Tinted lithograph print. Depicting a view of Na-Ga-Gus-Ko (Nakagusuku) castle on Okinawa from a nearby hill. Four figures, including an Okinawan man holding a parasol, are stood by a cave with a doorway carved into it, looking over the castle. In the distance, a second group of people are visible walking towards the castle. Inscribed: ‘Ancient Castle of Na-Ga-Gus-Ko, Lew Chew / From nature by Heine. Figures by Brown. / T. Sinclair’s lith. Philad[elphi]a.’

Nakagusuku is on Okinawa, the biggest of the Ryukyu Islands. The Ryukyu Kingdom (known historically in English as Lew Chew) was an independent kingdom from 1429 until it was formally annexed by Japan in 1872.

The print is based on a drawing by Peter Bernhard Wilhelm Heine, better known as William Heine (1827–1885). A German-American world traveller, writer and artist, Heine was the official artist on Commodore Matthew Perry’s expedition to Japan in 1852. This print was published as an illustration in the official voyage publication, 'Narrative of the Expedition of an American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan' (Washington: Beverley Tucker, 1856), opposite page 174.

Perry’s expedition embarked for Japan with the intention of securing a trade treaty through threats and displays of US naval power. They stopped in Naha on Okinawa in May 1853. An American exploring party mapped the coast and interior of the island, travelling with Okinawan guides through the capital Shuri to the east coast before following the coast north. This print is based on a sketch of Nakagusuku made during that journey. Perry eventually signed a trade agreement with the Ryukyu Kingdom on 11 July 1854.