Since we found ourselves in in Naha city anyway (after having dropped off Aaron & Masayo at the airport to embark upon their new adventures beyond Okinawa), we decided to make a day of it & explore some new sights. So we made our way around Hwy 329 (becoming 82 & then turning left onto 222) & we had soon arrived at the lovely & picturesque Shikina-En Royal Gardens:
We were thoroughly impressed with the natural beauty of this very historically significant site. A blurb from Wikipedia (on the Shuri Castle page):
"Built in 1799, the royal gardens and villa were not only where the royals relaxed but was also used to host the investiture envoys who came from the Great Empire, China. The garden's circle layout resembles plans used in modern Japanese gardens, but the Villa itself with its red tile is uniquely Ryūkyūan, and pond and bridge to the miniature island is in the Chinese style. This is a rare, historically valuable example of Ryūkyūan landscape gardening, and Shikina-en is also registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, separate from Shuri Castle."
Photos of our excursion that day:
More info & multimedia related to the gardens from other sites:
http://www.okinawaindex.com/index/?tid=3&cid=75&id=2
http://www.straycompass.com/video_page.php?recordID=75
http://okinawa.com/content/view/145/101/lang,en/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/denysokinawa/2554706113/
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