Saturday, March 17, 2012

Amonji Isle, Hamahiga Island Exploring

After drying off at the beach we drove around the island to see what else there was to see. Hamahiga Island is very small. However, it is very important to the people of Okinawa. According to Okinawan mythology, this island is where Okinawan civilization was born. This island is very sacred. You can read more HERE. As we were driving we came across this little isle. It is called Amonji.


The little isle was so much fun to explore. Lots of really rough rocks and cool little caves. The kids really loved looking around.


The kids kept trying to find the bats, but I think they were deep inside, where we were not going to explore. The boys of course pretended to be Indiana Jones.


Near the water there was some seaweed growing. Parker and Cooper of course started harvesting the seaweed. Cooper always loves to pretend to eat the seaweed.


If we had our water shoes on we could have walked around in the water more, but the rocks were really sharp. Still, it was so pretty.



On this little isle there is a very sacred burial spot. At the top of the stairs is the grave of Amamichu, a female God that is said to have created Okinawan life. I didn't take pictures of the grave at the top as I was unsure if that would be disrespectful. Okinawan's come to this grave site to pray for children’s health, good harvest and protection from natural disasters. The kids were interested in the grave and all the things set outside it, especially all the yen coins. They just didn't understand why the money was there and why no one was taking it.


We walked around to the back side of the isle. It was just beautiful. We passed a group of Japanese tourists. Of course the kids all said Konichiwa. The Japanese tourists just oohed and awed over the kids, like always.


After exploring we headed home. By now the clouds had all cleared. The weather was perfect. We had a great afternoon!



No comments:

Post a Comment