Splendor of Okinawa Bonus: Futenma Shrine and its Cave



Futenma Shrine and its Cave



(Futenma Shrine main gate)

In news reports, the city of Ginowan’s Futenma District is known for its US Marine Futenma Airfield with its noisy helicopters and Osprey aircraft. However, Futenma also has its lovely Futenma Shrine at the very edge of town, sandwiched between a busy highway and the fence of yet another US base.

(Futenma Shrine)


The original shrine, destroyed in the bombing and shelling of the first days of the Battle of Okinawa, starting from 1 April1945, has been restored. But the natural cave at the site, embedded in the low limestone hill just behind the shrine, continued on through the war as a place of worship, as it has been, not just for centuries, but for millennia, well predating the arrival of Buddhism and the late-comer Shinto, which now holds sway in the shrine. 



(Shisa, guardian lion of Okinawan homes, at Futenma Shrine. The shisa’s closed mouth partner can be seen in the right upper corner in the background.)


During the Sho Dynasty of the Ryukyu Kingdom (1429-1879) the cave was one of the 8 great places of worship that the king was obliged to make his progress around each year to pray for the success of his rule and the general welfare of his people.


The section of the cave available for visits (free, but signup on site required for scheduled entrances, no photography) is quite small and not much below the surrounding ground level. Although there is an entrance on the back side of the hill, created by a collapse of the cave roof there, it is gated and closed off. An omiko (female shrine assistant) takes visitors to  the main door of the cave, unlocks it, and after taking them to the largest of the 3 ‘halls’, leaves them to wander for a maximum of 30 minutes.


The cave is about 280 meters long, 60 meters wide, and, at its tallest perhaps 6 meters. However, there’s no lack of headroom anywhere in the hall. The cave abounds in stalactites and stalagmites, some of whose features are taken as manifestations of the divine by local worshippers and worthy of their reverence and prayer. An attitude of polite acceptance may help visitors share the experience.


At the western corner of the hall, where the cave narrows in a series of rock formations, a sign warns visitors that they are allowed to go no further, and raises the possibility of snakes. A spelunker would wonder how far and how deep the cave might go beyond that point, with its remains of notches for a stream or well, and how much further it would be possible to go. Surely in its long history someone has ventured further and seen more. 


So even after the alloted 30 minutes have expired, the mystery and charm of the cave remains. Okinawa has many caves, some of them far more extensive, and yes, more beautiful than Futenma’s. But excavated bones of wild boars and other animals, such as Ryukyuan and even  Chinese deer, long extinct on the island, suggest this cave may have been the home and kitchen of our distant ancestors, from at least Okinawa’s shellfish culture 3,000 years ago or even far  further back, when Okinawa was connected by a land bridge to Asia. 


It is said that, during the invasion of Okinawa by the Americans, the cave once again served as a shelter for the people of Futenma, this time  from the ‘typhoon of steel’ from American ships and bombers, and that those who took advantage of the safety of the grace of the cave’s cover all survived. 


On 1 August 1991, Futenma Shrine Cave was named a Ginowan City Heritage Site.


References: Japanese flyers from Futenma Shrine

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