As an interdisciplinary and multifaceted entity, the Gail Project is composed of students and academic personal with diverse skill sets. In this issue, we will introduce some of the team members, highlight summer adventures, explore…
A notice from USCAR to the Chief Executive of the Government of the Ryukyu Islands to inform them of the use of specified land for troop training purposes.
"Use of the area [for troop training] will not require the suspension of indigenous…
This is a translated article printed in the local Okinawan newspaper. "The Land Problem is unjust, change military administration for civil service one."
In the planning of the construction for new army installments, approximately 337 Okinawan tombs and 391 buildings were estimated to be cleared according to a document released by the Headquarters of the Ryukyus Command in June of 1952. This document…
"Here is one of my prizes. This has the typical road, houses, terrain, fields, rice paddies and the farmer carrying the honey buckets out to his field. I can smell the slop in those buckets from here! The House with the tile roof is the "Honcho" or…
[Young boy, checkered kimono, holding knife] "This little fellow's head really looked like black velvet. His robe is of the red plaid that most of the children his size wear. Notice where the urine has run down his leg and the dust collected there…
"The dark blue blouses with white strips on cuff and around neck flap are the school girl costume. This is a Japanese influence. As you see the girls on the left are doing all possible to hide their faces from the camera, the others too dumbfounded…
"This is a typical shoe store. The owner makes the shoes out of blocks of wood stacked at right, and lines in the back of the shop. The children were all trying to watch me without getting their pictures taken, but had to bring out the baby boy, as…
"This old Mamason was none too happy to be cornered for a picture, but after I took it I bowed and thanked her in Japanese and she gave me a big toothless smile. If you look closely you can see the tattoos on her hands and wrists that are placed on…
"This old lady has the tattooed hands and was smoking a cigarette with the holder which turns up at the end. They are very common here. Also from her behavior while I was taking the picture. I decided she was also quite familiar with saki. The lady…
"This is a seed store. The old gent has made himself a pair of bifocals by taping two pairs of glasses together. Hi is using the far vision through the top pai only now, but back to his newspapers he will look through both. Notice the cans in the…
"Ain't this the cutest little feller on the lower right! Also notice how unconcerned the woman is of the bundle on her head, with a bottle in it too! You won't find any stockings in the picture."
"These are squid drying as we would dry clothes on a line. In a week or month or so they will be stacked like shingles in a market. Children eat them like lolipops"
"At head of the stairs is a cave which has a shrine in it, complete with roof, even though it is protected by the cave. This 'Gateway to Heaven' is part of the Japanese influence, their religion rather than the Okinawan's, however, the Okinawans will…
A motorboat in the peninsula between Henza and Hamiga. Before a bridge was built that connected the Hamiga to the main island, the tide would roll out so far that people could walk between islands during lowtide, a phenomenon that still occurs to…
Note the ribbon shaped nails that are holding the boat together, also made out of wood. This is a unique Okinawan technique for holding together slats of wood without extra screws or nails, something mirrored in their gusuku architecture as well.…
A fisherman works in his boat at the dry dock, using his push-stick to balance his boat in the shallow water. The interior wood panels that take up the majority of this image are made of the same piece of wood, shaped to fit this boat precisely.…
Photographer's Note: "The steps at the Nakagusuku castle are all overgrown with vegetation."
These steps are around the back of the castle, and lead up from the main palace, to an antechamber presumably used for the bedrooms of lower lords. During…
Photographer's note: "No mortar was used, each block of stone is cut to fit the adjacent ones perfectly. The wall around the Emperor’s palace in Japan looks just like this, except it is not pressed coral stone as this is."
The plaque reads: "This castle was built by Gosamaru Liege Lord and father-in-law of King Sho Taiku. While in its eighth year of construction (1450-1458) it was captured and destroyed by Amawari, Lord of Katsuren Peninsula and opposer of the king."…
The shrine here is high up on a hill, and is marked by a torii gate, an entrance to every Shinto shrine, and a demarcation of the division between the sacred world, and our own. Larger shrines might have several torii, but this Nago shrine, being…
These statues are ancient shiisa, the lion-dogs that are said to protect the home from evil spirit invaders. They come in pairs, one with its mouth shut and one with its mouth open. Although there are many interpretations for why this is such, the…
Photographer’s Note: “Part of a statue several hundred years old.”
This hand is kept in the storage at Tamaudun--the royal mausoleum of the Ryukyu Kingdom, where many families of the Sho Dynasty, the ruling family of the Ryukyu Kingdom up…
Photographer’s Note: “Burial Urn, buddhist figures (sic), for the ones of a man and wife”
Note the mandala-circle in the bottom section of the burial urn which symbolizes eternal balance of the cosmos. There are various Indian influences on…
Photographer’s Note: “These womb shaped tombs originated in China, however they have been in vogue here for centuries. Nearly every hillside in the island has many of these. The people save all their lives and go without to buy one of these.…
Photographer’s Note: “Upon the edge of the womb-shaped tomb is a fancy urn in which the bones are placed, 2, 4 or 5 years after interment. The young daughters clean the bones and put them in the urn, then place the Urn back on the altar shelf in…
One of the tombs scattered across Okinawa, otherwise known as 'turtleback tombs' for their distinctive shape. Turtleback tombs are found all over Okinawa, but are also, interestingly found in Fujian Province, one of the big provinces in mainland…
