Friday, March 12, 2021

Taketomi Island Village

Taketomi 竹富島


Taketomi is a small island a 10 minute  ferry ride from Ishigaki Island in Okinawa Prefecture. The small village on the island of about 300 inhabitants is registered as a Group of Historic Buildings a classification I refer to as Preservation District for simplicity. It is one of only two such districts in Okinawa. For other preservation districts I have covered in this blog please click here.


The defining features of the village architecture are the stone walls surrounding each property, the low, single storey homes, and the tile roofs. However, the tile roofs are a very modern addition, the first one on Taketomi not being until 1905.


Historically tile roofs were only allowed for the elite of Okinawan society. That changed in 1879 when Okinawa became part of Japan, and there are still one or two traditional thatched roofs on Taketomi.


Ishigaki Sea Salt

Buy Ishigaki Bath Salts from Japan

Posted by Ojisanjake at 10:14 AM
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2 comments:

  1. Gabi GreveMarch 12, 2021 at 12:23 PM

    The rof tiles are great !
    thank you !

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  2. KaminogeMarch 12, 2021 at 10:31 PM

    I visited Taketomi-jima as a day trip from Ishigaki-jima back in June 2011 (my initial plan was to travel through the Tohoku region that summer, but 3/11 changed everything). In addition to exploring the village, I went swimming at Kondoi Beach and snorkeling at Misashi.

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