was a

Buddhist temple A Buddhist temple or Buddhist monastery is the place of worship for Buddhists, the followers of Buddhism. They include the structures called vihara, chaitya, stupa, wat and pagoda in different regions and languages. Temples in Buddhism represen ...

and royal mausoleum of the

Ryūkyū Kingdom The Ryukyu Kingdom, Middle Chinese: , , Classical Chinese: (), Historical English language, English names: ''Lew Chew'', ''Lewchew'', ''Luchu'', and ''Loochoo'', Historical French name: ''Liou-tchou'', Historical Dutch name: ''Lioe-kioe'' wa ...

, located in

Naha is the capital city of Okinawa Prefecture, the southernmost prefecture of Japan. As of 1 June 2019, the city has an estimated population of 317,405 and a population density of 7,939 persons per km2 (20,562 persons per sq. mi.). The total area i ...

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

. It was erected during the reign of King

Shō Shin was a king of the Ryukyu Kingdom, the third ruler the second Shō dynasty. Shō Shin's long reign has been described as "the Great Days of Chūzan", a period of great peace and relative prosperity. He was the son of Shō En, the founder of the dyn ...

(r. 1477–1526), and destroyed in the 1945

battle of Okinawa The , codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by United States Army (USA) and United States Marine Corps (USMC) forces against the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). The initial invasion of ...

. In 1496, memorial tablets representing the kings of the Ryūkyū Kingdom were installed in the temple, establishing it as a royal mausoleum. Anyone entering the temple grounds, including the king himself, had to dismount and enter the temple on foot out of respect for the prior sovereigns. The temple grounds were expanded at this time as well, with the construction of the massive stone gates and walls which remain today. Though these royal memorial tablets continued to be enshrined in the Sōgen-ji for many centuries, beginning in 1521, the actual royal remains were entombed in the

Tamaudun is one of the three royal mausoleums of the Ryukyu Kingdom, along with Urasoe yōdore at Urasoe Castle and Izena Tamaudun near Izena Castle in Izena, Okinawa. The mausoleum is located in Shuri, Okinawa, and was built for Ryūkyūan royalty in ...

mausoleum completed that year a short distance from

Shuri Castle was a Ryukyuan ''gusuku'' castle in Shuri, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. Between 1429 and 1879, it was the palace of the Ryukyu Kingdom, before becoming largely neglected. In 1945, during the Battle of Okinawa, it was almost completely destroye ...

. In the early years,

spirit tablet A spirit tablet, memorial tablet, or ancestral tablet, is a placard used to designate the seat of a deity or past ancestor as well as to enclose it. The name of the deity or past ancestor is usually inscribed onto the tablet. With origins in tr ...

of three royalties were placed here:

Shō Shoku was the father of King Shō En, the founder of the Second Shō dynasty of the Ryukyu Kingdom. Shō Shoku was born into a family of peasant farmers on Izena Island, a small island which lies off the northwestern coast of Okinawa Island. He married ...

(), father of King

Shō En was a king of the Ryukyu Kingdom, the founder of the Second Shō dynasty. Prior to becoming king, he was known as . Early life and rise to power Kanamaru was born into a family of peasant farmers on Izena Island,"Shō En." ''Okinawa rekishi jinm ...

;

Shō Kyū , also known by Prince , was a royal of the Ryukyu Kingdom. He was father of King Shō Hō. Shō Kyū was the third son of King Shō Gen, and was the originator of a royal family, '' Kin Udun'' (). He had three famous sons: the eldest son King Shō ...

(), father of King

Shō Hō was a king of the Ryukyu Kingdom. He succeeded Shō Nei, whose reign saw the invasion of Ryukyu by Japanese forces in 1609 and the subjugation of the kingdom to Satsuma Domain, and ruled from 1621 until 1640. Shō Hō was the fourth son of Shō ...

; and

Shō I , also known by Prince , was a royal of the Ryukyu Kingdom. He was the third head of a royal family, '' Oroku Udun'' (), and was also father of King Shō Nei. Shō I was a grandson of Urasoe Chōman (Shō Ikō), the deposed crown prince of King Sh ...

(), father of King

Shō Nei was king of the Ryukyu Kingdom from 1587 to 1620. He reigned during the 1609 invasion of Ryukyu and was the first king of Ryukyu to be a vassal to the Shimazu clan of Satsuma, a Japanese feudal domain. Shō Nei was the great-grandson of Shō Shin ...

. In 1699, Shō Shoku and Shō Kyū's spirit tablet were moved to Tennō-ji, Shō I's was moved to

Tenkai-ji was a Rinzai Buddhist temple and royal ''bodaiji'' of the Ryūkyū Kingdom, located in Naha, Okinawa. The temple was erected by Keiin Ansen () during the reign of King Shō Taikyū (r. 1454–1460). The Mahavira Hall was built in 1466, a ''bons ...

.''

Kyūyō is an official history of the Ryūkyū Kingdom compiled between 1743 and 1745 by a group of scholar-officials led by . Written in kanbun, and numbering twenty-two scrolls, a supplementary volume in three scrolls documents relations with Satsuma, w ...

'', vol.10 All the temple buildings were destroyed in the

Battle of Okinawa The , codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by United States Army (USA) and United States Marine Corps (USMC) forces against the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). The initial invasion of ...

in 1945; only the stone walls and gates, foundations and steps, and some tablets and

stele A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), whe ...

s survived. Of two stone tablets erected outside the gates warning visitors to dismount, one remains today. The site is today a public park.

References

Religious buildings and structures completed in 1496 Buddhist temples in Okinawa Prefecture Buddhist archaeological sites in Japan Buildings and structures in Japan destroyed during World War II 1945 disestablishments Buddhism in the Ryukyu Islands Rinzai temples {{Buddhist-temple-stub

See also

References