Island of the gods : Kouri Island villages and traditional geographical ideas : rediscovering and highlighting

摘要

Kouri Island in Nakijin Village, Kunigamigun, Okinawa prefecture, has had for many, many years kept the old folkways and village appearance. It can be said to be an "Island of the gods" carefully keeping Ryukyu traditional ways. In June, 2011, the authors studied the villages and researched the actual villagelayoutsand traditional geographical ideas. The results show that there are a number of partitions formed on the axes of various sacred spots. In addition, we made detailed distribution maps of the charms against evil such as ishigantou (stone plaques with the word ishigantou carved into them) and shiisa (lion-shaped roof ornaments) and shellfish and found that each of them are positioned following fundamental rules. But although these charms are definitely an ancient tradition, they are also increasing because local residents are clearly rediscoveringRyukyu ways due to effects such as the so-called Okinawa boom.