OKINAWA JP A photo of the wild, outrageous creatures at Yonekoyaki Shisa Park intrigued me. I had to go!
I assumed the park was on the main island of Okinawa, where I was staying. Not so. It’s on nearby Ishigaki!
A BIG DAY TRIP
I traveled one hour by plane from Naha Airport, then a half-hour by taxi to the northern coast of Ishigaki. I was dropped at the Yonekoyaki pottery store, a barn-sized building packed with whimsical shisa — Okinawa’s lion-dog guardians. I’d seen shisa everywhere in Naha, but these were crazy!
INTO THE WILD
Outside, pathways, ponds, and psychedelic sculptures filled the garden — enormous, joyful beasts in bright colors. Shisa are usually paired to protect homes and invite good fortune. These smiling giants radiated happiness.
At first I thought the sculptures were made of fired clay, given the pottery shop next door. But at that scale? Impossible. Local artisans actually build each one by hand using cement — one-of-a-kind creations.
BEACH BONUS
I walked out to Highway 79 and then came a snag: no taxi or Uber would drive north to pick me up. When I tried hitchhiking, all the drivers averted their eyes.
After half an hour of dejection in the warm sun, Tomohiro Ueno strolled by. He was on the way to Yonehara Beach to take footage with his underwater drone.
Tomo and I walked down to the sandy shores of this popular beach. I hung around long enough to see his drone, with an iPhone attached, dart through the shallow waves.
MY HERO
My new transportation strategy: ask someone leaving the beach for a ride. The first driver declined. The second nodded. I climbed into the back of his spotless van.
We didn’t share a word on the half-hour drive to town, but his kindness meant everything. He dropped me at the harbor. After tea in a nearby hotel restaurant — I’d missed lunch — I caught a city taxi onward.
MINSAH KOGEI KAN
The craft museum featuring Minsah textiles — a weaving tradition of Okinawa’s Yaeyama Islands — sprawled across a property with yarn-drying sheds and a pristine coffeeshop.
Minsah textiles — narrow cotton weavings, traditionally used for belts — feature a 5-and-4 pattern of rectangles. The motif — five for “eternity,” four for “love” — is a message of love forever.
On one end of the museum’s first floor, working looms clacked with the ton-ton sound of hand weaving. Next door, more looms were busy with visitors making their own Minsah-ori projects.
On the far end, a gift shop brimmed with modern takes on the classic Minsah design.
Upstairs, an interpretive exhibit told the Minsah story with the didactic panels all in Japanese. The “modern” dresses made with the Minsah textiles displayed a quiet, old-island elegance.
THE GRAND FINALE
Before heading to the airport, I stopped at the on-site Café FIVE FOUR EVER—a clever nod to the textile pattern. I skipped the waffles with brown-sugar syrup and whipped cream, and chose a matcha latte crowned with a brown-sugar-cream floret. It disappeared fast!
A GREAT DAY
My excursion combined adventure, discovery, generosity, nature, and craft. Plus glorious weather. It was a perfectly selfish diversion before sixteen travelers arrived the next day for our Textile Treasures of Okinawa tour.
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ABOUT US: Okan Arts, a petite family business, is co-owned by mother-daughter duo Patricia Belyea and Victoria Stone. Patricia and Victoria import vintage Japanese textiles, host in-person and online creative quilting experiences, and lead textile tours to Japan.
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