Tamaudun

The Tamaudun is the royal mausoleum built in 1501 by King Shō Shin who governed the Ryukyu Kingdom in its prime. Passing through two courtyards covered with coral pebbles, you arrive at a mausoleum built in stone. There are three chambers in the mausoleum. The middle one at the front is where the body was kept after the funeral rites were completed. After a number of years had passed, the bones were cleansed and the king and queen were entombed in the eastern chamber on the left. Other members of the royal family were interred in the western chamber on the right once the bones were cleansed. The Tamaudun was a collective grave used by the Ryukyuan kings (the royal line of the second Shō dynasty) so there are no individual graves. In a corner of one of the courtyards, there is a stele with a famous inscription carved in the hiragana script.
In 2000, “Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu” was registered under UNESCO World Heritage Site.