There Is Something Familiar About Okinawa

Greeting your eyes as you emerge from Okinawa Airport into the carpark, and before you have had time to gain the impression of being in a foreign country, are two old stone lions. They are roughly a meter high on their plinths, eyes bulging and mouths gaping, their heads tilted down and hindquarters raised. Before driving away, a look up at the exquisite blue sky shows you two more on high stands, glaring at all who pass below. Even in the taxi itself, scowling away on top of the dashboard, are two intricate little ceramic lions.

Driving into Naha city like all tourists, you are taken to "International Street," a road full of handicraft stores, on either side of which squat... a pair of stone lions. Meanwhile, the shops themselves contain every possible variety of souvenir lion, from ghostscaring handbells, and key-rings, and ceramic lions with "Okinawa" on them, to artistic creations of abstract or human-like lions. Some are fearsome, some playful. Some fit in the palm of your hand, some are the size of a grown man. Prices range from around NT$150, to several thousands of NT$.

Out in the street, phone kiosks and pillar boxes are all decorated with lions. Yet at the corner of the street you can find that the lion does in fact have competition in the line of counteracting evil forces. Standing its ground there is a low stone tablet inscribed with three characters reading: "shih-kan-tang."

Stone and ceramic lions, and shih-kan-tang tablets, are traditional Chinese talismans that can be seen all over Okinawa, and are the mark of this Japanese island's close ties with Chinese culture. Anyone who arrives and is not on a whistle-stop tour, may be surprised to discover from talking with the locals and trying the food, that Okinawa and China seem to be strangely familiar with one another.

Though two hours by airplane from the main islands of Japan, Okinawa is only forty minutes distant from Taiwan. It has a proximity to China that is not merely geographical, and in some respects Chinese tradition even prevails over Japanese. The Okinawans for instance are alone in Japan in observing the Chinese lunar calendar to celebrate New Year, Tomb-sweeping Day, Dragonboat Festival, and Mid-autumn Festival. Exactly as in Taiwan, the seventh lunar month is ghost month, when dead spirits are released into the world of the living and prayers are offered for the departed. They also worship the familiar Chinese deities Kuan Yin, Kuan Ti, and the local earth god, in addition to sharing customs involving spirit money and dry incense.

Restaurant menus in Okinawa are full of dishes of pork and animal innards which the Japanese are not renowned for liking, such as pig-trotter stew, sauce-stewed pork, cold cut pig's ear, and fried pig heart. Chen Che-hsiung, a 30-year resident of the island though originally from Taiwan, points out: "There are similarities between Okinawa dialect and Taiwanese, including some words whose pronunciation is exactly the same."

Symbols of China are everywhere to be seen in this remote corner of Japan, often more clearly than in China itself. Lions and roadside tablets are two such symbols. In Taiwan, as on the mainland, their significance is that of cultural artifacts. In Okinawa however they belong very much to the present. In line with the centuries-old Chinese custom, stone lions in Okinawa are usually to be seen protecting buildings, whether by the gate or in the courtyard of a palace, or on the roof of an ordinary house.

The growth of tourism in Okinawa during the last twenty years has brought stone lions into the handicraft stores, and put their image on ceramic bells, key-rings, lucky charms and much else. In the Okinawa Folk Village there are more than one hundred rooftop stone lions on display, the handiwork of local artists. Some are solemn, some mischievous; some have a full mane of curly hair, some are snorting through flared nostrils; some are turning somersault, some are cheering with abandon. Visitors smile as they move from one to another. The abundance of stone and ceramic lions does not only keep out evil--the traditional function--but also brings valuable income to the island.

In contrast, Okinawa's shih-kan-tang tablets have never left from their task of guarding homes. Somewhat like the local earth god, each tablet's attachment is to land rather than to people. A couple may carry their ill baby to the shih-kan-tang and appeal for malign energy to be driven from the child's body, but if they move house they do not take the tablet with them, because it protects the whole residence rather than just specific occupants.

For this reason, most of the traders on International Street do not know how long the shih-kan-tang at their door has been there. It may have been put up by the landlord or by a former tenant, yet it is the responsibility of the occupant currently under its protection to keep it tidy and offer prayers as necessary.

Flesh and blood lions are as alien to Okinawa as they are to the rest of East Asia. But the symbolic image of the notoriously ferocious creature was gladly adopted nevertheless. An exact time for the arrival of lion iconography in the area cannot be ascertained, but according to Professor Chuang Po-ho of Fu Jen Catholic University, who has done research in the field: "Lion Talismans came to Okinawa with the spread of Chinese culture during the 13th and 14th centuries. Initially, they were the preserve of the upper hierarchy and were placed at palaces, burial mounds and temples."

Official contact with China was first recorded in 1372, and for 500 years until 1872, the island submitted tribute to the emperor and was conferred status in return. The Okinawan court began wholesale absorption of things Chinese, and to facilitate imperial tribute the emperor T'ai-tsu "granted" the island "thirty-six Fukien families" to disseminate the crafts of boat-building and navigation. These early overseas Chinese also introduced their native calendar and system of genealogy, along with belief in geomancy and the Chinese deities. Later, during a 170-year period beginning 1609, known to historians as the "twin suzerainty period," Okinawa acknowledged fealty to China and Japan simultaneously. Consequently, a second style of stone lion--the Japanese "stone dog"--can be seen in Okinawa, at the front of Shinto temples. It too originated from China, but went through Japanese modification before it got to Okinawa.

Overall, Okinawa's deepest cultural influences come from China. In the official Okinawan collection of cultural objects, out of a total of one hundred and seventy-four pieces, thirty are from Japan, thirty-seven are native, and seventy-five originate from China, encompassing the calendar, education, genealogy, and burial rites. Other signs of Chinese influence can be seen in two noted tourist attractions, the Shou-li Gate, and the "Horse-dismounting" Tablet outside the Ch'ung-Yuan Temple.

The long history of Chinese "lion culture" on Okinawa, with its evolving symbolic forms and practical applications, reflects some developments in the island's society as a whole. In the 13th and 14th centuries, only the local aristocracy owned stone lions, mounting them at the gate or on the roof to denote prestige rather than to confront demons. In the 17th century, when social divisions were less distinct, lion talismans began to be used in the villages along with incantations, as a psychological buffer against threat or danger. Only at the end of the 18th century, when the Okinawans began to build with tiled (rather than thatched) roofs, did lions first appear on top of ordinary homes, starting a custom which soon swept the whole island.

The King of the Animals, which had formerly lived up to its title by guarding only the high and mighty, was thus popularized into a kind of household watchdog, metamorphosing in the process into a sweet, bashful little creature. At the same time, the established designs of palace craftsmen gave way to a hodgepodge of creations from the hands of village tilers, who kneaded leftover clay together the local grain wine to produce unique, inimitable models in a variety of shapes and sizes.

Okinawa's rooftop lions have the same function as Chinese Wind-lion figures, although the custom is unknown elsewhere in Japan. Islanders had a good laugh at the character in a story by well-known Japanese author Kuroyanagi Tetsuko, who asked: "Why on earth do people in Okinawa mount cats on their rooftops?"

The end of the Second World War brought a new era for rooftop lions. New flat-roofed dwellings were built to replace the many traditional brick houses that had been destroyed. In most cases, little platforms were built into the walls for the lions, and some people put them on the doorpost. Local demand for the lions increased, and thanks to modern production methods, lower prices and standardized design, the ceramic version became everybody's favorite pet, doubling as talisman and ornament. But mass manufacture meant that the figures lost individual character, and it was only when tourism began to boom that handcrafted lions came back in, recreating the wild variety of old.

The history of shih-kan-tang tablets is uneventful by comparison. The tablet remains, as always, a small block of stone with the three characters "shih-kan-tang" carved on it, calmly repelling demons at the corner of the street, unfazed by change or the passage of time. Originally suggesting a bulwark against the advance of evil because of the hardness of rock, "shih-kan-tang" has since become a form of description in the local language. The Okinawa Times has a column named after the tablets, where readers can air their views and bravely expose themselves to public criticism.

In the newspaper, outside houses, by the riverbank, at the village entrance and--most frequently--on the roadside; the tablets are everywhere to be found. Says Chen Chehsiung: "There is one at the entrance to almost every single road. It is impossible to calculate how many--tens of thousands altogether. They can never vanish." The stones are esteemed by everyone, everywhere. Whether young or old, whether outside homes or shops. Shih-kan-tang tablets are stationed outside five-star hotels, department stores, international boutiques, traditional restaurants and the Kentucky Fried Chicken. There are small ones facing back lanes, and big ones facing main roads. An extra-large one usually stands before the San Yueh Department Store, which is (inauspiciously) positioned facing directly up another shopping street. Of late, that particular tablet has been absent from the site while alterations are carried out, but the store guarantees that it will be put back in place when work is completed. A story went around that the previous manager was indifferent towards the stone and intended for it to be permanently removed, but shortly after a mistake cost him his job. The connection may be farfetched, but the story illustrates the faith that many have in the power of the tablets.

Generally, couples will keep clear of a tablet if they wish to whisper sweet nothings to each other, and "at the very least, no one would dare take a leak in front of one!" says Chen, giving a more down-to-earth assessment of the tablets' standing in society.

There are also some peculiar uses of shih-kan-tang tablets that are unique to Okinawa. Those at junctions often have road signs affixed, while indoors, tablets are placed at doorways between rooms, including that to the wash room. According to Japanese researcher Kubo Tokutada Okinawans believe there is a certain mysterious energy at the tip of one's foot, which gathers in places a lot of feet pass through, and can be driven off by the shih-kan-tang. It is not known whether the tablets also have the power to dispel "mysterious" odors from the foot.

Although shih-kan-tang tablets have been around in Okinawa for as long as stone lions, they have not been adapted and adopted in the same way, and have kept to their original function. Tablets are spread all over Okinawa, with the older examples, made from local sandstone, predominantly in the north. The oldest is a 260-year veteran on the small island of Kumejima. In the south, which suffered destruction during the war, most tablets are new, and in the city virtually all are cut from marble (imported from Hualien in Taiwan) to a standard scale, 60cm high and 50cm wide. Small but not cheap, at around 10,000 yen (NT$2,000) a piece.

There are plenty of buyers and suppliers though. "Masonry suppliers and hardware/ DIY stores all stock shih-kan-tang tablets, it is very convenient--there are even shih-kan- tang stickers for glass doors," says Chen Che-hsiung, adding that the tablets are as common as doorplates or letter-boxes. In fact, the Okinawans have also developed other departures from the traditional Chinese variety, such as tablets in wood, tablets attached to shop signs, and whitewashed "ghost-shaped" tablets.

Perhaps the only place in Okinawa you do not see shih-kan-tang tablets is outside stores run by Chinese residents who went over to do trade. Like Mrs Yu, who has lived there for 18 years and runs a general store. She says: "I had never seen a shih-kan-tang until I came to Okinawa, and only later found out that Taiwan has them too, and that it was even the Chinese who first brought them here!" It is a typical case of "seeing an old friend who you don't recognize, and asking where he comes from?"

Stone lions and shih-kan-tang tablets: they came from China but prospered in Okinawa. Or as the saying goes in Taiwanese: "Ma-Tsu finding disciples in a foreign land."

[Picture Caption]

(Above) Not even a fast food restaurant can do without a shih-kan-tang tablet at its entrance, standing sentry against evil. But is this one deliberately covered up?

Two birds with one stone. A shih-kan-tang tablet doubles up as an advertisement signboard.

One cheering with raised arms, one standing on its hands. Even demons must laugh at the sight of this pair of impudent little lions.

(Above) A pair of stone lions outside the airport at Okinawa tell visitors they have come to the kingdom of lions.

Lion with a ball of silk. Stone lions were once limited to the exclusive use of the Okinawa court.

A lion-pattern direction finder. Okinawa's lions have come to have great tourist appeal.

Rooftop lions in the Okinawa Folk Village, handcrafted by local ceramic artists.

Indoors as well as outdoors, shih-kan-tang tablets are a part of daily life for Okinawans.

Older sandstone shih-kan-tang tablets like this one, are giving way to newer tablets carved in marble.

A shih-kan-tang and stone lion cleverly positioned outside a restaurant, following custom and serving as ornaments.

Two birds with one stone. A shih-kan-tang tablet doubles up as an advertisement signboard.

One cheering with raised arms, one standing on its hands. Even demons must laugh at the sight of this pair of impudent little lions.

A pair of stone lions outside the airport at Okinawa tell visitors they have come to the kingdom of lions.

Lion with a ball of silk. Stone lions were once limited to the exclusive use of the Okinawa court.

A lion-pattern direction finder. Okinawa's lions have come to have great tourist appeal.

Rooftop lions in the Okinawa Folk Village, handcrafted by local ceramic artists.

Indoors as well as outdoors, shih-kan-tang tablets are a part of daily life for Okinawans.

Older sandstone shih-kan-tang tablets like this one, are giving way to newer tablets carved in marble.