is one of the three royal

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type o ...

s of the

Ryukyu Kingdom The Ryukyu Kingdom was a kingdom in the Ryukyu Islands from 1429 to 1879. It was ruled as a Tributary system of China, tributary state of Ming dynasty, imperial Ming China by the King of Ryukyu, Ryukyuan monarchy, who unified Okinawa Island t ...

, along with

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, Shuri, Okinawa Prefecture, Okinawa, and wa ...

Shuri Castle is a Ryukyu Islands, Ryukyuan ''gusuku'' castle in Shuri, Okinawa, 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 ...

and

Izena Tamaudun is one of the three royal mausoleums of the Ryukyu Kingdom, along with Tamaudun at Shuri Castle and Urasoe yōdore at Urasoe Castle. It is located near Izena Castle in Izena, Okinawa. It was built in 1501 by King Shō Shin. Burials * Shō Shok ...

near Izena Castle in

Izena, Okinawa is a village occupying Izena Island in the north of Okinawa Prefecture, Japan (though administered as part of Shimajiri District). There are five localities of about equal size and population located on the island: Izena, Nakada, Shomi, Uchiha ...

. It is located in

Urasoe, Okinawa is a city located in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. The neighboring municipalities are Naha to the south, Ginowan to the north, and Nishihara to the east. As of February 2024, the city has an estimated population of 115,518 and a population den ...

, in a cave on a cliff to the northeast of

Urasoe Castle is a Ryukyuan ''gusuku'' which served as the capital of the medieval Okinawan principality of Chūzan prior to the unification of the island into the Ryukyu Kingdom, and the moving of the capital to Shuri Castle, Shuri. In the 14th century, Ura ...

. It houses the remains of three rulers of the

Ryukyu Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Geography of Taiwan, Taiwan: the Ryukyu Islands are divided into the Satsunan Islands (Ōsumi Islands, Ōsumi, Tokara Islands, Tokara and A ...

, along with one king of the

Ryūkyū Kingdom The Ryukyu Kingdom was a kingdom in the Ryukyu Islands from 1429 to 1879. It was ruled as a Tributary system of China, tributary state of Ming dynasty, imperial Ming China by the King of Ryukyu, Ryukyuan monarchy, who unified Okinawa Island t ...

separated from the others by several centuries.

History

The mausoleum was established in 1261, during the reign of Eiso, before Okinawa was divided into

three kingdoms The Three Kingdoms of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu dominated China from AD 220 to 280 following the end of the Han dynasty. This period was preceded by the Eastern Han dynasty and followed by the Jin dynasty (266–420), Western Jin dyna ...

, when it was simply ruled by a network of local chieftains under the leadership of one head chieftain or "king". It was completed by 1271, and included a first and second gardens, stone gateways, and stone monuments written in Chinese and Ryukyuan. Like many other structures on the island, it was extensively damaged during the 1945

Battle of Okinawa The , codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa Island, Okinawa by United States Army and United States Marine Corps forces against the Imperial Japanese Army during the Pacific War, Impe ...

, and later researched and restored. Eiso and two of his successors are entombed at Urasoe yōdore, in sarcophagi of a Chinese

diorite Diorite ( ) is an intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock formed by the slow cooling underground of magma (molten rock) that has a moderate content of silica and a relatively low content of alkali metals. It is Intermediate composition, inter ...

stone; statues of the

bodhisattva In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a person who has attained, or is striving towards, '' bodhi'' ('awakening', 'enlightenment') or Buddhahood. Often, the term specifically refers to a person who forgoes or delays personal nirvana or ''bodhi'' in ...

Kannon Guanyin () is a common Chinese name of the bodhisattva associated with Karuṇā, compassion known as Avalokiteśvara (). Guanyin is short for Guanshiyin, which means " he One WhoPerceives the Sounds of the World". Originally regarded as m ...

and Jizō stand inside the cave. More than 300 years later, King

Shō Nei was king of the Ryukyu Kingdom from 1589 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 Sh� ...

requested to be buried at Urasoe and not in the Shō family royal mausoleum of

. His reign had seen the

invasion of Ryukyu The by forces of the Japanese feudal domain of Satsuma took place from March to May of 1609, and marked the beginning of the Ryukyu Kingdom's status as a vassal state under the Satsuma domain. The invasion force was met with stiff resistanc ...

by forces from Japan's

Satsuma province was an old province of Japan that is now the western half of Kagoshima Prefecture on the island of Kyūshū. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Satsuma" in . Its abbreviation was . History Satsuma's provincial capital was Satsumasendai. Dur ...

, and the subjugation of the kingdom to Satsuma's

suzerainty A suzerain (, from Old French "above" + "supreme, chief") is a person, state (polity)">state or polity who has supremacy and dominant influence over the foreign policy">polity.html" ;"title="state (polity)">state or polity">state (polity)">st ...

, and thus it is believed that he felt he had dishonored his family and his kingdom, and was not worthy of being buried with his ancestors.

Burials

* Eiso (1229–1299) * , grandfather of Shō Nei *

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 Shō ...

(d. 1584), father of Shō Nei * King

(1564–1620) * , Queen consort of Shō Nei

Gallery

File:Stone_sarcophagus_of_King_Eiso.JPG, Tomb of King Eiso File:Urasoe Youdore - The royal tomb of the Ryukyu king.jpg

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Urasoe yodore Ryukyu Kingdom Mausoleums in Japan Buildings and structures in Okinawa Prefecture History of Okinawa Prefecture Okinawa Prefecture designated tangible cultural property