Sueyoshi Park & Shrine

Sueyoshi Forest is located in the heart of Naha city and yet you can drive right past it and not even notice that it is there.  Which is a shame really.

O and I went there to wander the forest and see the Sueyoshi Shrine.  I had heard about it on Map It Okinawa and was eager to go.  I think the amount of walking he mentioned was down-played... he said be prepared to do a lot of walking.  That's it.  What he meant was this is a HUGE park in the city and be prepared to do TONS of walking.

It's a beautiful park though.  A river runs straight through the middle of it and you can see some pretty nice waterfalls.  O is currently obsess with snails and we were able to see some huge ones on the bottom of the overgrown flaura.  There were lots of birds flitting about as well.  And O's favorite discovery were the "shiny bugs", you know, those bugs that have exoskeletons that are like opal colors.  Well, even if you don't, they were really neat.

O and I stuck to the main walking trail.  This means we didn't get off of the winding flat route once.  No stair diversions, no side routes, nothing.  Just the path that, if it weren't made of uneven rocks, I would say was the handicap accessible path.


Even still, by the time we crossed through the forest (all parking lots are a ways away from the shrine... I think we parked at the one farthest away), we were ready for a snack and a rest.  Luckily, there was a playground and a bathroom to be found just below our chosen route.

The playground structure is completely made of wood but was in very good condition.  I was worried about splinters at first but was pleasantly surprised to find it a minimal concern.  It is obviously geared towards older children, but O (3) was doing pretty well on it.

After a little R&R, we went back up the hill to this nice monument.  I'll have to do a little research to find out what it's for.  But I really like the detail.  This basically marks the end of the winding flat trail.  Just after it is a set of stairs that leads you into the wildlife protection area.  It's unsure footing and greenery all the way to the shrine from there.

Luckily for us, they had recently swept through and cleared the paths to the shrine.  Even still, a nice Japanese man we talked to said he saw 2 mongooses while he was there and to make sure not to let O near any of the rock crevices because of the chance a habu was hiding in there.  We didn't see anything ourselves.

He also kindly escorted us up the hill as he had gotten lost himself several times trying to find the shrine and was tired.  I had O on my back, so he didn't want the same thing to happen to us.  Really, this was so thoughtful of him I can't express how grateful I was for this gesture.

Anyways, you make a right at the top of the stairs and continue straight until you find a white obelisk.  Make a left here and you'll see stones for the Sueyoshi Shrine.  Continue straight up, up, up until you see a shrine like structure on the right.  This building is where you buy shrine items.  It and the shrine were closed, but you can walk around.  The shrine itself is just past here.

Do NOT go through the stone tunnel.  If you look up, you'll see the shrine.  Take the stairs to the right of the tunnel and follow the steps up to the main shrine.

We climbed up to the shrine itself instead of stopping at the collection box.  The view from there was well worth the climb just to take it in.

We really enjoyed sitting there eating some bread and just looking out over the forest and past the city in the background.  A nice breeze coming over the hill also took the edge off the heat of the day.

By this point, it was nap time and we were still far away from the car.  Going back was much quicker since we were going down the rugged terrain and then I carried O up the winding path.  Still, juice and Anpanman cookies were a much appreciated treat at our arrival to the car.

Overall, we were hot, sweaty, sticky and tired at the end, but the beauty and peace of the morning was well worth it.  I hope you are able to visit this park sometime.

Naha Tsunahiki (Tug-of-War)

O and I went on the MCCS tour down to Naha for the annual Tug-of-War.  Z wasn't sure he'd be able to make it, so he ended up driving down and meeting us on his own.

I'm very glad we took the tour.  We had transportation and didn't have to search/fight for parking.  It was a lot of stress off of me.  They also provided a tour guide who told us some of the history to the event which made the whole thing more exciting and meaningful.  It also helped with the wait time between events since I knew what was coming.  My husband didn't enjoy it as much because he didn't really know what was happening and doesn't like to stand around.

Our guide told us that Naha hosts the Tug-of-War every year on the Sunday closest to October 10th as a way to commemorate the lives of those lost on both sides when the Americans invaded Naha in 1944 during the Battle of Okinawa.

Tug-of-Wars exist all over the island, but Naha's is by far the largest.  The core of the rope remains in tact each year, but the outside is reconstructed completely out of straw for the next event.  This is partially due to the fact that it is considered good luck for your household to take home pieces of the rope (especially from the winning side) and also to maintain the Guinness World Record.  This years rope measured 200m (656 feet) in length, and weighed more than 40 metric tons (44 American tons)!

The story behind the tug-of-war beginnings on island goes as follows (As best as I can recall from listening to our guide):

There once was a time in Okinawa where the elders of the population were forced out of the villages once they reached a certain age so that they would not be a burden on the community.  They were to fend for themselves in the countryside and if they lived, they lived, and if they died... they died.

One year, a plague of insects overtook the fields and the farmers could not figure out how to get rid of them.  They tried every way they could think of, but nothing worked.  The Lord of the Land sent word that something must be done to end this crisis and whoever found the solution would be rewarded.  The villagers continued with their efforts, but were still unsuccessful.  

One man decided to go into the hills to where his father lived and asked him for advice.  The father told him to gather the gongs and light torches that would create as much smoke as possible and hold a tug-of -war in the field at night.  The gongs and the shouting would scare the insects and the torches and smoke would make them think that the field was on fire and the insects would flee.

The man took this advice back to his village and a tug-of-war was held soon after.  The insects did indeed flee the field.  The Lord of the Land heard of their success and it was reenacted in every field that was plagued by insects.  He then came down to reward the young man for his solution.

The man confessed that it was not his idea but that of his father.  The Lord of the Land determined that it was unwise to cast out the elderly into the hills for their wisdom and life-experience should be respected and was a valuable asset to the community.  From that day forth, the practice of sending elders into the hills was no more and tug-of-wars have taken place throughout the island every year.

The Naha tug-of-war pits the East vs. the West.

Before the tug-of-war, the Ufunnasunei parade is held on Kokusai Street.  The parade consists of 14 hatagashira (flags/decorative poles), their bearers, and their escorts comprised of musicians and performers.  

7 flags represent the West and 7 the East. These flags are symbols and good-luck charms of the districts in which the flag bearers live.  Western districts: Izumizaki, Wakasa, Oroku, Kakinohana, Kume, and Tsuzi.  Eastern districts: Asato, Shuri, Tomari, Mawashi, Kumoji, and Tsuboya.  Each side also has a lead flag.

Flag bearers are denoted by their special black uniforms called Mumunuchihanta. It is very difficult to maneuver these 30 ft tall flags so it is a great honor to be chosen.  Flag bearers balance the flags on their stomachs and move rhythmically in time with their escorts banging of drums and brass gongs and the blowing of conch shells.  The performers that accompany them put on displays of martial arts for crowds awaiting the arrival of the next hatagashira.  And every now and then firecrackers are set off throughout the parade.  

O was not a fan of the firecrackers at all.  However, even she was drawn into watching the parade.  She mostly spent her time staring at the children playing the instruments or carrying smaller flags.  But she did intently watch the men "bouncing" the hatagashira on their stomachs.  A couple times large gusts of wind threatened to knock them over onto us.  I wasn't worried though because they had an entourage of guys with long poles for catching and redirecting them in situations like this.

When the parade was done, we stopped at one of the many stands selling festival food on our way back to the rope site.  Z thought he was getting naan but it was actually a sort of flat bread with ham and cheese baked inside.  It was delicious!  I wish our noodle dishes had been half as good.  They were still tasty, but I could have lived on that bread for the day.


Next time I think we'll eat during the parade because we weren't able to get a spot to watch the opening festivities for the actual tug-of-war.  At the center of the rope they have martial arts, shisa dogs, and eisa dancing before the ceremony begins.  Then the hatagashira are brought in to designate their sides and assemble their teams.  A few speeches are made.  Participants help move the two halves of the rope to the center where it is then connected by a 10 foot wooden pole.  Then, the Kings of the East and West come down their ropes to meet in the center.  They have a fake dual and then announce the tug-of-war begun.  The giant golden ball hanging over the center of the rope is split in half releasing balloons and confetti and a giant flag/banner drops down signaling teams to begin pulling.

Z & O were not participating in the tugging, so they were watching as best they could near the center.  I was tugging for the East, so I was able to see our King and his two court attendants enter and exit.  Parents were encouraged to take their children to the sidewalks once the actual tugging began due to the dangers involved in being in an event of that size.

It was good advice actually.  I had several children around me who I helped hold up so they could see the King go by.  Only one got to stay for the actual tugging and her mother was having a difficult time keeping her on her feet.  I was even getting pretty smashed by the people around me.  I would describe it as a giant mosh pit.  The only real difference being that everyone is trying to move together instead of doing their own random thing.

The goal is to move the rope a total of 5 meters (about 15 feet) within 30 minutes. If by the end of 30 minutes there is not a clear winner, the match is declared a tie.  After 15 minutes, we were all pretty tired and our intensity was starting to wane.  Suddenly, some Japanese people hopped on to the end of our rope and started pulling with us and screaming "Hai-ya", which I guess means pull harder.  With them and our motivator guys standing on the rope calling out to us, we caught a second wind (so it seemed) and we were able to noticeably move the rope.  It was awesome!  It almost semed like we all tripped backwards at the same time, lol.

We continued with our goal to see this tugging to the end and were able to get one more giant tug in our direction just minutes before the match was over.  Exhausted, sweaty and smiling and laughing alongside our Japanese and American neighbors, the winner was announced... EAST WON!  GO TEAM!

Someone was nice enough to cut off the strand of rope I had been holding onto for at least an hour for me so I could take it home.  My own personal piece of memorabilia from a truely fantastic cultural event.  Really, who could ask for more?

The tour we were on gave you the option to leave at 1700, 1800, or 1900 after the tug-of-war was over so you could enjoy the rest of the festival as you saw fit.  I would've liked to stay longer, but O needed to go home and go to bed and honestly I was a little sore from tugging.  We chose to hop the earliest bus back to base.  I repeat from earlier in this post, taking the tour was a great idea.  Go, have fun and participate, NO DRIVING.  We could just relax on the way home and not worry about traffic.  I will definitely be taking the tour again next year.  :D

Fukushen Gardens

The Fukushen Gardens (Fukushu En Park) are located in the heart of Naha.  This Chinese garden was given as a gift from Naha's sister city, Fuzhou City of China, to commemorate the tenth anniversary of their friendship.  The gardens are split into three sections:  Fall & Winter, Summer, and Spring.  Each section boasts landscaping and architectural features representative of their season.

Fall & Winter

By far my favorite portion of the gardens (also my favorite seasons in real life).  This section contained a large central pond and a circular pathway.  There were also many other pathways that branched off and took you to other smaller scenes throughout.

The main scene is that of the pond, bridge, and waterfall.  

Once you walk around to the waterfall, you can climb the rocky stairways to sit in the gazebo on top, meander through the cave-like pathways underneath and look out from beneath the waterfall, or you can hop stones in front of the waterfall.

The waterfall flows out into the pond but also feeds a smaller pond just to its left that is a tranquil sitting place.  O really enjoyed watching some of the turtles up close here.

We were also able to find a vending machine where you can buy boxes of food for only a couple hundred yen to feed the fish and turtles.  I'm not sure O understood the concept, but she definitely showed enthusiasm throwing the food into the water.  Whether she realized the fish were eating them or not... I have no idea.  I loved watching the fish eat the food.  It was like a frenzied rainbow flitting about and shimmering in the sunlight.

Summer

Spring






 No matter where you are in this garden, pay attention to the details.  See the picture below?  That is the roof to the gazebo on the left.  You'd totally miss it if you didn't look up!

Shikinaen Gardens

Originally built in the 18th century, the Shikinaen Gardens are located in Naha near Shuri Castle.  The gardens house the royal summer home of the Ryukyu Kings and is one of 9 World Heritage Sites on island.

The garden is done in the traditional Japanese style of landscape gardening with a central pond.  However, the architecture and the chosen plants give it a uniquely Okinawan feel.  The Shikinaen Gardens were completely destroyed in the Battle of Okinawa in 1945 and have since been restored.

After paying only 300 yen per adult, we took several paths through the wooded part of the garden around the guardhouses and down to the spring.  From there you can continue on to the main house or around the pond.  We decided to let our toddler lead the way.  She just started walking, so it made for a nice slow pace.

We toured the summer home which really puts into perspective what a real royal home would be like.  Not extremely large and overly grand.  I can really appreciate Eastern style.  They're attention to details and the way they try to make things be in harmony with nature.  And I really like Tatami floors.  They're elegant AND comfortable.  It's too bad they require so much work to take care of or I might have transformed my entire apartment by now.

We then walked around the pond and over its several stone bridges.  Along the way O had us admire every rock in the vicinity and practiced her stair-climbing.  We also took a small roll down one of the grassy hills and sat and watched the fish swim by.

I think we'll be coming back to this place.  It's very peaceful and I have a feeling it would be beautiful during every season.

Shuri Castle & Nearby Shrine

We got a little lost on the way to Shuri Castle.  We drove in circles for a while until I finally just needed to pull over and get out of the car.  I didn't care where at this point.

The next place I saw happened to be a large parking lot next to a beautiful shrine.  Even though my husband wasn't comfortable getting out there, I went ahead and stopped anyway.  He could wait in the car if he wanted.  I was going to walk around.

The gate structure was fascinating.  Although I'm certain many shrines use this architecture, I had never seen it before.  They even had the striking mechanism hooked up to ring the bell.  And I still wish I could read half of what the little scrolls and boards say that you can buy for worship.

As it turns out, this shrine was just down the hill from the castle.

 

Upon reaching the castle, we opted to walk around the grounds instead of going inside.  We had limited time and just wanted to enjoy being out in nature.

Other posts from visits to this site:

Shuri Castle

Shuri Castle

After our weekend retreat, some of the PWOC ladies took our guest speakers out to explore some local sites.

After several hundred years of rivalry between warlords, the Okinawa islands were unified as the Ryukyu Kingdom in the early 15th century. For 450 years, Shuri castle was the palace of the King of Ryukyu and was the political, economic and cultural center of the Ryukyu Kingdom.  The current castle is a reconstruction of the 18th century facility as the actual structure was demolished in 1945 when the US military attacked during the Battle of Okinawa.  In the throne room, however, they have a couple of glass panels installed in the floor where you can actually look underneath and see remnants of the original castle ruins.

Our group photo was taken in front of the Seiden (the castle's main hall).  This is where the major state affairs and court ceremonies were held.  It is also the most recognized landmark of Okinawa.  Architectural influences throughout the castle can be seen from China, Japan, Korea and several other neighboring countries.  The Shurei-mon (the second gate) is an architectural structure unique to Okinawa and is sometimes referred to as a symbol of Okinawa.

Una Plaza extends in front of the Seiden and was used for ceremonies in the past. It is encircled on the other three sides by the Hokuden (North Hall), Nanden (South Hall) and the Hoshinmon (Hoshin Gate). The Hokuden and Nanden served as administrative buildings and venues to welcome envoys from China and mainland Japan respectively.

We took a tour of the castle (800 yen), including the traditional tea ceremony (200 yen). They don't actually perform the ceremony.  You go in and they talk about the tea ceremony (in Japanese) while you taste a variety of cookies and have tea that would have been served when the castle was in operation.

The castle also has other attractions that we were unable to see.  Every morning they perform the gate opening ceremony, several days throughout the week they have Ryukyuan Dance demonstrations, and every evening they illuminate the castle from sunset until midnight.  They also host several festivals throughout the year.

Note to mothers, this is not a stroller friendly tourist attraction.  However, the pathways that wind through the park are and they are well worth the walk.  They even have a little map with a stamp adventure for kids at the information center.  If you walk around and get so many stamps (I think it's 8), the kids can redeem their map for a really awesome sticker.  And the park is free, so who can beat that!

Other posts from visits to this site:

Shuri Castle & Nearby Shrine