People of Okinawa
This page features the cast of Okinawans I met during two months abroad. Portraits include interviewees, friends, and casual encounters.
"The most important thing about karate is basic training and communication.
Many young today will train extremely hard for a little while and then stop. This is not good. You must train little bit, but you must train often. Consistency is what creates a great martial artist, not brute strength. Karate is not for a rank, glory or for revenge. It is way of life: A way to protect yourself, a way to build health, and a way to bring people together. When we train, we train as a community, so that we can push each other to become better than yesterday. I think of a dojo like a melting pot, it can bring many different people to do the same thing, at the same time, in the same place. It makes people homogeneous. This type of environment creates peace. Karate is about creating peace."
"I recently turned 97. It’s a happy thing! People host ceremonies for elders my age. My children, and my grandchildren from all over Okinawa, and my neighbors from the village come together celebrate with me. If there’s something that keeps me going, it’s them. That doesn’t mean things haven’t been hard though.
I’m the eldest of my brothers and sisters…most of them have already left me. Two years ago, I lost four of them. I just have my younger brother now. How I overcame this…I don’t know. But I don’t bother feeling sorry for them, or myself. It’s just destiny."
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I keep a routine. At the start of every day I join my hands to say hello to my ancestors and pray for my family’s health before I go for my morning exercise. My late husband didn’t like it when I exercised outside because people could watch me…but I did it anyway! Once I finish I make sure to say hello to the school children as they walk to class. When they have gone, I head to my [gardening] patch.
"Working here I get to keep learning. Outsiders don’t know how Okinawa is distinct from Japan. We have a unique history, and if we don’t pass on that knowledge much of our culture will be lost!"
“43 years ago myself and ten other Okinawans travelled to the United States to learn about farming swine and agricultural management. But when I moved into this village, I found out there were already plenty of swine and beef cattle farms. I decided to begin a dairy farm instead.
In the beginning it was just my wife and I that did all the work. We started our work at 5AM and finished around 10PM at night…it was hard. Starting the Wwoofer system has made it a lot easier. The Wwoofers are really good for us. Now I only spend 8-9 hours working with the cows each day.”
What’s you favorite thing about working on the farm?
“I honestly enjoy everything…even when I have to clean out manure from the shed. If I didn't love everything, I don't think I would have been able to do dairy farming for so many years. For me, working means enjoying - its really important to work with something you enjoy.”
"When I went to university over half a century ago, it was very rare. Maybe one person every four or five years would go from this village. You had to pay a lot of money, especially because Okinawa was considered a foreign country to Japan?"
Really?
"Yeah! Since the U.S. invaded an gained control over Okinawa, Okinawa actually belonged to the state of California at that time. You had to had a passport to go to mainland Japan.
So I studied very hard.
As a teacher I’ve had noticed student’s work ethic differ radically depending on where you teach. Students from urban areas studied very hard, but in the rural areas, few students put in the same kind of effort. Most of them don’t need to -especially in this area. There are many rice fields with very rich product; you have to work outside here. Recently more students have been graduating from high school before heading to work in the fields. However, maybe 4-5 years ago, it was very common to start work in the field after graduating junior high school. That said, people from neighboring regions admire how hard we work here."
“I just came back from work from Germany, but my wife says I can’t come home yet. We have a baby that’s just a few months old and she’s scared I may be carrying harmful bacteria. So I’m being quarantined...I’ve been stuck in this hostel for over a week! I miss her so much. My wife sends me videos of the baby and I watch them all day. Look at her, she’s so cute!”
I owe him a great deal. I’d bring back new books, picture, and notes that needed translating, and he would take hours of his day to help me get through them.
We take our Gateball seriously. We’re friendly people but it gets feisty when the game starts. Make sure you don’t step in the way.
In Oganeku, a locale within Ogimi village. The villagers get together at 5:30 every evening for a game of croquet.
"I retired from my job two years ago and returned to Okinawa. After my mother and father passed away I wanted to renovate this house as a personal project, it was rather old. But that didn’t feel like enough. I wanted to do more. So I started a BnB. I enjoy chatting with my guests, especially the young ones...the prevent my mind from getting old. "
"I have family living in California. My daughter beckons me to go there, but I life is better here. It's quiet, peaceful, and fun. I don’t think I could live in America… it’s too noisy! Besides, who is going to look after my vegetables if I leave?"
"When I returned to this place after the war, there was nothing. Everything was destroyed and so many of our young were dead. At this point we had nothing left to do but to work hard to recover what we had lost."
Was there anything in particular that helped pull you through those hardships?
It was a time when everybody had to keep going. We had a tough time. There were no people and no food. You had to keep working to survive, so that’s what we did.
The Americans burned all the houses. We made new houses using straw and wood from the fields and forest. The men would go to the mountains in groups of 5 and stay there up to 4 days to prepare the wood. The women stayed back and helped cut the grass for the roofs. Back then nothing was paved, and we had no machines. We had to carry and build almost everything by hand.
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"On the way back from his service, my husband saw an Okinawan Woman that just had a baby. The American soldiers gave her some food so she could stay for a couple of days and then left her there. Then Japanese soldier passed by her. She felt sorry for the soldiers so she gave them some brown sugar. The Japanese soldiers demanded more, She told them she had nothing else to give. They got into a fight... and then they killed her. Japanese soldiers treated Okinawans very poorly. There are a lot more stories like that one."
"I started karate by practicing the Shorin-Ryu style under the supervision of my grandfather. After he passed away however, my family moved to to Naha city, where I was acquainted with my new instructors. They taught me Goju-Ryu style karate as well as kobudo (Okinawan weapons system martial art). Every day it was the same routine, train at school, train at the dojo, go home, repeat.
As I got older I took more and more interest in karate history. It's incredibly important to keep track of who trained who so that we know the origin of each dojo and style. I realized there was no place to share this knowledge with the world, so I decided to open the world’s first karate museum. I collected many karate artifacts starting from days in college, and today I have over 300 on display in my museum. Thousands of visitors come here each year to see the museum or to train with me. It makes me very happy. I consider it my duty to pass on karate history to the next generation."
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"I started out with just two dojos, and today I have branches in 42 countries. Many times each year I’m invited to give seminars or training demonstrations."
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"When we did kata we would do it outside while standing on the rocks, no shoes. While western martial artists wear commonly wear shoes, here we do not. This is very important to make your body stronger. Now my foot its very strong [presents his very calloused and leathery feet to me]. This is hard, but if you work hard, you become hard, not only in your body, but also in your mind. The best training is when mental and physical training happen together."
" At age 22 I was drafted into the Japanese army to fight in WWII. After serving three years in China, I was sent to the Soromon islands to help the Japanese army expand south. Things went terribly wrong. The ships that were supposed to bring us our food and supplies never showed up. We had to scrounge for food by eating sweetgrass or stealing what we could from the locals. There was never any salt either – we gave our food taste by crushing peppers into our meals whenever they could be found. We lost several men to starvation, and many more to malaria. I had malaria myself, but somehow I managed to survive.
We were eventually sent against the U.S. army on the island. They were building a base for their advancement into Saigon. Fighting them was very different from fighting the Chinese…they were very advanced. The Americans had automatic weapons, and we had single shot rifles. Even before we reached our destination, everybody was killed… I was the only man to survive that assault…such a waste.
I gave seven of what were supposed to be the best years of my life to war. It’s a terrible thing. I never want war to happen again. Nothing is better than peace."
The men from each village around here meet for games of Baseball on the weekends:
"We’re doing a two part baseball tournament. The team that wins this week will go on to play team that wins the other game next week. Enjoy watching us play during this game, because you’re definitely not going to see us next week. "
He was right. Their team got demolished. But they had a great time anyway.
I was a school nutritionist for many years before I decided to open up this restaurant. I wanted to introduce our food and philosophy to other areas of Okinawa. I started this restaurant as a way to give visitors from all over a chance to understand our unique diet. Our traditional foods are very good for you, and I think everyone should know about this.
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To me a good life means you need to have something to do today, tomorrow, everyday! I’ve been growing vegetables since I was a child. I work every morning, afternoon and evening: digging, cutting, watering at any moment. The stress you feel to take care of your plants is important for keeping you active, but keep only a little. A little stress will get you going, but too much is bad for you. Make sure you stay easy-going too, you need to enjoy your time with your food!
Japan and Ryuku (Okinawa) are different countries. Okinawa never liked war. We enjoy peace and love. Unlike Japan, we didn’t want to kill anyone during the war. We never asked for war.
Okinawan hearts are strong, but we don’t fight others. If there is violence around us, we learn to tolerate it, just as we had to when the Americans destroyed our land several decades ago. For example, Okinawans only use karate to protect themselves or their neighbor. I have never heard of an Okinawan using karate to start a fight or seek out revenge.
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The culture towards parents is very different here. In America, kids and their parents are like friends. Here we are not friends with them, we have to be very respectful towards them.
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If I didn't work, I wouldn’t be alive. My lifestyle is all about working hard. Sure it can get a little stressful, but I all I have to do is play the Sanshin at night and it all goes away. Everyone’s going to have something that stresses them in life, you just need to find a way to release it.
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What do you love most about Okinawa?
I like everything! Except for the typhoons…and shrimp. If I eat shrimp I die.
A pottery couple that hosted me for part of my stay in Ogimi village.
They moved from Japan for a slower paced life in Okinawa. They opened up a studio in their backyard, where they did most of their work, and showed off their finished products. There was great variety, from teacups to necklaces to full-size Shisa ornaments. Finished pieces were decorated with a combination of gold dust, aqua blue paint - their signature - and sometimes included a patterning soft reds and greens. Sometimes seashells from the local beach were used to create patterns in the clay. It was a great privilege to live there. I saw tons of pottery before - it is very popular throughout Okinawa, but nowhere else did I get to sit at length and watch the entire process.
"My parents always made tea using the plants that grew around our house. They cut and dried the leaves themselves. They told us that drinking tea would bring us good health. I started making tea on my own one day. At first it was just for myself. I grew maybe four or five kinds. One day I served tea to a customer at my coffee shop. He was surprised by how tasty it was! From there my tea became really popular. Customers started demanding tea in bulk – large packages of leaves so they could share my tea in their homes. Today I grow, cut, dry and prepare over 30 varieties of tea. Everything is made just outside this shop.
It's a lot of work! I do everything on my own I start work at 7AM and finish around midnight. Last night I was cutting leaves until 2AM. I sleep maybe five hours a night. There’s always something to do!"
“A few years before I retired from work I started farming as an amateur. Whenever I got free time I would drive 100 km from the city to my farm in the north to tend to my vegetables. Because it takes so much gasoline to get here, my friends would ridicule me “ You could just buy rice or vegetables for the same amount you’re wasting on gasoline!... You’ve abandoned money.” I didn’t care about what I was spending to be honest - I just love this. I love to make vegetables by myself.”
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“The most important thing in our village is that we’re always talking to each other. Suppose an elder lives next door – it is common that everyday for their neighbour to check in on them everyday to make sure they are doing well, or to see whether they have had a good breakfast or lunch…everyday! In fact, each district has a special representative that you can talk with each day; usually another elder. They visit others and go outside together, walk together or eat together! We are all very close here.”
"I was 23 years old when I got sucked into jiu jitsu. I never trained in martial arts before, but once I started, I was hooked. I visited Brazil to study jui jistu, and I ended up staying there for eight years - training hard to improve my skills. I didn’t just learn about Jiu Jitsu though, I met a lot of great people that made me a better man. It inspired me to open up my own academy when I moved to Okinawa. I want it to be a place where people of all nationalities, occupations come together and exchange ideas."
"Many people visit Gangala valley to pray to the Goddess of fertility within these caves. She is named such because..."
“I’m going to teach you a special kata (karate pattern). It’s a the unadulterated form of a traditional kata that extends directly from originator of Shuri-Te ( A branch of traditional Okinawan martial arts). You know the changed version that everyone else in the world learns. I want to teach this kata to you so you can see the difference.”
"People in our village are always there for one another if there’s trouble. We call it the spirit of “Yuimaru”, which is the spirit of cooperation. If we find a person, we will always ask “May I help you; is something wrong?” If a person has not been seen for a few days, it is customary to visit their home and ask them if they are okay. We take care of each other all the time.
We’re close friends with an elder lady who lives just across the street. She has a a family but she lives alone. If there’s ever a typhoon coming or if there is any accident, she comes to our house and we spend time together. That is in essence, the spirit of Yuimaru. This is something embedded in our hearts. Okinawan culture is synonymous with Yuimaru."
"Pottery is a huge part of Okinawan culture. If you walk along the Tsuboya, or international street, you will see pottery shop and potters everywhere. We’re one of the bigger producers. In a given day one of us will produce several dozen pieces. "
I was walking a small road the separates the two halves of the village. As I stepped past one of the homes, this woman stepped out from her house and waved. She wanted me to step into her yard. I walked over and and she pointed to a tiny plastic seat, set next to a giant stone flat top. It was covered with moss and some overgrowth, but it made for a good table otherwise. She disappeared into her house and emerged with a Tea and biscuits. While we snacked, she showed me how she likes to dance and sing in her spare time -- waving her hands back and forth and singing tune from her chair. I joined in, waving my hands lefts and right as she did, humming as she hummed. She chuckled at me. Minutes later I finished the Tea and biscuits, and she sent me off with a wave. From then on, she would greet me with the same wave and a big smile every time I passed her house.
We never met before, yet I received an unusual amount of hospitality. I assumed this treatment was because my status as a newcomer. I would learn later on however, that the locals are unusually hospitable by nature.
I’m surprised by the number of areas of spiritual places here. They’re subtle, but there are many. Most places in Japan are obsessed with possession and money. But I don’t see that here - the lifestyle is slow and people don’t have egos. I’d like to learn more about life here.
My first stay was at a BnB in one of the quieter neighborhoods of Naha. As I set out each morning I would encounter this man zipping around the block on his motor scooter, and wherever he went, his tiny dog would come scurrying behind him. I suppose this was his way of walking his dog. One day he stopped me on the way to the local market - making a picture gesture with his hands. He scooped up his dog onto his scooter, pointed to it and said “motor friend”, then posed. I snapped the picture.
(From California)
"I was working at an internet company as an accountant. It was a grilling job. I worked at least 9 or 10 hours a day. But there would be bad days where I had to get up to 5AM to get to work, and I would get back home at 6AM the next day. That wasn’t a very good time in my life. The work would drive me insane. I wanted to do something more natural, instead of sitting in front of a computer all day. I don’t know… I just felt sick, sitting in front of a computer all day, and being in a sterile environment. I was trapped in a box. I knew I wanted to do work with my body and that I wanted to get outdoors, so here I am.
What’s the experience on the farm been like for you?
I’m learning a lot more about being social. I wasn’t very family oriented before I came here, I kinda did my own thing, but just seeing Okaa-san [Word for “Mother in Japanese, it was the term we used to refer to our manager] - the way she started treating us like family the second she met us - I thought “Oh man, that’s a beautiful way to live”. There’s a lot you can learn from someone like that. "
I was a little burnt out from college, and I was looking forward to the next 3 months that I would be spending in Japan as part of a study abroad program. Being fourth generation Japanese-American, I didn’t grow up speaking or hearing Japanese, I did not eat Japanese food, and I definitely did not participate in any Japanese traditions or holidays. My father is of English descent, making me only half-Japanese. My study abroad program in Japan was the first time I was ever in Japan, and I wanted it to be a way to connect with the part of my heritage that I never really knew much about.
"My junior high school was an agricultural school. When war broke out Japanese soldiers suddenly appeared at our school. The dormitories were full of soldiers and the students were kicked out – we had to find local home-stays on our own.
I only got to study 2 months in school as a result. After that we were required to help the military with building shelters, making tunnels, or creating an “airport”. I was spared from fighting because I was too young, so these were the kinds of things they made me do. American planes would often fly over us as we did our work, and the soldiers near us would fire at them. Meanwhile the only thing we could do was dig more frantically.
But kids would still be kids. During our breaks we would climb onto the planes for fun. One day during one of these breaks I ventured off into an area covered tall grass. I could hear sounds coming from there and curiously followed. When I reached the other side I found a large tent. I went in. I saw a man holding up a sword shouting down at of large assembly of soldiers. I was really confused. Suddenly another man marched up said “You saw this, get in!” and he pulled me into crowd. Turns out they were discussing a secret weapon! They didn’t hurt my, but they forced me to stay quiet.
As the war got closer and closer to Okinawa younger and younger men would get called into battle. When they left from school they would leave dressed in white garments under their uniforms– the garments in which we dress the deceased. Back then to go into war was to accept death. When the new recruits left us to join the army, we would say to them “See you in the shrine”. Nobody expected them to return."
I was fascinated by martial arts, and then quite quickly by oriental culture and history. I studied Japanese and Politics in London, and continued my studies in mainland Japan. When I was doing karate and attending university on the mainland, I happened to meet a girl from Okinawa. We hit it off and ended up getting married. She’s the reason I came to Okinawa in the first place, but I have to stay, of all the places I visited in Japan, I like Okinawa the most.
I was initially helping out at my wife’s family business, which was interesting, but my main passion was karate. One of the things I realized from my years visiting Okinawa, before I moved here actually, was that there didn’t seem to be a place where people who were interested in Karate could get together and meet other people with a similar mindset. I remembered how I worked in bars and clubs while I was at University, and I thought – I could set up a bar!
It took time to build up a critical mass: People tell their friends who tell their friends, but certainly that effect has kicked in now. We just celebrated our fourth anniversary, and I think the dojo bar is getting more widely known. I certainly get contacted by a diverse set of people all over the world, who are interested in coming to Okinawa or finding out about Okinawan Martial Arts. It’s nice to be a nexus for people who have spent their life involved in Okinawan martial arts. I think that’s what makes the dojo bar special place.
I think that one that that characterizes Okinawan martial arts and dojos is the sense of it being a lifelong practice. It’s not just something for young men to do when they have the physical ability to beat each other up and take some damage. The idea of Okinawan Martial arts is more that its part of a lifelong practice of health and well being. Obviously, the point of martial arts is to protect yourself, and stay healthy. But there’s also this idea that it protects your day-to-day health. It is part of your daily regime, and one of those key components that I think contributes to longevity, and good health right through to your senior years. I think that is strongly characterized in Okinawan martial arts.
“My favorite place in Okinawa? Why Shuri Castle of course! There aren’t many other places where you can keep touch with your Ryukyuan roots while getting to me people from around the world”
There’s a very large post-retirement working community in Okinawa - found in the form of odd jobs such as traffic control, museum curation, gardening or otherwise. He was one of a many men I encountered on the roads, redirecting people and traffic around crosswalks and construction respectively. While I didn’t know each worker’s age, I could safely say they were into or passed their 60’s based physical appearances alone. Almost every “retired” Okinawan I met took up another job of some kind.
“I hope you’ve seen how what a wonderful place Okinawa can be. It’s one big family here, and now you are part of it. It was a pleasure having you here, and I hope you enjoyed your time with us too! When you go back, please tell everyone about us, and do visit us again - there’s so much more we can show you.”
“This is my morning walk. Would you like to join?
" When my family and I returned to my hometown, everything was destroyed. The war took my home, and one of my brothers. I needed to support my parents and four other family members, so I took up work as a bus driver at Okinawa’s airbase. It wasn’t enough money though, and the work was too boring, so I started studying agriculture instead. There was lots of money in cows back then, so I planned to open up a beef cattle farm. Once I opened the farm, and my wife a local convenience store, the money finally started flowing for us, and we were able to make things better again. We’ve been at for over 60 years now.
Today my family is famous for breeding fighting bulls now. One of my cows is the Okinawan bull-fighting champion. My sons and grandsons help with work around the farm, and train the fighting bulls. It’s a great thing when you can work with for family everyday.
You learn a lot about cows by raising them. Everyday, when I finish work on the farm, many of my friends come to me to ask me about which bulls they should bet on for the next bullfighting event. I have a knack for getting it right."
I was attending a meditation session at a local Buddhist temple when I ran into her.
“So you’re into martial arts eh? I’m there’s a tournament coming up later this month. You should attend! I’m going to be there as a translator for the visitors.”
“My good friend is a tour guide, he’s knows all the best places around here, and teaches me things about Okinawa that I never knew. I want to become a tour guide myself, so he’s helping , me get trained. Perhaps we can show you around?”
They gave me a detailed tour of the town. Although we went to many places I had visited, they knew a great deal of history and background for the small things that I never could have learned about otherwise. Towards the end of my visit, she also offered to help translate for one of my interviews. I had nothing to offer them, but they helped me with the an eagerness that money couldn’t buy.
“This is the traditional instrument of Okinawa [Sanshin]. My Father taught me how to play it when I was 6 years old. “
"I Traveled to the “Ip-Chun” dojo in China to learn Wing Chun karate. The problem was they don’t take people in for training right away. They get a lot “tourist” practitioners who are there for the novelty of training where Ip-trained more so than serious training.
When I first arrived, they put in a room and told asked me to do one simple motion. Push your wrist forward, slowly rotate your hand into a Shuto [Chop] position, and repeat. Then they left me. It was probably 40 degrees in that room, I got no breaks, and no water. I just kept repeating the motion. My arm felt like it was going to fall off. Three hours later, no seriously, three hours later, they came back and saw that I was still there, doing the same thing. Then they showed me the real stuff. "
While training in Iaido
"No. Do it again."
He was a man of few words.