Native Okinawan Village and Omoro Arboretum Official Site | Native Village Experience Map - Northern Area

Sacred spring to receive water from ancestors
From early times, wellsprings have provided drinking water and people sought to form villages around them. Wellsprings were vital for village ceremonies and rituals, and their sites often give us some important clues as to the locations of lost villages. Not all wellsprings are important in this respect, but those once used by the Okinawan ancestors are. Called ugamiga, such ancient wellsprings became enshrined and were believed to bring life to people through the spiritual power of water. At childbirth, people used to present before the god of fire some water they had brought from a designated wellspring, called ubuka, to wet the forehead of the newly-born child. Early morning on New Year's Day at the same place, villagers tried to draw some water to wet the crown or forehead of their family members, calling it waka-mizu, the water of rejuvenation. Enshrined by the side of the sacred wellsprings was the ka-nu-kan, god of water, who was worshipped during ceremonies and rituals. This wellspring is modeled after the one still in existence at Nakandakari, Tamagusuku Village.