Map: GSI Japan Tamaudun is the royal mausoleum of the Second Shō dynasty, built in 1501 by King Shō Shin to rebury his father, King Shō En, and to define a dynastic resting place beside Shuri Castle. Its limestone courts, three burial chambers, carved balustrades, guardian lions, and inscribed stele turn funerary practice into an architecture of kingship. Yet the present site is also a restored war ruin. Heavy damage during the Battle of Okinawa was followed by archaeological and architectural restoration from 1974 to 1977. Understanding Tamaudun therefore requires holding together royal mortuary procedure, succession politics, Ryukyuan stone craft, wartime destruction, and careful postwar reconstruction.
