In the past, once every two years, the king would join the kikoe-ogimi for a pilgrimage to Sefa-utaki during the festival to mark the first harvest in April.
The two would visit the wells and utaki in the area and make prayers for the kingdom’s prosperity, a bountiful harvest, and so on. Since the king’s pilgrimage route was east from Shuri Castle, this became called “Agariumai” (the “eastern rotation”), and a custom came about where the warrior class would periodically make this pilgrimage to the holy land.
After the Meiji period, when the Ryukyu Kingdom became part of Japan, the king and warrior class’s pilgrimages came to halt. However, emulating their king, the citizens of the kingdom started making pilgrimages to the hold land, and even now the custom of Agariumai goes on.
In Okinawa, there’s a custom of being buried in the same tombs as one’s paternal family line, which is referred to as being buried with your “munchu”. It is becoming more common for people to partake in Agariumai as a way to order to worship and make memorial services to one’s munchu.
Needless to say, Sefa-utaki is among the holy lands visited in this pilgrimage.
Even today, Sefa-utaki is a holy site surviving through the prayers and offerings from the Okinawan people. Despite how it’s said to have become a tourist site, have you come to understand how its existence as both a tourist site and holy land makes it even more special?
ON THE TRIP Editorial Staff
Writer：Akihito Shiga・Gaku Suzuki
Photos：Hiroshi Honma
English Translation: Rahul Ghosal・Autumn Smith
Vocals: Kate Beck