Ryukyuan Architecture

Ryukyuan architecture is the traditional architecture of the Ryukyuan people, with a history reaching back to the Shell Mound Period of roughly 2000 to 1000 BC, when houses in Okinawa were pit dwellings dug into the red earth or enclosed by limestone walls. Builders later began raising pillar-supported structures roofed with tiles made from local black muddy soil, mixed with water, dried and then baked into the red roof tiles that became one of the most recognizable features of Okinawan building, originally reserved for aristocrats until the Shuri government ended that restriction in 1889. Ryukyuan architecture also includes the stone-walled castles and fortresses known as gusuku, found across the Ryukyu Islands, each built around a main hall called a seidan that served as the feudal lord's residence and typically including one or more shrines.