Shuri Castle Coloring Pages

The Castle of the King of the Ryukyu Kingdom

Shuri Castle in Naha City, Okinawa Prefecture, was the castle of the king of a country called the Ryukyu Kingdom long ago. For over 400 years, it was the center of government and a place to welcome guests from other countries. The biggest building in the middle is called the Seiden, and it was the largest wooden building in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It also has another beautiful name: Mourasoe-udun.

This coloring page shows how it looked before the fire

The Seiden of Shuri Castle burned down in a fire early in the morning on October 31, 2019. This coloring page was drawn using a photo taken before that fire. That means it shows the Seiden back then, which you cannot see even if you go there now. Take your time coloring and see what kind of building it was!

3 Dragons on the roof. Their name is "Ryuto M棟-kazari"

On the roof of the Seiden, there are 3 dragon head ornaments. These are called Ryuto M棟-kazari. One is at the very top of the curved roof in the middle, looking straight ahead with its mouth wide open. The other two are on the left and right ends of the roof, facing sideways. Each one is 3 meters big, and they are cared for as guardian gods of the Seiden. Records show that a man named Hirata Nentsu made them out of pottery during repairs in 1682.

A jewel wrapped in flames in the middle of the gable

The curved part under the roof is called the Kara-hafu. Look closely at the carvings inside it! The thing in the middle is called the Kaen Hoju, which is a golden jewel wrapped in flames. Big cloud shapes spread out on its left and right, and further out, one golden dragon sits on each side, facing each other. Just coloring this single carving is a lot of fun!

Dragons on the pillars, lions on the walls

Dragons are not just on the roof. Dragons wind around the two thick pillars on the front! And on the white wall panels outside them, there is a carving of a golden lion on each side. They are friends of Okinawa's famous Shisa, and they stand on four legs facing sideways. The dragon was a symbol of the king, which is why there are so many of them here!

A shape only in Ryukyu, found nowhere in Japan or China

The Seiden has a rare design with two roof layers and three floors inside. From the outside, you see two roof levels, but inside it goes up to the third floor. It is said that no other examples exist in Japan or China that combine this shape with decorated dragon pillars. While learning from both China and Japan, the people of Ryukyu built their very own style!

What became a World Heritage Site is not the building

People say Shuri Castle is a World Heritage Site, but you need to be a little careful. What was registered in the year 2000 as the "Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu" was the Shuri Castle Site—the old remains left in the ground. The rebuilt buildings and castle walls are not included in the World Heritage Site. So even in the 2019 fire, the World Heritage Site itself was not lost!

In November 2026, the new Seiden will open to the public

The burned Seiden is now being rebuilt. A completion ceremony will be held on November 22, 2026, and you will be able to go inside starting November 23! You will get to see the dragons on the roof and the bright red pillars again. It will be fun to color how it looked before the fire with this coloring page and compare it to the new Seiden!

The building is vermilion. It looks very different from other Japanese castles!

The most important color for Shuri Castle is vermilion. The pillars and walls are all a bright reddish-orange. It uses very different colors from the white of Himeji Castle or the black of Kumamoto Castle, doesn't it? To make it look real, use a red mixed with a little orange instead of plain red. To color large areas neatly without streaks, press lightly and overlap your strokes slowly.

The roof has red tiles. Leaving white lines is the secret!

The roof is made of reddish-brown tiles called Ryukyuan red tiles. On the real roof, white plaster is put between the tiles, so it looks like red and white stripes. That is why coloring the rows of tiles reddish-brown and leaving the lines between them white makes it look just like Okinawa! Leaving some parts uncolored is the secret.

The dragons on the roof are blue-green and gold. Color the jewel and lions gold!

The three dragon heads on the roof have goldish faces and blue-green scales and manes in real life. In the middle of the vermilion building, making only this part blue-green and gold will make the dragons really stand out! For the flaming jewel in the middle of the roof gable, try coloring the ball gold and the flames around it red. The gold dragons on the left and right and the lions on the white wall boards are gold too. You can make gold look shiny by layering a little bit of brown over yellow. Instead of making everything gold, it looks best if you only use it on special spots!

Keep the stone dragons on the stairs gray

The big stone dragons standing on the left and right of the stairs are made of gray stone, unlike the colorful carvings. In the middle of the bright building filled with vermilion and gold, making only this part gray brings out the heavy look of real stone and makes your picture look awesome. If you color each scale with a slightly different shade from the one next to it, they will look bumpy!

The striped pattern in the Una courtyard alternates between red and white

The big open square in front of the building on the second and third coloring pages is called the Una. The paving stones are lined up in alternating bands of reddish-brown and white. If you color every other band and leave the spaces in between white, it will look just like the real pattern! The wide path going straight down the middle is called the Ukimichi, and only the King could walk on it. Try coloring this path all in red without adding any stripes.

Shuri Castle Has Burned Down Five Times

Actually, 2019 was not the first time Shuri Castle burned down. The fire in 2019 was the fifth time it was destroyed. It also burned down twice in the Edo period, in 1660 and 1709. Then in 1945, during the Battle of Okinawa in World War II, it was burned down by American military attacks. Every single time, people have rebuilt it again.

Which Generation Was the Main Hall You Could See Recently?

Because it was rebuilt after every fire, the Main Hall has had many generations. The Main Hall that stood until the fire was restored in 1992. It was modeled after the Main Hall built in 1712. People spent a lot of time restoring it using old records, photos, and blueprints drawn before the Battle of Okinawa.

Why Do the Dragon Pillars on the Stairs Face Each Other?

The stone dragon pillars on the left and right sides of the stairs are called Dairyu-chu. In the Main Hall before the fire, these two pillars stood facing each other. When it was rebuilt in 1992, experts decided on this direction because old royal records showed them facing each other. But a photo taken by the French Navy in 1877 shows the Dairyu-chu facing forward, so some people think facing forward is correct. It is still a big mystery without an answer today!