Shuri, Okinawa

Shuri (首里, Okinawan: スイ Sui or Shui, Northern Ryukyuan: しより Shiyori[1]) is a district of the city of Naha, Okinawa, Japan.

Originally established as a castle town surrounding the royal palace, Shuri ceased to be the capital when the kingdom was abolished and incorporated into Japan as Okinawa prefecture.

[5] Shō Hashi (r. 1422–1439), first king of the unified Ryūkyū Kingdom, made Shuri his capital, and oversaw expansion of the castle and the city.

[11] The samurai withdrew soon afterwards, returning King Shō Nei to his throne, and the castle and city to the Okinawans, though the kingdom was now a vassal state under Satsuma's suzerainty and would remain so for roughly 250 years.

The American Commodore Perry, when he came to Okinawa in the 1850s, forced his way into Shuri Castle on two separate occasions, but was denied an audience with the king both times.

[13] The castle, along with the nearby mansions of former court nobles, fell into disrepair and decay over the ensuing years, and the ways of life of the aristocrats of Shuri were shattered.

Bureaucrats, almost all of them native to other prefectures, and tied up in obligations to military orders, made little effort to protect civilians, their homes, schools, nor historical monuments.

The mansions were destroyed by fire on 6 April, and the Okinawan guards appointed by the Custodian were sent away when the Japanese military occupied the grounds afterward.

[17] As Shuri was the center of the Japanese defense, it was the prime target of American assault in the battle of Okinawa which was fought from March to June 1945.

The University of the Ryukyus was established on the site of the ruins of Shuri Castle in 1950, though later moved and today has campuses in Ginowan and Nakagusuku.

[23] The village of Tobari in Shuri was the home of Masami Chinen, who founded and taught the martial art Yamani ryu specialising in Bōjutsu.