Today We Got It Done
It all started last month when I was researching this folktale.
The story was about an older sister, who had to kill her younger, monster brother.
The dictionary I use to verify some Okinawan language, comes from the University of Hawaii.
Other resources I use, are often books, written for children, to teach them culture.
Folklore for kids, isn't going to talk about vaginas much, you know.
For those, lucky enough to be able to read, it's OK, I guess.
So, when I discovered this in a dictionary, I had to go check it out, to make sure it's true.
Order ISBN 978-0-8248-3012-8 if, you want to read the whole thing.
It caught the attention of a couple of my camera shooting friends, too.
One's a professor and the other guy, some sort of minister, I think.
We all have Okinawan wives but, don't suppose they would be interested in this place.
The holiest guy, couldn't make it today because of another commitment.
That's a shame because, he could have seen, how we get these things done.
There's no telling, how many times, we've been up and down this trail.
It's a fairly steep sort of walkway, that goes down the hill outside Shuri Castle.
What Led Us to this Location ?
The professor and I parked near a convenience store, up on top of the hill.
Then, we walked over to this Okinawan lady's shop, to ask her something.
We were looking for Uchikanagusuku Utaki, a sacred site and, she might know where it is.
Usually, I can speak enough of the local dialect, to get by so, that's all I do.
It's a good idea, to get a little conversation going before, digging for details.
The gal was surprised, to hear two foreigners, speak her language.
We let her know, we both have local wives, living way up north and, made friends.
A couple of jokes and, she was smiling and laughing. Doing good!
My ears, don't work the best so, I figured, Doc could ask for the directions.
He started asking the gal, where we could find Hoohai Utaki.
That made me cringe. "Don't say hoohai, to some lady, we just met."
It means VAGINA!
We tap danced around that, OK, I guess.
The gal was sort of surprised and, got me laughing when she did this.
She motions, with her hands cupped and says, "You know hoohai?"
And, "You know about hoohai muuchi?" "Yup, it's in my dictionary."
Then, I rattled off a few other versions, of the thing, for her in different dialects.
She gave us directions and, we bought some ice-cream from her, for being so kind.
Then, she walked off to the convenience store and, left us watching her shop !
She returned a few minutes later with a bag of ice and, off we went.
God, I love these people.
In a roundabout fashion, we headed down the cobblestone walkway.
It was really hot and, sweating, I stopped occasionally, snapping photos as clouds passed by.
If we ever get that preacher, to go along to this place, I think we'll hire a taxi.
That way, I wouldn't cuss so much and, there's a shortcut, to get us there quicker.
Visitors, looking for the sacred grove, might want to read the sign on this stone marker.
It points out the way, you need to go, heading off the stone paved trail.
The sign, on a stone in the sacred grove is a bit weathered.
But, it tells about Onimochi and, the devil killed by the rice cake, his sister made.
This grove of trees is where my August edition of the story took place.
Using Google Japan and Japanese to conduct another search I, found an adult version:
"When the brother demon that Agne eat rice cake was surprised to robustness of the mouth of the younger sister, sister exposed genital Makushiage the kimono to moment, as the "mouth of the above eat rice cake mouth. Under the mouth mouth to smother a demon." When you think went approached to demon brother. Anioni was caught off guard was died and fell under the cliff slips a leg. Thing to say. "
It sounds like a big sister, pulled up her kimono, and exposed herself.
Little demon brother was eating the rice cake, she smothered him, and off the cliff, he went.
Unless something was lost in translation, it sounds like this:
She smothered him with her whatchamacallit ?
