Oyata Family Tomb

 

It was mother’s day still in the United States when Lisa Ohmes and I met up with Taika’s Great Nephew Satoshi and Great Great Niece Yuika.  Satoshi is a wonderful person who graciously invited us out for some history and a tour of several important places in the Ryukyu Kingdom.  First stop, we were taken to the Oyata family shinju (haka) tomb. 

The original tomb had been located near Taika’s birth island of Henza, but his sister Tomi had wanted to move it closer to where she was living in her later life.   The old tomb was in need of some repairs and the drive was a bit long for the current family.  Satoshi found a new location early in this century and Taika began bringing money back to Okinawa between 2000 and 2007.  He special ordered marble from China and the new family tomb was finished in July of 2007.  Taika’s parents, and a lock of hair from Taika’s eldest brother Akio, were then placed at this new site.  (Akio was killed during the battle of Pearl Harbor but his mother had a lock of his hair.) Tomi was then laid to rest when she passed away last year.

Satoshi bestowed on us a great honor by not only taking us to the family tomb, but allowing us to take part in the Okinawan custom of paying our respects to Taika’s family.  The rest of the Okinawan family, and Okinawa in general, do this once a year in April.  This is called the Seimei or shimi in the Okinawan language.  It was quite an emotional moment for us all as we gave our offerings of awamori, burned incense, burned our ‘paper money’, and Satoshi said a prayer. 

Afterwards, Satoshi took us a few steps southwest to show us what was so wonderful about this new location.  This location had quite a beautiful view of the ocean and a public park/beach which Taika and Tomi loved.

 Our next stop was to Taika’s birth island, Henza.  As discussed on the history page of ryute.com, Taika was actually born on Henza, which at the time was not connected at all to Okinawa.  Before the island was connected by a bridge, they had to take small boats when visiting the mainland.  Satoshi said that Tomi would talk about how she would be so scared when they would take the trip in a small six person boat.  On this island we drove through the small village where Taika was born, though sadly the original home is no longer there.  Satoshi also took us to the original family tomb.  This was followed by a tour of Henza, Miyagi and Ikei islands.  Shortly after Taika’s birth, the family moved to Kita Daito island.

Satoshi then took us to a wonderful Japanese restaurant where we ate until we couldn’t eat any more.  We then discussed a little about Satoshi’s life and how he works at Kadena air base.  He is essentially a base Police Officer or Base Security.  He has been doing it for 17 years.  Satoshi then took us on a tour of the base and we exchanged police stories. 

He drove us all around the island that day, sharing stories of the family and ending the trip at Okinawa’s new Aeon Shopping mall, a brand new, huge indoor mall in Chatan.  In all, it was a wonderful time, cut short by the impending Typhoon.  We all had to scurry our separate ways to brace for the storm and gather resources.  It is a wonderful thing knowing that Taika’s family carries on in the Isle of Smiles, Okinawa.

Lee E. Richards & Lisa A. Ohmes

May 2015