The 10 Best Sacred & Religious Sites in Okinawa-honto, Okinawa Prefecture

Reviewed By CaptainJWCourtney - Severn, United States

I first visited the Shrine back in 1966 and was taken by the simple, honesty in the Shinto religion practiced at this shrine. I had a favorite place nearby that I would go to watch the Okinawan dancers and listen to the native music. I returned in 1983 and saw how many improvements that had been made to the Shrine and It showed me the pride in the people that worshiped here. It was better painted, much wood work had been done and it was a secial place for me to visit when I was in the area and had time to stop and visit. I returned to Okinawa in 2001 and visited it only twice before I left with my wife in 2003. Once again it has changed a lot more but is still a beautiful, insprational place to visit. (The shrine is located at the top of a steep hill so please keep this in mind if visiting with elderly people or anyone with physical challenges like my wife and her breathing problems.) The shrine is has become a very beautiful shrine after all those years and continues to offer the usual charms to protect you and your driving and talismans for health, love, wealth harmony etc. I usually spend about 20 to 50 minutes here to walk around, let the memories come back, reabsorb the Okinawan culture and uniquely Okinawan architecture. I studied the Okinawan culture under Dr. Barbra Golden at the Maryland University in the mid 1980's and lived in Kosa (Okinawa City) at the time, shopped locally and went to all the old places that I used to go to back in the 1960's. Oh, and one more thing, this place has gotten much busier than it used to be, so go early to avoid the huge crowds of tourists from Mainland Japan and from China!!