European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 23, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                8 stripes Okinawa an advertising supplement Friday March 23 2007 Friday March 23 2007 an advertising supplement stripes Okinawa 9 Entrance to the main Castle grounds looking up from the Back Side of the Castle these Walls provided a formidable defensive Barrier the lords of Hokutan a journey Back in time Nakitin Castle once the seat of the Hokutan kingdom is now an important archaeological site and a popular tourist attraction the place where Kings and priestesses once walked and prayed is now just a shattered memory of the grandeur of what once was during the three kingdoms period of okinawan history Hokutan trans lated As Northern mountains stretched from what is now Onna son to hero Misaki larger than the combined size of Chazan Central kingdom and Vanzan Southern it dwarfed them in sheer size the Southern kingdoms however boasted More in popu lation and economic Prosperity built in the 13th Century the fourteen acre Story and photos by Keith t Graff Complex is the largest of its kind from that period situated on a rugged Hillside roughly three Hundred feet above the East China sea it boasts a commanding View from the West to the North and East on Clear Days observe Sheya Jima Izena Jima and hero Misaki surrounded by Steep rugged hillsides deep River Gorges and thick Jungle like forests the Castle was believed to be impregnable it held such a formidable defensive position it took treachery and deceit to claim it the demise of the kingdom began in the Early 15th Century when As legend has it several of the Kings vassals changed their allegiance to the King of Chazan now with an army Large enough to launch an attack they marched North further treachery sealed the kingdoms Fate when the troops were lured out of the Castle in a ruse the King was led to believe that his army had routed the numerically Superior Chazan soldiers and had them on the run Only a final attack was needed and they could achieve a decisive Victory the King then committed the remainder of his Reserve troops and charged out of the Castle in Pursuit when the phantom enemy was nowhere to be found they turned Back Only to find the Castle burning in flames the War was lost and the King committed Sui cide the three kingdoms were United into one Over the next two Hundred years the Castle served As the provincial governors head quarters it remained in use until the Middle of the 17th Century hard economic times associated with the Rule of the Satsuma clan of Kagoshima made its further use untenable since then it fell into ruin and the ravages of time have taken their toll with the reversion Back to Japan in 1972 the Castle ruins were elevated to a National historic site along with several other Ryukyu castles the ruins have been declared Enesco world heritage Sites the Castle ruins Are considerably larger than what visitors see today and the Park continued on Page 10 on the Back Side of the keep soldiers were billeted