Staff Quarters
At Shikinaen, even the functional spaces intended for the use of staff were well-designed and beautiful. The Side Gate, or Tsuyo-mon, is similar in form to the Main Gate (Sei-mon) and quite elegant, though smaller and simpler in detail. It was the staff entry for those who worked in the garden. The compact guardhouse (banya) is strategically located near the entry gates as well as the palace. It is essentially a small, well-appointed residence built in traditional Ryukyu style for the palace guards. The front-most room, closest to the entry, is the duty room, while rooms at the rear are living quarters, with a deep wooden corridor closed off by wooden shutters. A small, tile-roofed outhouse stands alongside. A kagoya, or palanquin house, stands a few steps away from the entry to the palace. Royalty and other members of the elite used these shoulder-carried palanquins (kago), as a dignified means of transport, usually being carried all the way to the palace entry, where they could alight on the stone step without their feet touching the ground. The kagoya was used to keep palanquins ready and as a resting place for the carriers.