Kinjocho Stone Path

Locally knownKnown to people who live here. Not in the international guidebooks.

Investigado y escrito por Hinato

Kinjochostone pathShuriakagi treesRyukyu road

Prefectura de Okinawa · Naha

26.2169°N, 127.7162°E

The Madama-michi was the road the Ryukyu kings took south out of Shuri Castle, laid in the early sixteenth century with limestone slabs. Ten kilometres of it once ran to the coast; about three hundred metres survived the 1945 bombardment, on a steep hillside below the castle in Kinjocho, and that is what remains.

The stones are worn smooth and set unevenly, the lane drops sharply between stone walls and old houses with red tiles, and the whole thing is a great deal quieter than the castle above it. Partway down, in a small sacred grove, stand five akagi trees estimated at two to three hundred years old — among the very few large trees in Naha that survived the war. The path is free, always open, and takes twenty minutes downhill or rather longer up.

Información esencial

Horario

Open 24 hrs

Cerrado: Open year-round

Entrada

Free

Mejor temporada

Year-round | Early morning for quiet and cooler walking

Duración de la visita

30–45 minutes

Cómo llegar

Información de acceso

Shuri Kinjocho, Naha, below Shuri Castle. About a short walk from Shuri Station on the Okinawa monorail, a short walk from the Ishidatami-mae bus stop on the number 15 Samukawa line, or by car from Naha IC. Free and open at all times. The stones are uneven and the gradient is steep — proper shoes recommended.

Guía privilegiada

**Walk down, not up.** The gradient is severe. Coming from Shuri Castle downhill is much easier than the reverse, and there are buses at the bottom. **The stones are slippery when wet.** Worn limestone on a steep slope. In rain this is genuinely hazardous in smooth-soled shoes. **Find the akagi grove.** Five trees of two to three hundred years old in the Uchikanagusuku sacred grove partway down — among the only large old trees left in Naha after 1945. It is a place of worship; behave accordingly. **There is a house you can go into.** A restored traditional dwelling partway along is open as a rest stop, free, and gives shade and a view down the lane. **Three hundred metres out of ten kilometres.** That ratio is the war. It is worth knowing what you are looking at the remnant of.

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