Dec 25, 2013 - 1 min read

A stroll around Hedo Village

Tagging along as villagers survey important sites

By Michael Flemming

Community writer

Hedo Village is a very small hamlet of homes surrounding the community center (top left) in far northen Okinawa

Two colleagues and I set out with village office officials; we weren't really sure what sites were on the agenda

There are more homes in Hedo Village than there are villagers. This house is in ruins

A village official speaks to an Okinawan who was praying at the beginning of a trail that leads to a handful of shrines and several mountain peaks near the village office

A shrine on the mountain side; ropes in the background lead up a very direct and steep approach up to the nearby mountain peaks

Park trails in the area lead to this resting point; the Ryukyuan red tile roofed structure seats about 20 but doesn't offer great views of the area due to the many surrounding trees and the slope of the hills

A shrine used in Hedo Village for important ceremonies

This shrine was one of the many important local cultural sites surveyed during our visit

I recently had the honor of tagging along with two friends that had been invited along for a survey of important local cultural sites in Hedo Village. The small village is in the extreme northern end of Okinawa where Route 58 doubles back toward the south then east before ending in nearby Oku Village. We initially believed that our day would involve hours of mountain climbing as the village officials searched for the remains of Amami Island persons suspected to be in the local vicinity. Instead our journey was to a half-dozen shrines around the village center; we were grateful nonetheless for the invitation and all enjoyed spending time in the beautiful but sleepy Hedo Village.