Property: Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu
Id. N°: 972
State Party: Japan
Criteria: C (ii) (iii) (vi)
The Committee decided to inscribe this property on the World Heritage List on the basis of criteria (ii), (iii), and (vi):
Criterion (ii): For several centuries the Ryukyu Islands served as a centre of economic and cultural interchange between south-east Asia, China, Korea, and Japan, and this is vividly demonstrated by the surviving monuments.
Criterion (iii): The culture of the Ryukyuan Kingdom evolved and flourished in a special political and economic environment, which gave its culture a unique quality.
Criterion (vi): The Ryukyu sacred sites constitute an exceptional example of an indigenous form of nature and ancestor worship that has survived intact into the modern age alongside other established world religions.