Once you pass through the main gate, you will continue up to the staircase. There is a mystery surrounding this staircase as well. Even though it is just one staircase, the left side and the right side are uneven. Why in the world would this be the case?

Take a second and imagine that a member of the court decided to use the Hanta road to travel from Shuri Castle. This person would make most of the journey by horse but at this point he would need to be seated in a palanquin and carried the rest of the way up. This palanquin was usually carried by two underlings of the member of the court. Now, what would happen if this were a normal staircase? There would be one person carrying the front side of the palanquin and another carrying the rear. Depending on the height of its bearers, the palanquin would have to be carried at a slanted angle. The person inside would then be jostled around as the palanquin shook back and forth. Imagine a mover trying to carry a refrigerator up a staircase for a moment. You can probably imagine the movers struggling to carry the slanting refrigerator up the stairs. Even if the stairs are wide or if they try to carry it sideways...you see the point now don’t you?

But what if the stairs are built with a slight difference between the left side and the right? What happens then? Even if the staircase isn’t wide, as long as the bearers match up their pace well enough, they should be able to carry the palanquin at a relatively level plane.

There are many other theories, but this explanation seems to make the most sense.