The center section of Shurijo Castle that should be regarded as its “face” is referred to as Karahafu. There are many dragons drawn on roofs and walls, creating an atmosphere that is slightly different from Japanese castles.

The first kanji character in the word Karahafu （唐玻豊） is Kara （唐）, which is pronounced Tang in Chinese （as in the Tang dynasty of China）, suggesting influences from Chinese architecture, but it is actually Japanese architecture that is often seen in Japanese shrines, temples, and the like.

Incidentally, this is called Karahafu （唐玻豊） in the case of Shurijo Castle, but in traditional architectural terminology, while still pronounced Karahafu, it is rendered in kanji characters as 唐破風 （note that the second and third kanji characters are different）, The second kanji character （破） in Karahafu （唐破風） means “to get torn or destroyed,” thus suggesting bad luck. Therefore, in the Ryukyus, it was replaced with the kanji character 玻, which is also pronounced “ha,” but it suggests good luck （as it means “crystal” or “glass”）. Thus, 唐破風 became 唐玻豊, and it is recorded as such in “Kyuyo,” one of the official historical records of the Ryukyu Kingdom.

In addition, while this Karahafu is a beautiful gable roof with an arched curved line design, in the case of Japanese karahafu, if the front side is arched, it is normally continuously arched in the same manner all the way to the back of the roof. However, in the case of Shurijo Castle, the rear section, which is not visible, is an ordinary triangular roof.

Perhaps a simple triangular roof design was employed for the section that was not visible because it was a lot of trouble to apply a complicated curved line design to the entire roof. Thus, it has been built in a very reasonable manner. Unfortunately, this reasonably designed roof construction method employed by the old Ryukyuan architects that only exists here in Shurijo Castle cannot be seen from the front, but there is one spot on the tour route from where it can be seen, and that is the corridor on the second floor of the Nanden that is not painted red. From here, you can see both the curved line design of the front of the Karahafu and the triangular roof at the rear.

The bright red coloring and the unique design in which many dragons are depicted may tend to be an overwhelming sight, but what makes the Seiden so attractive is that you will also find amazing things even in such minutiae. How about checking out the architectural attractiveness that is unique to the Seiden?

（Yasuyuki Uezu）

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  Karahafu of the Shurijo Castle Seiden as seen from the second floor of the Nanden
  The front part of the Karahafu has a beautiful bow-shaped curve, but the rear is a simple triangular roof.
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  Karahafu of the Shurijo Castle Seiden
  This is an important part that should also be referred to as the centerpiece of the Shurijo Castle Seiden.