"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…
"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"
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…
