Sefa-Utaki

A few comments on the earthquake/tsunami before we begin.  First of all, in case you haven’t gotten the message, we’re fine.  Okinawa didn’t feel the earthquake and the tsunami was negligible.  We are literally a thousand miles away from the epicenter.  Second, the destruction in areas of northern Japan was obviously much more severe.  You’ve seen the pictures, I’m sure.  And then there’s the threat posed by damage to nuclear power plants . . .  They could certainly use our prayers.  But third, consider how much worse the devastation could have been.  An earthquake of that magnitude hitting almost any other major city in the world and the death tolls would have been catastrophic well beyond what has occurred here.  You’ve got to be a little bit impressed with Japan’s architecture, infrastructure and emergency preparedness/response planning.

Now for local (non-disastrous) adventures.  We completed our tour of UNESCO World Heritage Sites on Okinawa—there are eight of them.  The last on our list was Sefa-Utaki, a sacred religious site of the former Ryukyu kingdom.

 
Honestly, it consisted mostly of lots of REALLY big rocks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

linked by paths made of smaller rocks.

Plaques identified where specific religious ceremonies took place.  This one was for the ordination of priestesses (the spiritual leaders of the kingdom were all women).

There were moments when the natural majesty of the area really was impressive.

“Holy water” drips from the stalactites into waiting containers and/or hands.

   
This unusual rock formation serves as the entrance to one of their most sacred altar sites.

Logan looks over the altar and out towards the ocean.

A bento picnic lunch on the way home completed the outing.