Fascinating Mythology from the Ryukyuan Isles Quiz

Answer: Shirumichu & Amamichu

The legends differ about Shirumichu and the goddess Amamichu. In its basic form, the pair were instructed to descend from the heavens and build the island of Ryukyu, which, today, is Okinawa. They created the soil and the stones and then they added the flowers and the trees. So satisfied with their work they decided to live there as humans. Over time they raised five children with the eldest being declared king. The next two in line were established as warrior and priest. The fourth child was made a chief priest and a small village was granted to the youngest child to look after. With this arrangement they established the model that Okinawans would live by.

This question was constructed by Phoenix Rising's pollucci19, who designed his own badge to read "god" but accidentally spelled it backwards.

Answer: Fire

To be more specific, he is the god of the family fire and Okinawans believe he resides in their hearth (modern days - the stove) and is the protector of the family. A shrine is created to the Hinukan and this is placed near the stove. This consists of a ceramic incense burner along with a plant, some salt, water, alcohol (awamori or sake), and rice in different containers. Tradition dictates that everyday the eldest female in the household will tell the Hinukan everything that has occurred in the household.

This question was going well for Phoenix Rising's pollucci19 until he wrote down the word sake... now he cannot stop licking his lips and reciting "hmmmm... sake".

Answer: Toilet

The Fuuru nu Kami has the somewhat unenviable role of being the Ryukyuan god of the toilet. The idea is that he acts as a guardian of the place where waste accumulates and serves to protect the family from negative spirits that are attracted to anything expelled by the human body. Therefore it is seen as important to honour and appease the Fuuru nu Kami by keeping bathroom areas clean.

Phoenix Rising's Fifiona81 carefully polished this question before placing it in the quiz.

Answer: Nirai Kanai

The "Irosetsuden" is a supplementary volume of the official history of the Ryukyu Kingdom known as "Kyuyo". It is essentially a compendium of 142 ancient legends and folktales originally constituting a rich Ryukyuan oral tradition. The "Irosetsuden" imagines Nirai Kanai as an underwater realm of the Dragon or Sea King. It is a paradise from which all life is said to have originated, and at various times, from which the gods issued forth with blessings (like grains and tools). In the past, it was customary to build tombs facing the sea so that the souls of the dead might return with ease to their ancestral home of Nirai Kanai.

The "Ryukyukoku yuraiki" is the first official chorography (a mapping of place) of Ryukyu compiled by the Ryukyuan royal government. It credits the deity Amamichu with bringing rice seeds to the islands from Nirai Kanai. Takamagahara or "the Plain of High Heaven" is the home of the heavenly gods in Japanese mythology.

This divinely inspired question was contributed by Phoenix Rising's JCSon.

Answer: Jewels

One of the eight dragon kings introduced from Indian mythology via China and Korea, the Japanese Ryujin was a very powerful being with sea creatures such as turtles, fish, jellyfish, and snakes as his servants. Snakes in particular are associated with the sea dragon king, whose form was often shown interchangeably as a dragon or snake. Snakes were also the messengers of the king.

Ryujin is also associated with the legend of how the jellyfish came to be. The jellyfish gave Ryujin some bad news and in a version of shooting the messenger, Ryujin beat the jellyfish until it no longer had a skeleton.

Across Japan, in mostly rural areas, there are shrines to Ryujin, seeking aid for a good harvest by virtue of the magic jewels he carries to control the tides. He occasionally appeared in disguise to undertake good deeds.

This question was netted by Phoenix Rising member VegemiteKid when no one was paying attention during high tide.

Answer: Tree spirit

Kijimuna are an integral part of the fabric of Okinawan life, having been kept alive in folklore for generations upon generations. They inhabit large trees, particularly the banyans of Okinawa called gajumaru. Also referred to as bunagaya (meaning "large-headed"), they are depicted as small childlike creatures with oversized heads and hands and scruffy red hair. Kijimuna are especially mischievous and prone to prankishness. Even so, they are considered to be generally good-natured. They will sometimes offer friendship to humans, which can bring with it the benefit of wealth, but they're also known to be rather fickle. According to Okinawan folklore, Kijimuna are excellent fishermen, and apparently have a taste for fish eyes. They are, however, repulsed by octopuses.

This question was playfully spirited into the quiz by Phoenix Rising member JCSon.

Answer: Mermaid

According to legend a fisherman caught a mermaid in his net one night. She begged him to allow her to return to the ocean and said she had only come to warn the villagers of impending doom. He agreed to release her if she would tell him what was coming. She warned him of the tsunami and he returned to his village to warn the people. The villagers headed for the mountains and sent a messenger to the next village to warn them. That village ignored the warning and when the tsunami hit the next day they all perished. The Nohara villagers had lost their homes but not their lives thanks to the mermaid.

The Great Yaeyama Tsunami hit Ishikagi and Miyako Islands killing 12,000 people. It was caused by a tsunami earthquake, an earthquake whose magnitude is not as strong as the tsunami it causes which means the tsunami hits with little or no warning.

This question was shaken into the quiz by Phoenix Rising member tazman6619.

Answer: False

In Okinawa the spiritual rituals are generally organized by women. This stems from the "onarigami", which is ancient belief that the spiritual power in humans dwells within its women. This, in turn, is derived from the work of the goddess Amamichu, who was instructed to create the island of Ryukyu (now Okinawa).

The noro are, essentially, priestesses. It was common that the head noro was related to the king. This tradition began in the 15th century when King Sho Shin appointed his sister as the kikoe-ogimi (high priestess). This then became the line that was passed on matrilineally. Whilst the yuta were also involved in the rites and rituals of everyday life, they were spiritual mediums and have been described as individuals who have "awakened to their own psychic or spiritual abilities". A yuta can be self-proclaimed and does not need to have nor show formal qualifications. They are important for the spiritual well-being of individuals and you will usually find that an individual will turn to a yuta in times of bad luck or illness.

Being a yuta sounds like the life, but it has, at times, been looked upon as a curse. Records of the Ryukyu kingdom during the 17th century reveal cases of murders being attributed to the yuta who, in scenes reminiscent of the Salem witch trials, were then beheaded as witches or exiled.

This question was cast as a spell by Phoenix Rising's pollucci19.

Answer: Lion dog

The Rhodesian Ridgeback is also called the African lion dog, but that is where the similarities with it and the Shisa end. The Shisa is a cross between a lion and a dog whereas the Ridgeback is an actual dog meant to attack or guard against lions. The Shisa is very similar to the Komainu that guard Shinto shrines and serves the same purpose. Both are believed to draw their origin from the Chinese shishi or guard lions or lion dogs of Chinese mythology and architecture.

Many Okinawan homes have a pair of Shisa either on the roof or at the entrance to the home. One has its mouth open and the other has its mouth closed. The gender of the Shisa and the role the open versus closed mouth plays vary. Some hold the male has his mouth closed to keep the bad out and the female has her mouth open to share goodness. Others maintain the female has her mouth closed to keep in the good and the male has his mouth open to scare away evil. Legend maintains that a figurine of a shisa saved Naha city from a sea dragon and the body of the deceased dragon formed the "Gana-mui Woods" near the Naha Ohashi bridge.

This question was roared into the quiz by Phoenix Rising's tazman6619.

Answer: Stone

Ishiganto are stone tablets with inscriptions on them. The inscriptions are the kanji characters for "ishi" ("stone"), "gan" ("issue a challenge"), and "tou" ("to strike"). These tablets are placed at crossroads, intersections and outside homes to ward off evil spirits. According to Okinawan beliefs, evil spirits travel in a straight line and if they encounter a house at an intersection they are more inclined to enter the house than to turn away. Therefore, placing an ishiganto at the intersection serves to deflect them. Another legend states that there was a man named Ishiganto who subdued evil spirits. His very name was enough to instil fear in evil spirits, hence people started placing tablets inscribed with his name at vulnerable locations to ward off evil.

Ishiganto tablets are believed to have been adopted from Chinese customs in the 15th century.

This question was inscribed by Phoenix Rising team member purelyqing.