World Heritage Identification Number: 972
World Heritage since: 2000
Category: Cultural Heritage
Transboundary Heritage: No
Endangered Heritage: No
Country: 🇯🇵 Japan
Continent: Asia
UNESCO World Region: Asia and the Pacific
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Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu: A Unique Blend of Cultures
The Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000, offer a captivating glimpse into the rich history and unique culture of the Ryukyu Kingdom. This collection of nine sites, all situated within the Okinawa Prefecture of Japan, provides a comprehensive account of the kingdom's history spanning from the 12th to the 17th century.
More to come…UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site
Five hundred years of Ryukyuan history (12th-17th century) are represented by this group of sites and monuments. The ruins of the castles, on imposing elevated sites, are evidence for the social structure over much of that period, while the sacred sites provide mute testimony to the rare survival of an ancient form of religion into the modern age. The wide- ranging economic and cultural contacts of the Ryukyu Islands over that period gave rise to a unique culture.
UNESCO Justification of the World Heritage Site
Criterion ii For several centuries the Ryukyu islands served as a centre of economic and cultural interchange between south-east Asia, China, Korea, and Japan, and this is vividly demonstrated by the surviving monuments. Criterion iii The culture of the Ryukyuan Kingdom evolved and flourished in a special political and economic environment, which gave its culture a unique quality. Criterion vi The Ryukyu sacred sites constitute an exceptional example of an indigenous form of nature and ancestor worship which has survived intact into the modern age alongside other established world religions.
Encyclopedia Record: Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu
The Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu is an UNESCO World Heritage Site which consists of nine sites all located in the Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. The heritage sites include two utaki, the Tamaudun mausoleum, one garden, and five gusuku castles sites, four of which are ruins and one of which is a reconstruction. The sites were inscribed based on the criteria that they were a fine representation of the Ryūkyū Kingdom's culture, whose unique blend of Japanese and Chinese influence made it a crucial economic and cultural junction between several neighboring states.Additional Site Details
Area: 54.9 hectares
(iii) — Unique or exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition
(vi) — Directly associated with events or living traditions
Coordinates: 26.20861111 , 127.6827778
