[1] It houses the remains of three rulers of the Ryukyu Islands, along with one king of the Ryūkyū Kingdom separated from the others by several centuries.

The mausoleum was established in 1261, during the reign of Eiso, before Okinawa was divided into three kingdoms, when it was simply ruled by a network of local chieftains under the leadership of one head chieftain or "king".

Like many other structures on the island, it was extensively damaged during the 1945 Battle of Okinawa, and later researched and restored.

Eiso and two of his successors are entombed at Urasoe yōdore, in sarcophagi of a Chinese diorite stone;[1] statues of the bodhisattvas Kannon and Jizō stand inside the cave.

His reign had seen the invasion of Ryukyu by forces from Japan's Satsuma province, and the subjugation of the kingdom to Satsuma's suzerainty, 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.