Soon after the fisherman started taking in record hauls which eventually caught the attention of the local gods who stole the rock. The story goes a little like this: A shrine was constructed by a fishermen who one day came across a mysterious stone and, (as one does), began to pray to it, which caused the stone to start glowing. What we do know about the origins of the shrine are from local legends. There isn’t actually any recorded information or evidence that gives an exact date as to when a shrine was first constructed in this location. The internet is full of claims that the history of the shrine dates back almost a thousand years, but that is actually a bit misleading. Literally, the “ Above the Waves Shrine”, Naminoue Shrine, pronounced, sits high on its perch above the Naha Harbour. The shrine is not only one of the most important religious sites in the capital city, but is also a place of worship that is uniquely ‘Okinawan.’ Even though it maintains many of Japan’s traditional design elements, it is unmistakably something that you’re only going to see in Okinawa which makes it stand out from the 80,000 other shrines across the country. Naminoue Shrine, known simply to the locals as ‘ Nanminsan’ has a long history dating back to at least the 1300s and today is the most widely-visited place of worship in all of Okinawa. Next came Naminoue Shrine (波上宮), Okinawa’s “ ichinomiya” (一宮), the highest-ranking shrine in the prefecture. When reconstruction efforts on these shrines finally began, priority was given to the largest and most significant of them, namely, Futenma Shrine (普天滿宮) just outside of the capital. Links: Ryukyu Eight Shrines 琉球八社 (Samurai Archives) | 琉球八社 (Wiki) The Eight Ryukyuan Shrines (琉球八社) for example, which were (for the most part) places of worship created for the Ryukyuan folk religion (and later converted into Shinto Shrines) were eventually rebuilt, but it would take until the 1990s (or later) Or for most of them to reappear in some shape or form. This meant that the various Ryukyuan castles like Shuri Castle, Nakagusuku Castle and Zakimi Castle as well as various tombs and places or worship weren’t rebuilt. Suffice to say that many of the buildings of cultural or religious significance that were lost weren’t really high in priority. In the aftermath of the war, reconstruction efforts focused primarily on building modern infrastructure and homes for all of the people who were displaced. Link: Battle of Okinawa’s legacy lives on 70 years later as locals chase against Japanese rule, US arms (The Conversation) What this revival also shows quite clearly is that there is a stark contrast between the Ryukyuan people and their Japanese compatriots and that while they might have a shared history, they’re not one in the same. This is something that the people of Okinawa have worked tirelessly at rectifying over the past few decades and now the fruits of their labor are taking shape as there has been a cultural revival of sorts when it comes to the local language, culture and customs, which the local people have become so very proud of. In the aftermath of the war, Okinawa redeveloped at an amazing pace, but while homes and businesses can be rebuilt, something that the people of Okinawa continue to struggle with today is that they’ve lost so much of their culture, language and identity through all of the chaos. Its hard to fathom while walking down the clean, well-organized streets that half a century ago, the entirety of the island was reduced to a festering pile of rubble and human misery. The Okinawa of today has developed into a modern, yet beautiful tropical island with excellent infrastructure and public transportation that provides easy access to all the other outlying islands and amazing beaches. Okinawa’s history is an extremely complex one and if you’re not well-versed, don’t worry, if you visit, you’re going to get a crash course. These are questions that anyone planning a visit should be asking. What happened before the war? What happened after the war? That unfortunately might be the extent of your knowledge about this small, yet extremely beautiful archipelago of islands known as the Ryukyus. How much do you know about Okinawa? If you’re like most people, you probably learned in history books that it was the location of one of the most devastating battles of the Second World War.
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