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Five years after the destruction of Shuri Castle in 1945, the
campus of the University of the Ryukyus was established on the site.
Okinawa reverted to Japan in 1972 and the very next year saw the
establishment of the Association for Shuri Castle Restoration. The
association and others sought the framing of a plan to develop a
Shuri Castle Park as a national urban park commemorating the reversion.
Such a plan would guarantee the university's relocation and focus
thinking about after use of its current site. Relocation of the
university began in 1977 and was finished by 1979. The national
government's Second Okinawa Development Plan envisioned the creation
of a park centered on Shuri Castle and stated, "The site is
appropriate for the development of a park reviving and expressing
the historical atmosphere of Shuri Castle and its environs and planning
should begin for this." With this endorsement, work on the
park project began in earnest in 1984 on the basis of the Shuri
Castle Park Basic Plan.
There were four core elements in the park project. The Seiden and the Zuisenmon,
Roukokumon, Koufukumon and Uekimon gates inside the old castle
wall where the University of the Ryukyus had been were included in the national
park. The Okinawa General Bureau and the National Okinawa Commemorative Park Office
were in charge of work on these. The vicinity around the castle was designated
a prefectural park. Work here was done by the Okinawa Civil Engineering
and Construction Bureau. The Kankaimon, Kyukeimon and Kobikimon
outer gates came within the jurisdiction of the Shuri Castle Walls Restoration
Project undertaken by the Okinawa Prefectural Board of Education, while
restoration of buildings in the palace zone other than the Seiden fell
to the Special Park Facilities Preparation Project, under the auspices of the
Housing and Urban Development Public Corporation Parks and Greenery Section.
In November 1992 Shuri Castle Park was partially opened to the public.
Those who had played a part in the restoration of course, and many
other people of the prefecture as well, greeted the dignified and
elegant restoration of Shuri Castle with joyous hearts.
Shuri Castle Park has become Okinawa's premier tourist attraction.
As a rich and deeply impressive expression of Okinawa's history
and culture, it draws more than two million enthusiastic visitors
every year. |
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