Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Shisa (シーサー, shīsā) is a traditional Ryukyuan cultural artifact and decoration derived from Chinese guardian lions, often seen in similar pairs, resembling a cross between a lion and a dog, from Okinawan mythology. Shisa are wards, believed to protect from some evils.
Kariyushi shirts manufactured in Okinawa for local Okinawan residents are usually adorned with characteristic Okinawan designs found in traditional Okinawan arts, shisa temple guardian designs, and simple floral patterns in muted colors. They are often used to promote tourism in Okinawa, and have been established in replacing the standard white ...
American servicemen during World War II were taught that one could distinguish between some Okinawan women and mainland Japanese women through hajichi. Nonetheless the practise became less and less common over time and by the 1950s most young women in Okinawa rejected getting the traditional tattoos.
"Ryukyu" is an other name from the Chinese side, and "Okinawa" is a Japanese cognate of Okinawa's indigenous name "Uchinā", originating from the residents of the main island referring to the main island against the surrounding islands, Miyako and Yaeyama. [27] Mainland Japanese adapted Okinawa as the way to call these people. [citation needed]
The tradition later arrived in China where it developed into the guardian lion that was later exported to Korea, Japan, and Okinawa. During the Nara period (710–794), as in the rest of Asia, the pair always consisted of two lions. [12] Used only indoors until the 14th century, they were made mainly of wood.
Legends of Okinawa by Sesoku Chizue. First publication, Okinawa, 1969. Hard-to-find collection of legends and folk tales. The Ghosts of Okinawa by Jayne Hitchcock. MHS Printing, April, 2000. ISBN 978-4-9900359-5-2. A short collection of ghost stories from around Okinawa. More information available at the author's website. Ouwehand, C. (1985).
In 1954, Jirō Kinjō, a potter from Tsuboya, became the first Okinawan to be named a Living National Treasure. In addition to dishes, vessels, and roof tiles, Ryukyuan pottery is especially known for the production of funerary urns, and shisa, lion-like guardians placed on rooftops and at gates to protect homes and other spaces from evil spirits.
As the lacquer tree is not native to Okinawa, the key material needed to produce lacquerware could only be obtained by the Ryukyuans through trade. Though the islands were involved with trade with Japan and the Asian mainland for many centuries, it is generally believed that the presence and production of lacquerware in Ryukyu only began to any significant extent in the late 14th or early 15th ...