Spendor of Okinawa Bonus: A story from the Ryukyu Kingdom
Taruchii’s Incredible Strength The northern part of Okinawa, with its deep forests and mountains, is known as Yanbaru (Mountain District). A long time ago, there were boats that carried lumber and firewood, cut from its mountains, down to the south. They were called Yanbaru boats. Since the south had no mountains, almost all its lumber and firewood had to be brought down from Yanbaru on these boats. A Yanbaru boat One day, a Yanbaru boat full of lumber dropped anchor at a small southern village. There was a man in the village called Taruchii who had the brute strength to swing even the biggest of logs up on his shoulder and carry it away. When the Yanbaru boats came into port, Taruchii would buy up the lumber from them and then make his living by selling the wood off to the villagers. That day, as usual, Taruchii tried to get a good price on the boat’s full load of lumber. But this time, the boat’s captain was a very...