Ghost of Nanachi-baka

 Located in Makishi, Naha, Okinawa

Not far from Miebashi Station on Yui Rail is a hill we'll call Nanachi-baka.

Best translated as Seven Tombs for the family burial sites which stood there.

Surrounded by the concrete of Naha, it's on private property but the woods are visible.

Thanks to Google Earth Pro you can see the terrain. There's a bit of greenery in the image.

Whenever you spot a grove of trees on a hill in the city, assume it's some sort of sacred place.

If it weren't special, developer bulldozers would have claimed the land.

Another scene borrowed from a Google Earth screenshot at ground level.

Miebashi Station is on the left side of the image frame.

Show Us the Ghost!

Alright, alright first let me do some explaining.

After three days of unsuccessfully trying to reach Banksy here's what I decided.

Draw the pictures myself or attempt to sketch them with a pencil and paper.

Should a real artist show up, these sketches will be replaced. I promise.

Nearby this grove of trees a young woman would purchase candy around closing time.

She hands the cashier Japanese yen to pay for the sweets. Then off she goes.

The problem is, the next morning the shopkeeper noticed the money had changed.

The yen note had turned into uchikabi (symbolic paper notes) given to dead spirits.

Kind of Mysterious

These little mom-and-pop stores are in competition with some big chains.

So, to stay in business, you have to keep an eye on the profits.

Next time that gal comes into the store late at night she's going to be followed home.

Sure enough, another night the woman comes by and gets more candy, paying with yen.

The store owner follows from a distance. It's dark outside.

The girl with the candy goes into the woods of Nanachi-baka and disappears. 

At one of the tombs, a baby could be heard crying. The storekeeper looked inside.

The woman who bought the sweets was dead.  Candy wrappers were near the baby.

Local villagers made sure the mother got a proper burial and raised the child.

The ghost was never seen again.

Happy Halloween!

PROMISE

This is the last time I will try doing sketches!

October 2022 Full Moon Over Okinawa

 The Rabbit Showed Up Again

A few months out of this year the monthly full moon was hidden by clouds and rain.

Last night we got to see the lunar event and the rabbit was sitting upright, as well!

Just in case there wouldn't be any lunar events visible that night, I had a plan.

Early the morning before the full moon, I could try to catch the moon setting.

And, just in case I don't get around to posting again this month, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Day After Halloween - Sorry No Ghosts

A Juicy Ghost Story in the Making

Research continues on Okinawan Folklore with some ghosts.

Last month, we tried our best to get you a goosebumpy local legend and photos to go with it.

Things don't always turn out the way I want them to so, something else creepy will have to do.

Before sunup this morning I walked along the east coast, looked towards the west, and saw this.

The full moon was going down behind some vegetation lining a hillside behind me.

It's not really creepy, to me but, it could give someone the shivers.

It was going on 8 AM when this gnarly character stuck his big foot on top of the water.

If that big paw and red-eye don't give ya the creeps, you'll just have to wait.

Maybe, before next Halloween, we'll have a real ghost story to share with you.

For those interested in birds, this one's nomenclature would be: Eurasian Coot.

 Scientific Name: Fulica atra

Just a Halloween Reminder

It's Almost Here

It seems like, the stores have been pushing Halloween since August.

Now is a good time to post something from last year and, a few reminders.

Some folks, have to go out and buy costumes for the event. Others, don't really need them.

For photographers: You might want to go out and catch some of the attractions, to photograph.

This image gave me an idea. I think I'll just stay home.

Digging Up Some Old Ghost for Halloween

Many People Believe in Ghosts

 

Well, I don't. But it's nice to hear, the kind of story that, gives you goosebumps.

Always on the lookout for a good one from Okinawa, I haven't had much luck lately.

Instead, I dug up some old, spooky images and, will explain the stories behind them.

The ghost in this photo is just some smoke, which was blowing across the street.

The photo was taken at a cherry blossom festival, under the Kin Bridge.

Smoke from dump trucks and festival food, charcoal grills made the spook appear.

It blew across the highway as I was shooting a Panasonic DMC-FZ50.

Normally, I would delete a photo like this because of the distraction in the image.

But, I saved it and did a bit of cleaning-up, to give it a more ghastly appearance.

No grave-sites were disturbed in obtaining these creepy hands.

This photo was taken with the Pentax K5, at the Nago Museum.

They are not, human hands. I must go back someday and, get the proper terminology.

Those bones came from either a porpoise or dolphin.

And, I used these two photos in, "Today I Went Down Some Spooky, Old Stairs." 

Happy Halloween!

Today I went Down Some Spooky, Old Stairs: Photo Essay

Originally Published OCT 2011

 

 

 

Reviving this popular post may be a good idea.

It happens, the Map It Okinawa dude and, I are going on a ghost hunt tonight.

Enjoy this old Halloween tale just in case we don't make it back before sunrise !

In order to get in the good old Halloween spirit I have come back and edited this post.

Halloween doesn't really have the meaning, over in my part of the world, that it does for most western cultures.  In fact, if it hadn't been for a great friend on StumbleUpon (LINDARAMA)  sending me mail when she read this, I wouldn't have known Halloween was just around the corner.

On the outer islands of Okinawa, Japan there are many old caves and sacred wells.

Some of them are pretty cool and they make great subjects for photography.

It's best to make sure you don't disturb anything when you go to them.

There are a few places where the stairs are so old they are crumbling.

Wherever I go, I try to get the best possible photos without disturbing anything.

That plastic ladle just didn't seem right next to those old coins I wanted to shoot.

So, I moved it out of the scene for a few seconds.

Then, put it back exactly where I found it.

People in Okinawa believe there are spirits in these old caves and wells.  Many of them come to worship and make offerings at the sites.  So,  I like to make sure nothing has been changed by my presence.  You should do the same, anywhere you go.

YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN SOMETHING LIKE THIS MIGHT COME OUT OF A CAVE OR SOME OTHER DARK PLACE AND GRAB YOU.  DO YOU ?

The culture of Okinawa consists of a strong belief in spirits.  So strong, that something like Halloween is really unnecessary.  Spirits are felt and communicated with on a daily basis.

While I may have been raised as a Christian in my early years, I have also studied some Confucianism, Buddhism, Shintoism, Taoism, Animism and even a bit of alcoholism.  We happen to have a little bit of all those here, along with a strong belief in ancestor worship.  There are gods of the sea, mountains, rocks, wind, trees, earth, fire and all of nature (called kami sama) you'd rather see smiling than frowning upon you.  That's in addition to any departed members of the family tree.

So, on any given day you may see me raise my eyes towards the sky and and talk to "Kachan" (departed mother-in-law) and thank her spirit for my good fortune.

Or, I might say something like, "What are you trying to do to me?"

Whenever I find myself going to some sacred site in Okinawa, Japan like those spooky old stairs, it's not the ghosts or goblins of Halloween I'm thinking of; it's the spirits of someone else's ancestors I have to worry about.  Some people had mean old mother-in-laws, you know.

I wouldn't want to cross paths with their spirits.

There's really no such thing as ghosts.

OR IS THERE ?

WHEREVER YOU ARE, HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY HALLOWEEN !

To get yourself in the Halloween spirit, or add your goulish story to an already excellent collection, visit my good friend in Australia, LINDA HEAPHY, she'll get the hair standing up on the back of your neck !

Sharing this post with Budget Travelers Sandbox will be my contribution to the world of travel photographers for TRAVEL PHOTO THURSDAY

MORE ON THE RYUKYU ISLAND OF KUDAKA JIMA

No Ghosts Captured Yet So Here's a Skeleton

RIP

Happy Halloween Wherever You Are !

 

 

 

It would have been nice, to have captured a big, fat, juicy ghost story for you.

The rascals, wherever they are, just didn't cooperate.

My ghost story, has to have photos, to go along with it. So, the hunt goes on.

And, it has to make the hair stand-up on the back of your neck.

Or, at least have you rolling on the floor, laughing.

Simple requirements.  Be credible or, incredible but, make sure it's verifiable.

It Probably Helps to Believe in Them

 

 

That's my biggest downfall.  I don't.

Give me someone with a ghost tale they have experienced and, I love it.

By looking at their eyes and facial expression, you can tell.

They believe it.  They might be drunk, lying, or the village idiot.

If the story is believable and, I can get some photos to go along with it, I'll do it.

Some Interesting Spooky Stuff

 

Over the past month, plenty of time has been dedicated researching this stuff.

From locals and foreign sources, I have gathered:

• A baby ghost cries and is seen in the home of a childless couple.
• No paranormal equipment is required in hunting ghosts.
• Most,  ghastly sightings or occurrences, happen late at night. Groan; drinking hours.
• Some people get telephone calls from the deceased. I want to see their phone bill.
• If you see a ghost, don't go straight home or, it will follow you. I never go straight home !
• Taxi drivers, have ghosts hop in their cabs.  They are hard to find. They quit.
• Some people have met friendly ghosts.  I want to meet one but, want some scary ones, too.
• Ghost stories are usually associated with unnatural deaths.
• Some ghosts bum, cigarettes and lights.  That's probably not good for their health !
• Other ghosts, just make noise or, move things around. You never get to see them.
  
  

 

 My Apologies for Not Catching a Halloween Ghost

 

 

Seven days a week, I'm out there, keeping myself gainfully unemployed.

The spook hunting has cut my drinking time, exactly in half !

But, I won't give up; I'm having too much fun.

The thought did occur me, though.

Maybe, I should open up another bar.  One with a ghostly theme.

Have people come in a relate their spooky stories.

Would you like to be a Ghost Speaker ?

 



 

Halloween Sneaks Up on People--But Not This Year

Here's What Happened Last Year

 

 Almost totally clueless to the fact that Halloween 2011 was just around the corner,

this set of bones was posted to make a point and, enhance a spooky story.

No Need to Fret Over Those Bones

 

They ain't from human hands.  That photo is whale bones from the Nago City Museum.

Whale hunting hasn't happened in Okinawa, Japan for decades.

Funny, how whale bones look like human hands, though.  Ain't it?

Along Came this Gal with a Magazine from Australia

 

She saw my Today I went Down Some Spooky, Old Stairs: Photo Essay 

And, asked if I'd let her use it for a Halloween story on her publication.

So, I tweaked it a little, to make it halloweenish and off it went.

For a holiday that sneaked up me, the story didn't do too shabby.

On this blog, it has way over 16,000 pageviews !

I still think, people who believe in ghosts, are some kind of nuts.

 Spirits are the things you have to watch out for.

Halloween is Just around the Corner

 

There's a small typhoon, in the area, dousing us with rain, today but, no strong winds.

Maybe I'll call the Map It Okinawa Dude and see if he has any Halloween spirit.

We could go to one of the big chain stores and shoot some decorations for you.

Up north, I think it was, I saw a Halloween witch. I can't remember.

Map It Dude will remember.

Anything's better than sitting at home on a rainy day. 

Maybe, 'cuz there's a little witch, in my house !   Shhh.....

Visit my homepage for today's Feature Photo

Happy Halloween from Japan's Legendary Spider Jorogumo

This photo was taken October 29, 2011 and I saved it just for Halloween.

In Okinawa we call them Banana Spiders but they are really Golden Orb-web Spiders.

Nephila clavata is what the scientists named them.  Some folks call them a Joro Spider.

There's a Japanese Folk Story about Jorogumo, the spider who can turn into a beautiful woman.

She tricks a guy into getting romantic and, I guess after he falls asleep, ties the poor soul up and eats him.  AHHHhhhhhhhh !  It's a HORROR STORY I read in WIKIPEDIA.

So, I just kept on digging on the internet, way past Wikipedia, to see if I could come up with something to scare the girls, too on Halloween.

It just so happens, a place called NATURIA something or other had this to say:

"The Male is so tiny that he can live in the female's web, stealing her food, often without her even noticing him.

She may not even notice that he has crept up and inseminated her!  Nevertheless, just to be sure, he usually does the deed when she is feeding."  End of Quote.  Ahem, ahum.....

LADIES BE CAREFUL WHENEVER YOU BEND OVER TO GET SOME MUNCHIES OUT OF THE REFRIGERATOR ON HALLOWEEN NIGHT.  SPIDERS COULD SNEAK UP ON YOU, TOO.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN !

How Do You Prefer Your Ghosts, Visible or Invisible ? (Images)

Here you see them.

Now, you don't.

How do you prefer your ghosts, visible or invisible ?

These photos were taken at UNESCO Shuri-jo Castle SEP 2011.

Usually, I delete the images with ghosts in them, but this year saved a few for Halloween.

They may also come in handy for future Photography Tips.  We'll see.

RELATED POSTS:

SHURI CASTLE DAY AND NIGHT

UNESCO Shuri Castle at Night: Ten More Photos


VISIT MY HOMEPAGE FOR THE PHOTO OF THE DAY

Dancing Ladies and Dancing Lion-Dogs: My Halloween in Photos

Halloween isn't really observed where I live, in Okinawa, Japan but I was pretty busy from morning until late at night watching people in costumes. Here are a few of the several hundred photos I took at the two Festivals I attended yesterday. It was a full twenty hour day of shooting Dancing Ladies and Dancing Lion-dogs.

The day started with a parade on the International Avenue (Kokusaidori) in Naha Okinawa, Japan.
Here's a frazallion  (Isn't that a number?) ladies in red coming down the street.

They danced in the street and waved their fans. The fans are silver on one side.....

.....and gold on the other.

After I captured enough photos of Dancing Ladies in the streets of the big city to last me a week, I headed back to the northern part of the island to get ready for my night shoot. I downloaded the camera and recharged for a country festival in a town close to home, Yaka Okinawa. I enjoy these festivals much more than those in big cities, mostly because they don't have frazallions of people hanging around and popping up into the frame of your picture everytime you think you're ready to shoot.

There's a few hundred more various Dancing Lady and Lion-Dog photos I'll be cooking for awhile but, for now, these are two of my favorites I'm putting on display.

In the above photo, the gal on the right has a pine tree in her hair, the gal on the left has bamboo (not a pineapple plant) decorating her brain, and the gal with the big sombrero-lookin' thing, well that's a plum flower.

I hope I got it right, this time, because my Okinawa Dance Sensei will put me on detention if I get caught lying again.

Now, the Shishimai (Dancing Lion-Dog) has to be the highlight of my whole day. I'll do an entire article on these characters one of these days. They are really something to see in action and it's pretty unusual to catch a shot like this where the critter holds still for a tenth of a second so you can snap a shot in low lighting.

So, in a nutshell, that's how I spent my Halloween, shooting Dancing Ladies and Lion-Dogs.  How was your Halloween, any better?

HAPPY HALLOWEEN !!!

HAVE A HAPPY AND SAFE HALLOWEEN AND DON'T FORGET TO BRUSH YOUR TEETH!

Photo Details HERE.

Happy Halloween !

By the time I get this typed it should be close enough, anyway. It's been a pretty hectic week around this corner of the world and looks like business will be picking up, even more, next week. This photo was taken the last night of the Obon holiday and really has little to do with Halloween, except maybe the colors, spooky face and the fact that all the racket the Eisa Dancers in the streets are making is to send their ancestoral spirits off for another year.

The photo did get published and that's a major accomplishment for a poor old country boy like me. To me, The Brave New Traveler Magazine is the National Geographic of the Matador Network, where, I've been lucky enough to get published a couple of times. Between articles pending print, articles I'm working on and blogs I do regularly, on other people's sites, my poor cameras are collecting alot of dust. So, this weekend, providing Mother Nature cooperates, I'll be out doing a couple of Gigabytes of shooting. Might even catch some spooky ones for ya.

Happy Halloween !