琉球の精神性を探る：沖縄の斎場御嶽と久高島を訪ねて

琉球の精神性を探る：沖縄の斎場御嶽と久高島を訪ねて

hey everyone Alex here have you ever wondered what it feels like to stand in a spiritual Hot Spot well the islands of okanawa have many places like this and they are called utaki these holy places go back to the ryuku religion which is the indigenous religious belief of the Ryukin Kingdom according to Wikipedia The Ryukin religion is generally characterized by ancestor worship and the respecting of relationships between the living the dead and the god and spirits of the natural world the utaki or holy sites near okan Villages were normally found near naturally formed landmarks something like a Grove a cave a mountain a natural rock formation or an ancient tree could be where local people placed incense burners these utaki were revered as places where gods and ancestors could visit from the land of the gods or Paradise [Music] well and I decided to take a day trip to visit one of the most powerful utaki on the island called the Safa utaki and while we were there we also decided to visit the island of the Gods also called kudaka Island in this video I will talk about how we got there and a little bit of what to expect as well as some facts about the Ryukin religion because it’s just really interesting to me the SAA utaki is a registered UNESCO heritage site located in the southern part of Okinawa on the chinen peninsula it has been recognized as a sacred place since the earliest period of Ryukin history although I’ve seen conflicting information about its Origins on several websites it says that se utaki was the place where the goddess of creation am maniku made landfall on Okinawa but on other websites it says that she actually made landfall on kudaka island the belief in this Legend is that SAA utaki was created by her with its view of kudaka Island as a place to worship the island from afar this could easily be a translation error on my part but either way SAA utaki is the most sacred holy site on the island of okap so in order to visit we parked our car near The Visitor Center here you can enter and see some small exhibits about this site and watch a short video with English subtitles there’s also a small gift shop with local goods and some snack stands selling ice cream and onary we bought our tickets here and they were 300 Yen each for adults from this parking lot you actually need to walk a short distance to the actual entrance of sea utaki we followed these arrows that were on the ground and showed our ticket to someone standing at the entrance of the road and then from there we could walk on to the dead end of the road where the entrance is it is here where we show our ticket and we need to watch a 3-minute video about manners when visiting the site since it is a sacred site they ask that you dress modestly and you don’t wear high heels but this is mostly because the ground is super uneven it’s a beautiful site with six sacred areas called eie they are spread out down jungle paths and have a large presence about them many people say they can feel the power of the utaki as they stand before them it was here that rukan Kings would make pilgrimages but some e were actually so sacred that only priestesses called noro could visit them the Ryukin religion was led by women we love to see it the most recognizable eie has a triangular Gap made between two gigantic blocks of coral Limestone on the other side the trees part to show beautiful view of the kadaka island unfortunately when we visited this part of the eie was blocked off and we could no longer walk through the Gap in the Rocks we spent maybe 45 minutes to an hour here uh walking around and just enjoying the peacefulness of Nature and being in the forest after walking back to the visitor center and cooling off with some ice cream we spontaneously decided to take the last fairy to kadaka Island getting from okanawa to kadaka island is actually pretty easy the isama port offers several fairies a day with a ride taking between 20 and 45 minutes we parked at the port and bought our tickets inside at the counter an adult roundt trip ticket cost 13300 Yen and for children it is 650 yen they actually have these sheets of paper that you can take at the counter it includes the fairy schedule and a little map of the town with some important numbers listed there as well on the back of the paper it has a map of the island as you can see right here and it calls out some of the most important spiritual sites on the island we really didn’t plan anything so taking the 300 p.m. fairy there meant that we would only have about an hour and a half before we had to catch the last fairy back to okwa if 5:00 this gave us just enough time to rent some bikes there are several places you can rent bikes right near the port we tried to go into two of them and couldn’t find any employees anywhere so we settled on going here it actually got pretty bad reviews but besides the bikes being a bit old and Rusty we didn’t have any problems we rented our bikes for 500 yen an hour kudaka island is Tiny with a circumference of about 8 kilm and a population of 220 people most of them elderly they maintain a traditional way of life and there are no formal hotels no supermarkets and no convenience stores their signature dish is actually a result of Customs being passed down from their ancestors with only a handful of restaurants on the island people come to try the famous arabu jiru or C snake soup this dish was prepared only for the King’s family during the re Yu Kingdom and today can be enjoyed by everyone who visits the island the dried venomous snakes are a highly valued ingredient and they are known for their nutritional benefits and the promotion of blood circulation because of how long the snakes take to dry I think to neutralize the Venom this dish can actually take weeks to make there’s only one place on the main island of okanawa I think where you can order the sea snake soup it’s called irabu dining they have very limited hours and you need to make a reservation online well in advance on the island of kudaka this restaurant serves irabu jiru as well someone in the review said quote no successors to make aabu so if you don’t eat it now you might not be able to again it looks like they might be open for lunch but then closed again and then reopen for dinner while we were there in the late afternoon we found this to be the case with almost every restaurant which is kind of frustrating because the last fairy leaves at 5:00 so unless you’re spending the night in some of the small guests houses there you really can’t stay for dinner while we weren’t able to try the soup we were able to buy ground for about an hour we went along this path making our way to upama beach which is said to have star sand the bike ride was mostly flat but not very SM smooth we didn’t see a single person the entire time we rode along the trails through the woods and towards the beach the jungle path led us to the beautiful beach but unfortunately we didn’t see any Star sand I thought it would just like all be star sand but maybe you have to look for it I’m not really sure since we didn’t have a ton of time we quickly got back to our bikes and crossed the island to bike along what is labeled as romance Road this nice stretch of pathway leads along the Ocean’s Edge and even has a few places for a picnic if we had brought any snacks or drinks this would be a great place to enjoy them we took this middle path back into town to return our bikes this whole Loop including the time it took to get to the beach and everything took about an hour we could have spent a little bit longer riding around probably but my anxiety would absolutely not let us we could not miss that fairy on our way to kadaka we sat on the upper deck so we could get a nice little view but on the way back we were definitely really hot and tired so we sat inside where they do have air conditioning we really glad we visited but obviously our time was rushed if I were to do it again I would plan to do safe at utaki in the morning and then catch the 11:00 a.m. ferry to kudaka Island and that way we could have lunch I also want to share that on our Drive of up north we stopped by two new places that I would definitely recommend the first one is called tacos yalo we ate dinner there and we ordered nine tacos for 3,400 Yen the car Sada was our favorite but really they were all good we also stopped by our garih Hama Brewery a short distance way I think it was like a 4-minute drive they’re pretty new Brewery and it was really cool because we got to meet the brew master and he even gave us a little tour of the back and of the facility we did stay to have a flight of beers which includes their top four beers I think and then we have a note calendar to go back in October when they’ll be releasing a mango beer well there you have it there’s how you can do a day trip to okawa’s most sacred places I will leave some links to helpful blogs that I used to plan my trip down below but I hope this video gives you a good head start when you’re planning thank you so so much for watching this video and I will see you in the next one but until then Happy planning bye

Discover the sacred heart of Okinawa by exploring two of its most spiritually significant sites: Seifa-utaki and Kudaka Island. In this video, I’ll guide you through the UNESCO World Heritage Seifa-utaki, a revered holy place of the Ryukyuan religion. Afterward, we’ll take a ferry ride to Kudaka Island, known for its rich spiritual history and unique cuisine, including the famous sea snake soup!

Timestamps:
00:00 Start
00:02 Quick Intro to “utaki” spiritual hot spots and the Ryukyuan Religion
01:20 Seifa-utaki legends
02:13 How to visit Seifa-utaki UNESCO World Heritage Site
04:11 Kudaka Island Ferry
05:00 Bike Rental Kudaka Island and about the island
05:40 Traditional Sea Snake Soup
07:05 Biking around the island and to beaches
08:43 Tips for visiting
08:57 Restaurant and brewery recommendation

Our other Okinawa Videos:
– 4 Day Okinawa Itinerary: https://youtu.be/9s7LScEDLOA
– WWII Sites and how to visit: https://youtu.be/9x6WBMbnews
– Thrift / Vintage Shopping Guide: https://youtu.be/IddV9gMerL0
– 1 Day in Yomitan Itinerary: https://youtu.be/yfpNQlk6kMc
– 5 Snorkeling Spots: https://youtu.be/wZB3m8EkbWQ
– 4 Days Ishigaki Island Itinerary: https://youtu.be/EXUv4K3Iz7I

Affiliate Links:
– Hotels in Nanjo: https://www.booking.com/searchresults.en.html?city=900050392&aid=2163227&no_rooms=1&group_adults=2
– Where we’d stay in American Village: https://www.booking.com/hotel/jp/hilton-okinawa-chatan-resort.en.html?aid=2163227&no_rooms=1&group_adults=2
– Ryukyu Springs Onsen Hotel near the airport: https://www.booking.com/hotel/jp/ryukyu-onsen-senagajima.en.html?aid=2163227&no_rooms=1&group_adults=2
– Hotels in Southern Okinawa: https://www.booking.com/searchresults.en.html?city=900050392&aid=2163227&no_rooms=1&group_adults=2
– Hotels in Naha: https://www.booking.com/searchresults.en.html?city=-237896&aid=2163227&no_rooms=1&group_adults=2
– Nice hotel in Naha near the Main Street: https://www.booking.com/hotel/jp/hoterukorekuteibu-na-ba-shi.en.html?aid=2163227&no_rooms=1&group_adults=2
– Where we’ve stayed in Naha (it was cheap and close to everything): https://www.booking.com/hotel/jp/hoterurantanana-ba-guo-ji-tong-ri.en.html?aid=2163227&no_rooms=1&group_adults=2
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Resources:
– Good blog post on Seifa Utaki: https://visitokinawajapan.com/travel-inspiration/sefa-utaki-okinawa-spiritual-heart/#:~:text=Sefa%20Utaki%2C%20located%20on%20the,coral%20rocks%20and%20verdant%20trees
– Ryukyuan Religion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryukyuan_religion
– Kudaka Island: https://www.okisocial.com/things-to-do/okinawa-island-hop-kudaka-island-the-island-of-gods/

Have you visited Seifa-utaki or Kudaka Island? Share your experience in the comments below!

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