Fantastic Okinawa

Urasoe Tedako Festival

Tedako Festival highlights Urasoe’s long history

Urasoe City prides itself of beingthe original capital of the king-dom of Chuzan before Okinawawas united under one ruler in

Shuri in the late 14th century. And evenafter the unification, the ancient UrasoeCastle site in Urasoe became the final rest-ing place for several kings of the RyukyuKingdom.

As befitting to its long and proud his-

tory, ancient tales and long line of rulers,some of the highlights of the weekend’s38th Tedako Festival is the historical pro-ceeding of a picture scroll enactment of thethree great kings of Urasoe on Saturday,and traditional performing arts on Sunday,both on the main festival grounds at theUrasoe Athletic Park (Map:https://goo.gl/maps/zH4Vi).

The festival kicks off on Friday after-noon with a pre-festival block party onYafuso Street from 2 to 9 p.m. The street is

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Tedako Festival showcases many historical events that are not seen anywhere else.

Fireworks end the festival on both days.

Anew fireworks event, the1st Onna ChuraumiFireworks, on the sec-ond day of the 32nd

Unna Festival, is the most notable

addition to the lineup of events ofthis annual festival held at theOnna Village Fishing Portgrounds on Jul. 18th and 19th.

Much of the entertainment in

this year’s festival is aimed atchildren, although adults certainlyhave their share of fun, too. Theevents on Saturday include livefish catching for children of ele-

mentary school age, and fruitcatching for children from threeto preschool age. Eisa perform-ance by members of local juniorchambers and other traditional

performing arts round up the daythat ends with fireworks at 9 p.m.

Sunday’s program concen-trates more on live music, as

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Catching fish with bare hands is a perennial favorite of young children on Okinawa.

Unna Festival brings in new huge fireworks show

Jul. 09, 2015 - Jul. 15, 2015

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2Japan Update Classifieds Jul. 09, 2015 - Jul. 15, 2015

Tedako FestContinued from page 1closed for traffic during the block party that fea-tures street dance, performers and plenty of foodand cold drinks. Local youth groups are organiz-ing a parade for the block party during which thegroups show their skills in carrying and control-ling ‘hatagashira’, tall, hard-to-control bamboopoles sporting banners.

The main festival takes place on Saturdayand Sunday at Urasoe Athletic Park and, besidesthe historical performances, features live music,entertainment and all the traditional Okinawanfestival trappings of food and drink. The pro-gram ends with fireworks on both days startingat 20:45.

Tedako means ‘children of the sun’, and thefestival pays homage to a powerful King Eiso,the ruler of Chuzan who had his court in Urasoe.The festival begins with lighting of the fire fromthe sun at the Iso Castle Ruins Park.

On both days, the festival program includessports and competitions at various locations inthe city. On Saturday, there are a SeniorCitizen’s Club Karaoke Contest and UrasoeCultural Association’s stage performancesthroughout the day at Tedako Hall. The FlameLighting Ceremony at Iso Castle Ruins Park getsunder way at 2 p.m. Programs on the main stagestart at 5 p.m.

On Sunday, Dragon Boat Races are held atMakiminato Fishing Port, A footsal, kickball andchildren’s sumo tournaments are held starting at9 a.m. at facilities in the Athletic Park. Events onthe main stage start again at 16:50.

Organizers advise visitors to the festival touse public transportation as there is no parkingavailable at the venue.

Unna FestContinued from page 1Crystal Heart, Sakura Ishado,Shiori and a band from the

Philippines, Mr. Roxy, take stageone after another. The highlight ofthe festival is the 1st OnnaChuraumi Fireworks event thatends Sunday’s activities and prom-ises to be the largest ever in OnnaVillage. More than 4,000 fireworkswill be launched starting at 8:50

p.m.Organizers are also cooking a

huge pot of beef soup on both daysthat is sold at special price. Glassbottom boat tours are also offeredon both days.

Admission is free for the two-day event, which takes place athttps://goo.gl/maps/jHY2S.

The Unna Festival opens atnoon on Saturday, Jul. 18, althoughthe official opening ceremony is at3 p.m., and runs to 9:15 p.m. OnSunday the festival gets under wayat 10 a.m. and runs to 9:15 pm.

Yomitan Toya Osakana Festival proves fishing is fun

It’s all about fish, as thousands of visi-tors head for Toya Fishing Port on Jul.19th for a Sunday of fun and games,boat rides and, of course, a chance to

eat fish and buy some to take home.People know Yomitan Village espe-

cially as a producer of sweet potatoes, butthe most populous village in Japan, locatedon Okinawa’s central west coast is aremarkable center for fishing, too. TheToya Fishing Port is the venue for the 19th“Osakana Festival” that takes place on

Sunday, Jul. 19th, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.Admission to the port is free, but takingpart in the net fishing experience, coastalexcursion boat rides, glass bottom boattours to see a whale shark, and participat-ing in the live fish catching game cost anominal ¥500 each.

The port’s fresh fish and seafood mar-ket opens at 9 a.m., and the Uminchurestaurant opens its doors at 10 a.m. Afresh seafood auction begins at 10:30 a.m.Local fishermen offer a tuna dismantling

show at 11:30 a.m., and the watermelonsplitting game starts at 12:30 p.m.Registration for the net fishing experiencestarts at 8 a.m. and fishing 30 minutes later.The glass bottom boat rides start at 8:15a.m., registration for the pleasure boat touralong Yomitan seacoast begins at 11:30a.m. and the tour sails off at 1 p.m. Thefish grabbing event begins at 1:30 p.m.

Anyone who has a yearning for freshseafood is welcome to visit the port andbuy a share of the day’s catch any day,guaranteed to be flipping fresh. TheYomitan Fishermen’s Association specialtyis the use of a large-scale fixed offshore netthat the fishermen wrestle with every dayto haul in an average half a ton of fish perday. Workers at the port then process thefish for sale.

A an experiment of a new type oftourism, the fishermen accept visitors to

join them in taking the fish from the net.Yomitan Village officials have high hopesthat the tours will prove popular amongvisitors.

The months of June through Augustare the season for various kinds of fishfound in local waters, including horsemackerel and ‘gurukun’ (‘takasago’ inJapanese, Eng. ‘fusilier’). Other kinds offish that the fishermen catch in their netsinclude mackerel, rabbitfish (‘aigo’ inJapanese), and sardines. The rabbitfish, oneof Yomitan specialties, can be caught juston 10 days a year; April 4 through 6, May4 through 6, and June 4 through 6 accord-ing to the lunar calendar.

Yomitan Fishing Port is located closeto Toya area on the west coast of YomitanVillage (Map https://goo.gl/maps/baLOK).The phone number is (098) 956-1640 butonly Japanese is spoken.

Visitors to Toya Fishing Port in Yomitan prepare for heading out to experience fishingwith the local Fishermen's Association net off the port.

What would a festival at a fishing port bewithout a fish catching event for kids.

On the festival day the fish auction is opento everyone to participate.

Chuzan King Eiso who held his court in Urasoearrives at the festival grounds with his entourageat a historical proceeding of a picture scrollenactment on Saturday,

Local Junior Chamber members perform Eisa.