Last year I took the direct flight to the island of Miyakojima in Okinawa for a few days spring sunshine. It was so wonderful that I decided to go again, but this time instead of touring the island by rented … Read the rest
Category: Okinawa (Page 2 of 2)
Seifa Utaki is the Ise of Okinawa. It’s a sacred site associated with royal patronage that lay at the apex of the Ryukyu kingdom’s religious structure. I think of all the spiritual places I’ve visited in Japan, this is … Read the rest
At Nakijin Castle on the Okinawan main island, there is a museum with an exhibition of Ryukyu practices. It includes pictures of kamiasagi, which are gathering places for religious ceremonies. These are not to be confused with … Read the rest
Driving around Okinawa, one can’t help noticing the many distinctively large tombs. They resemble small houses, with a porch and courtyard. Some are turtle shaped and nestle into the slope of the earth, as if wombs. The dead who … Read the rest
Much of the Okinawan World Heritage registration has to do with castles dating from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Visiting them reveals how important a role the so-called ‘Ryukyu religion’ played, for sacred sites and altars abound. These were … Read the rest
Okinawa is special. It’s got a subtropical climate, its own distinctive culture, and the longest living people in the world. The hundreds of islands in the archipelago stretch for over 1000 kilometers, as if a bridge to Taiwan.
For … Read the rest