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Yambaru NP, Okinawa
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Ginama below the cliff calls mahi-mahi fū-nu-iyu—“fish that brings wealth.” Strong winter winds circling its steep mountain backdrop help dry the salted catch, making Kayauchi Banta’s landscape part of a local food tradition.
Ginama fishers once lashed bamboo cut from the mountains into offshore rafts to attract small fish, which in turn lured mahi-mahi. Local research traces this payao technique to ancestors who learned it in the South Seas.
Local explanations say bundles of kaya (thatch grass) tossed from the cliff were scattered by the wind; banta means “cliff” in Okinawan. The name is a vivid reminder of just how fierce the gusts can be here.
Ginama’s old “Backtracking Path” by Kayauchi Banta was a rock cleft too narrow for oncoming walkers to pass. In 1912, Hedo’s principal rallied villagers to widen it so children could reach school; people and cattle soon crossed.
The Kayauchibanta Shell Mound gave its name to a prehistoric pottery type. Its deep, flat-bottomed bowls are recognizable by a thick, flowerpot-like rim—an ancient Okinawan design still identified with this place.
After World War II, planners proposed moving 300 Hedo and Ginama households to the plateau north of Kayauchi Banta for a model farming village. Salt-laden winds, water shortages and typhoon damage to its 12-km canal helped sink the scheme.
From Kayauchi Banta, Kunigami’s forested western coast arcs south toward the Motobu Peninsula, with coral reefs offshore and mountains inland. The lookout faces the open East China Sea, where the sunset seems to drop straight into the water.
