCO context: World Heritage component: Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu.

Visit

Present-day visitor information

Reconstruction after the 2019 fire is ongoing; check Shurijo Castle Park official information for current viewing routes.

Address or access location
沖縄県那覇市首里
Coordinates
26.217025, 127.719459
Nearest useful station
Shuri Station
Estimated visit duration
2-4 hours
Opening hours
Check the official visitor source.
Admission
Check the official visitor source.

Seasonal planning note

  • Okinawa heat, rain and reconstruction routing can shape the visit.

Nearby

Castles close enough to compare

Sources

Source and correction context

Identity, list membership, Foundation list number, municipality, basic classification and cultural-property notes are source-verified. Site-level visitor details require additional review unless this record is publishable. Foundation numbers are official list identifiers, not rankings. Coordinates use the Foundation-linked position-data KML and should be treated as visitor-planning coordinates rather than archaeological survey points.

Sources

  1. Japan's Top 100 and Continued Top 100 Castle Position Data, Japan Castle Foundation / Nippon Castle. Accessed 2026-09-04. Used for the 200 castle addresses and coordinates exposed through the public map linked from the Japan Castle Foundation castle-search page.
  2. Japan's Top 100 Castles, Japan Castle Foundation. Accessed 2026-09-04. Used for the official identity, list number, list membership, location municipality, castle type, founding label, builders, principal lords, cultural-property notes, and keep-status notes for the original 100-castle selection.
  3. Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu, UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Accessed 2026-09-04. Used for Okinawa gusuku World Heritage context.
  4. 100 Fine Castles of Japan and Continued 100 Fine Castles of Japan, Wikipedia contributors. Accessed 2026-09-04. Used only as a secondary cross-check for common English castle names; Japan Castle Foundation records remain the corpus source of truth.
  5. Shuri Castle Seiden opening date announced (首里城正殿供用開始), Okinawa Commemorative National Government Park (Shuri Castle Park). Accessed 2026-09-24. Completion ceremony on November 22, 2026 and public opening of the rebuilt main hall on November 23, 2026.
  6. Nippon Shiro Meguri castle records: keep structure, remains and rebuilt structures, Nippon Shiro Meguri (cmeg.jp). Accessed 2026-09-24. Structured fields for each of the 200 castles, used to classify what stands at each site today. The linked record for each castle is its coordinate source.