Takara Residence was added to Your Favorites!
Keramashoto NP, Okinawa
Claim this place to guide your guests to your local recommendations.
Behind the house, stone pigsties also served as outdoor toilets: a projecting stone channel was positioned for people to squat over. Pigs ate the waste—and people later ate the pigs, in a striking old food-recycling loop.
Takara’s typhoon defenses include tightly fitted coral-limestone walls and a roof layered with bamboo laths, earth, heavy red tiles and lime plaster. The massive roof helped hold the house down in fierce winds.
Takara’s roof began as thatch; it was replaced with Okinawan red tiles during the Taisho era (1912–1926), when demand for skipjack tuna was helping the local economy boom.
The floor plan can be pictured as a curled-up person: honored guests were welcomed near the “head” by the entrance, the Buddhist altar sat at the “belly” in the center, and the kitchen, toilet and pigsty were toward the rear.
Takara belonged to Kerama’s seafaring world: grand homes were called sendosuya, or “captain’s houses,” and toumoke meant striking it rich through China trade.
Shrapnel pockmarks remain in the coral wall, and some wooden pillars bear chunks torn away during World War II. The house was damaged but stayed lived in until around the turn of the 21st century.
The freestanding entrance wall, called a himpun, screened the home from view and was believed to keep evil spirits away. It also shaped the route inside: men usually entered on the right, women and servants on the left.
At Takara, the family Buddhist altar was made of maki wood and did more than honor ancestors: it also played an important role in supporting the house. The guide describes it as the home’s spiritual heart.
A symbol for “water” is carved into stone in the cooking area as protection against fire. Okinawan families still offer a cup of water to Hinukan, the fire deity, asking for protection from misfortune and for good health.
Crouch beneath the veranda and you can see through toward the back of the house. That open space lets air circulate after typhoons and squalls; sandy ground helps absorb rain, while deep eaves provide shade and shelter.
The slim pillars supporting the deep eaves are made of hard maki wood. Some were patched instead of replaced, conserving a valuable timber while keeping the old house’s supports in service.
