Nakijin Castle

Today, we ventured up to Nago to visit some castle ruins we hadn't yet seen. Turns out Nakijin Castle is crazy awesome, and I am now itching to go up there with a notebook and write. Because it's just that badass.

The archway leading into the ruins.
The original 14th century stairs.
The not-so-original 20th century stairs, built in the 1960s so people wouldn't fall on their asses quite so much.
So. Many. Stairs.
Ooh! Shiny! Shiny CREATURES!
Gotta love June bugs.

Anyone else see a smiley face in this picture? Because I totally do.
An authentic 14th century cinder block.
The one criticism I have of this particular set of ruins would be the amount of cool, interesting, and distracting things. For those of us with ADD, it doesn't take much to--kitty!!
Um. What was I talking about? Anyway.

Turns out it was a good day to visit Nakijin, because today was the day an army of palm trees decided to invade.
"The castle is ours!"
"Surrender, Nakijin!"
"WE SHALL BE VICTORIOUS!"
Oh, look, a flower...
More flowers.
Ooh, pretty...
Overlooking the East China Sea
This place rocks.
Foundation of a building that once sat on the uppermost enclosure.
The lower enclosure as viewed from the upper enclosure.
The upper enclosure as viewed from the lower enclosure.
I'm guessing this sign loosely translates to "lean as far over the edge as you can, and I will give you a high-five!"
Lead me not into temptation...
Eddie...no. No, that's not a good idea. Oh, God, this won't end well...
...it didn't end well.
*sigh* See, Eddie? This is why we can't have nice things.
Anyway, moving right along.
This is a sign explaining the stages of the excavation and also showing examples of artifacts that have been unearthed along the way.
And looking a little closer...OMG. THE HOLY GRAIL!
It's been in Nakijin Castle all along, not Katsuren! No wonder Eddie's previous attempt to obtain it failed.

The boys knew what had to be done, and they bravely stormed the castle.
But then they realized the hill was really steep.
And those palm trees that invaded earlier? They started throwing rocks at the boys, so Eddie and Jeremy did what anyone would do.

They ran like hell.
Someday, we'll get that grail. Someday...