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GALLERY — MAY 2006, OKINAWA
Saturday May 20th, 2006 — We visited the Okinawa World Theme Park during the day, before our last training later that night...
Sunday May 21st, 2006 — Our last full day in Okinawa. And we finally made it to the beach...
Monday May 22nd, 2006 — We were all sad to leave, but it was time to go back home: Vancouver, Seattle, New York.
THE GYOKUSENDO CAVE
The Gyokusendo Cave has a total length of five kilometers. It is considered Japan's second longest cave, a small section of which is open to the public. In fact, the Gyokusendo cave is more than 300,000 years old!!! It features stalactites & stalagmites that have been formed by dripping water over thousands of years. Some of them, even have names: "The Bell of the Rising Dragon", "The Golden Cup" & "Fountain of Happiness"...
KINGDOM VILLAGE
We continued out tour with Kingdom Village, which is made up of small houses in a Ryūkyū style. These traditional Okinawan houses were restored and relocated to the theme park.
The Kingdom Village has many small shops that sell traditional Okinawan crafts: bingatas (dyed fabrics), weaving, pottery, sugar cone processing, glass blowing, etc...
EISA DANCERS
The Eisa Dancers are made up of men and women dancers, musicians playing the Sanshin (3-string instrument), singers, drummer/dancers with large taiko drums and small drums (Paranku). They also have a Jester who performs separately from the rest.
Traditionally, each village in Okinawa has their own Eisa Dancers who perform on July 15 at the lunar calendar. They stop at each house to pray for the good health & prosperity of the people and for their ancestors' souls, as young men and women in the village join the dancers during the night. At the Okinawa World Theme Park there are five Eisa performances daily. At the end of the show the dancers invite the crowd to join them on stage for a grand finale!!
VISITING OLD FRIENDS
I also visited my good friend and Karate Senpai, Tokuyoshi Yasunobu & his wife Rieko at their hair salon "Ateitto". Tokuyoshi was my training partener when I first started at Shinjinbukan Dōjō back in 1992...
BEACH TIME!!!
On our last day in Okinawa, we visited Chatan Beach near Camp Foster. It was a perfect to go swimming in the ocean!!! Below, Gabi Chan decided to do flips like a dolphin and her Dojo buddies enjoyed throwing her up in the air...
We walked on the board And hanged out for a little while. Then, we headed back to the Dōjō. Our last night in Okinawa...
SAYŌNARA...
Until next time. Sayōnara...
