We had breakfast in the hotel. We went first to a weaver who showed us many textiles and kimonos which were not for sale because they were part of her collection of old family kimonos. She had sent most of her weavings to an exhibition in Tokyo that we plan to visit. She did have a few beautiful scarves for sale. Cathy purchased a beautiful one that we gave to Nancy as a thank you for her leading the tour. We loved her studio / home. It was in a typical heavy concrete building that they had wonderfully modified. She and her artist husband were very creative and the living space was most appealing.
From there we went to the Shuriji Castle. Naha was the capital of the Ryukyu Empire. Because of its central location on sea routes there were constant wars with China, Japan, Korea, etc. followed by times of peace. Usually they were placed in a position of having to pay tributes to the dominate force. Tribute ships sailed out from Naha. The men were forced to pay tribute in the form of rice; the women were forced to weave Kimonos. The Castle was the home of the Japanese army in World War II and was badly damaged by the US in the battle of Okinawa. It has been reconstructed and is a major cultural center and unifying entity today for the Okinawans.
After the tour of the Castle we went to a favorite Okinawan restaurant of Betty’s. It is modeled after a typical Japanese Zen Monastery and we ate with our legs dangling out over a sand garden. The food was delicious. The Okinawans live longer than anyone else on earth, so maybe eating all of their food we have extended our life a week or two!
From the restaurant we went to the Sunday market. It went on and on, organized like most South East Asia night markets with Food Stalls, Clothing Stalls, etc. We were on a hunt for a SHISHI. They are almost always sold as a pair of animals, one with the mouth open one with the mouth closed. At the beginning of the trip, when we first saw them we thought they were Kitsch; by the end of the trip we realized they are deeply important to the Okinawans, almost every house has at least one. A long search led us to our SHISHI which we will have shipped back home to help guard us from evil spirits and welcome in the good ones.
We then went back to the Hotel. We had lots of drinks with our friends. Dinner was the ever popular buffet at the hotel, then we went to bed prepared for the flight in the morning to Tokyo for 5 days of hustle and bustle.
We all feel a little sad leaving Okinawa. We don’t know when or if we will return, but Okinawa has certainly charmed us. We did a brief survey, no one has ever had a friend that had visited Okinawa. It is very off the tourist track. Even though the US has major military presence there, we had no contact with any US Citizen. In our 11 days we saw one German and at the Castle just a couple of Americans. It would have been impossible to enjoy these islands without the guidance of Betty, who has lived here for 40 years with her husband Gill and devoted herself to understanding the arts and crafts of Okinawa. Her contacts with artists all over Okinawa allowed us a view that few will ever have.
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