Emblems of belonging in southern Okinawa

The Ryukyu chain, the southernmost extension of the Japanese archipelago, has a rich material and festival culture dating back to the Ryukyu Kingdom, which ceased to exist in 1878. Ninety-seven years after Yonaguni Island was fully integrated into Japan, I began my ethnographic fieldwork there, focusing on this tradition.

As a social anthropologist and museum curator, I took notes, photos, and audio recordings, and sometimes melded such engagements into museum exhibits. I cooperated with practitioners of traditional Okinawan crafts in collecting artifacts. A 2019 issue of Arts of Asia presents the Asia collections at the Oslo University Museum of Cultural History, including my article on the still-vibrant festival traditions of islands in southern Okinawa.

I introduce the festival masks and emblems that are essential as identity markers for people in the area. These are produced by Mr. Hiroshi Arashiro, the head of a house with stakes (across the generations) in the makeup of festivals on Ishigaki Island. The mask reproduced below (©Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo), is one of Mr. Arashiro's creations. Its name is daatuda. It is a harbinger of good harvest. for people on Kobama (Kohama) Island.