"Senaga Jima"

An Utaki at Senaga Jima

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Senaga-Jima

     GPS

Latitude	Longitude
N 26 10.525	E 127 38.534

Senaga Island

For a small island, there is actually a lot of little things you can do on Senaga Jima. This island is found off the coast of Tomigusuku City and just south of the Naha Airport. The picture you see above is one of many Utaki's or places of worship you will find around the island. For the most part, the island is largely uninhabited. There are no houses, just commercial lots and small amusement parks, and a soon-to-be resort facility on the western side. Driving distance around the island is roughly 1.5 km and the island is about 600m long at its widest section.

One of the highlights you will find on the island, is a Fertility Stone or monument, however, this is not the original stone. The original stone was a large coral rock a few meters high. On the original stone there were two holes on the rock – one at the top and one at the bottom. If you wanted a boy you threw a pebble through the top hole, and if you wanted a girl, you threw a pebble through the bottom hole. The stone was referred to as 'Ishi-iri'. Ishi meaning stone and 'iri' was a Hogan dialect meaning to 'to throw in'. The stone was also referred to as 'Kodakara-iwa' which loosely translated, means 'to be gifted with a child'. Still today people come to the current stone to pray for fertility. It is not certain what had happen to the original stone.

Other things to do. If you like the simple, then there is plenty to do here on Senaga Island. Click on the photo album above or click here to see other things you can do on the island. It is a great place to go walking with a love one, go exploring on the shoreline, or have a lunch under one of the shaded areas. They do have a batting cage, a small amusement park area, and a cafe on the northern side. And if you are really into birding, you can catch plenty of shore birds that come in the area to feed around the coral. Senaga Jima is also ideal for Ospreys during the cold season. The treeline on top of Senaga Island gives them places to perch and rest or an eating area after catching a fish. It will not be uncommon to see multiple Ospreys flying in the same area.

Source. Information on the Fertility Stone was extracted from a stone inscription.