The Story So Far: Part 4

This is the last of my "catch-up" posts. The day after I went out to Zanpa Point, I got bored. The laundry was done, the room cleaned, and the sun was shining bright. So I decided to drive and see what I could see. So I hopped into the car and drove out on the base's gates. Not even a mile outside of base, I saw a sign that gave directions to another gusuku. So I turned down that road. The sign said that the castle was down the road about 2.4km (1.5 miles). After driving the appropriate distance, I did not see the castle, so I stopped at a Lawson, which is an Okinawan version of a Seven Eleven, to get a map and some directions. I ended up spending 2000Y ($22.41) on an awesome road atlas. It is one of those that shows all the roads, including some that are no longer there. I thought, "Great, I have an atlas. I can figure out were I am at, and find the roads to get me to where I want to be." One problem though, the atlas is completely in Japanese (doh), and I can not read the words printed on it. As I am trying to figure out where I am by using the road sign numbers (the numbers I could read), an Okinawan comes up to try and help. Well, he spoke very little English and I spoke very little Japanese. After a little pantomime and hemming and hawing over the map, we found out where I was. I had turned one road too soon. I thanked him, that I know how to say, and headed back out to the main road. Got onto the right road, and immediately had my breath taken away. The road leading to the castle, was narrow and along the side of a cliff. The view of the Pacific one saw was gorgeous. Since I was on the right road now, 2.4km from my turn I was greeted with the sign to the castle.

I parked the car and went to the sites main office. It cost me Y300 ($3.36) to get into the site. I then proceeded to walk up the hill. Once at the top, I came upon the back gate to the castle. It was huge compared to the one I saw the day before. I proceeded to walk all over the castle grounds, and enjoyed the breath taking view of Kitanakagusuku Village on the Pacific coast. In one of the enclosures, they were doing an archeological dig. They were working on uncovering the building used by the prefecture government when Okinawa became a part of the Japanese Empire in 1879. By the time I walked to the far end of the castle, I was getting tired. I went to take one last look at the scenery before turning back, and I saw a Buddhist temple off in the distance. So when I got back to my car, I took off with the intent of finding it.

I found the temple in short order. I had to go up a vary steep, windy road to get there. Once there, I walked up the steps, and a monk came out. I asked him if taking pictures was ok, and he said no. So I put my camera back into my car. Once I got back to the temple entrance, there was a different monk there, and he could speak some English. He showed me around the temple, and after I removed my shoes, he took me up to the alter. It was exquisite. Parts of it were covered in gold, and intricately carved. Not much was said in the temple, and I thanked him once we left the inside and made a donation to the temple. By this time I was exhausted, so I drove back to Base and proceeded to take a nap. The pictures that I took of this trip are located here. There is also a picture of the Okinawan Haunted Hotel. I need to do some research on it, and once I have some information, I will pass it on. In my next post, I will talk about driving on the island of Okinawa.

The Okinawa Expedition