A little of each town’s story
Yaedake Sakura no Mori Park and the Motobu Yaedake Cherry Blossom Festival
Mt. Yaedake, 453.4 meters high, stands on the border of Motobu and Nago and is the second-highest peak on Okinawa's main island. About 7,000 kanhizakura trees line the roughly 4-kilometer road from mid-slope to the summit. The Motobu Yaedake Cherry Blossom Festival, with the slogan hitoashi osaki ni (a step ahead), is said to be Japan's earliest cherry blossom festival; the first was held in January 1979. The 45th, in 2023, ran from January 21 to February 5 with Yaedake Sakura no Mori Park as the main venue, and the trees were about 40 percent in bloom on opening day.
921 Namisato, Motobu, Kunigami District, Okinawa
Sources: motobu-ka.com rurubu.jp ryukyushimpo.jp ja.wikipedia.org
This moment in the journey
Japan's earliest cherry blossom festival
At Mt. Yaedake, deep pink blossoms covered the branches: Ryukyu kanhizakura. At the entrance stood a photo cut-out board for the 45th Motobu Yaedake Cherry Blossom Festival, with a note saying the trees were at 80 percent bloom today. Paper lanterns were strung across the road and sakura banners fluttered in the wind.
I walked under the cherry trees. The stalls sold shaved ice and cotton candy, goat soup, and taiyaki. It felt less like a flower festival than a fairground.
A pink sign by the road read: when the Yaedake petals dance, chimu-dondon. In the Okinawan language, chimu-dondon means a pounding heart. Up the mountain road, the sea appeared beyond the blossoms. Haru deemun: because it's spring.
Watch this scene on YouTube1:37
More notes from this journey
Motobu, Okinawa
Rice with sea grapes and egg yolk
Sea grapes (umibudo) rank third in Okinawa's aquaculture by both volume and value and are known as one of the prefecture's signature products.
From: Early cherry blossoms and an Okinawan winter
Motobu, Okinawa
Motobu bonito sashimi
Freshly landed bonito from a fish shop in Motobu, the only town on Okinawa's main island where pole-and-line bonito fishing survives, where the fish is fresh en…
From: Early cherry blossoms and an Okinawan winter
Motobu, Okinawa
Okinawa soba yakisoba
Okinawa soba is a noodle dish made with wheat flour rather than buckwheat.
From: Early cherry blossoms and an Okinawan winter
Motobu, Okinawa
Bise Fukugi Tree Path
In the village of Bise, at the northwestern tip of the Motobu Peninsula, fukugi trees planted as windbreaks around the houses form the largest tree-lined paths…
From: Early cherry blossoms and an Okinawan winter
Motobu, Okinawa
Ie Island and Mt. Gusuku
An island about 5 kilometers west of the Motobu Peninsula, forming the village of Ie.
From: Early cherry blossoms and an Okinawan winter
Motobu, Okinawa
Ryukyu kanhizakura cherry
In Okinawa, cherry blossom means kanhizakura, whose deep pink flowers hang downward like little bells.
From: Early cherry blossoms and an Okinawan winter
More notes from Kyushu & Okinawa
Motobu, Okinawa
Spam musubi
In postwar Okinawa, when meat was hard to come by, canned pork became a widely used source of protein that kept well and was easy to prepare, and serving it wit…
From: Island cooking in a traditional Okinawan house
Motobu, Okinawa
Goya chanpuru
Chanpuru, Okinawa's everyday stir-fry, combines seared island tofu with seasonal vegetables, and goya chanpuru is its best-known form.
From: Island cooking in a traditional Okinawan house
Motobu, Okinawa
Jushi
Jushi is the Okinawan word for seasoned rice.
From: Island cooking in a traditional Okinawan house
Motobu, Okinawa
Stone-roasted sweet potatoes
The sweet potato is said to have reached the Ryukyu Kingdom in 1605, when Noguni Sokan brought seedlings back from Fujian in China.
From: Island cooking in a traditional Okinawan house
Motobu, Okinawa
Yanbaru
Yanbaru, written with the characters for mountain and field, means a region of connected mountains and spreading forest, and refers to the north of Okinawa Isla…
From: Island cooking in a traditional Okinawan house
Motobu, Okinawa
Fukugi windbreaks
In Okinawa, fukugi trees have long been planted around homes to shield them from typhoon winds.
From: Island cooking in a traditional Okinawan house