Today, Japan Transocean Air (JTA) donated a "Karate Jet Model Plane" to the Okinawa Karate Kaikan. The ceremony took place in the morning. JTA President Aoki Noriyuki, Vice Governor of Okinawa Prefecture Tomikawa Moritake, Okinawa Prefecture Government officials, Shimoji Yoshiro, the new chairman of OCVB, Nakamoto Masahiro and Higaonna Morio, both cultural asset holders for karate and kobujutsu, and officers of the Okinawa Dentō Karatedō Shinkōkai participated.
JTA has operated two Karate Jets since February of last year as part of the “Okinawa the Birthplace of Karate" public relations project. They are JTA's Boeing 737-800 type machine (165 seats). The jets that were put into service as a government project have been put out of service, but in June of this year, wrapping work is in the process, and JTA plans on extending the flight period.
Below are some photos of the ceremony.
Since its establishment in April 2016, the Okinawa Prefecture Government (OPG) Karate Promotion Division has been handling various projects and important work.
During the 2016 fiscal year, a survey on the situation of karate in Okinawa was conducted. It clearly pointed the issues that is facing karate like securing students, the lack of successors, the handling of karate visitors, the low awareness of "the birthplace of karate, Okinawa," and the lack of karate specialists.
After that, in order to strategically pursue efforts to preserve, pass on, and develop karate, which is a traditional culture that Okinawa is proud of, the OPG, karate related organizations, economic circles among others have come together to formulate the “Okinawa Karate Promotion Vision (Overview / Full version)” in March 2018. It depicts a vision of the future to be achieved in 20 years.
The “Okinawa Karate Promotion Vision Road Map (Overview / Full version)” was compiled in March 2019. It is a concrete process for achieving the said promotion vision. Based on this roadmap, the OPG will promote various measures in a systematic and efficient manner, collaborating closely with related parties.
Please accept our apologies as all documents are in Japanese only.
The three major festivals of Naha are the Tsuji Juri-uma Matsuri (Juri-uma parade of Tsuji), Naha Hārī (Naha dragon boat race) and the Naha Otsuna-hiki (Naha Great tug of war).
The Tsuji area, known as the red lantern district, was known as “Hana nu shima” of island of flowers. It is there that guests were entertain through Ryukyuan music, dances and cuisine. The Tsuji parade occurring in the end of March is a festival to pray for a good year and business prosperity.
Dragon boat races are generally known as a part of Sea God festival to pray for good catches and safety. But the original dragon boat race was started for the purpose of praying for rich harvests and people's peace.
Tugs of war are farming village events held in rural areas to pray for rain for rice cultivation, five cereal rich harvests and good fortune. Compare to this, great tugs of war are events held in urban area (town and city). Naha’s great tug of war symbolizes the trading city that is Naha.
Before Naha Hārī is held May 3-5, the Hārī yurai festival, an ancient ritual is also held April 28 in Tomigusuku Castle Ruin Park where the Okinawa Karate Kaikan stands. Karate performances are traditionally held during the event. We hope that many people will participate in these two dragon boat events.
About the origin of dragon boat race, we introduce 2 documents edited by the Tomigusuku dragon boat association.
(Please note that the Japanese PDF has some historical pictures not used in the English version)
The Ministry of Sports of Japan has released a new movie.
Representing Okinawa Karate, Okinawa Gōjū-ryū Karatedō Association Kenshūkan Uechi Karate Dōjō's head Uechi Kenō sensei among others. This dōjō is located in Ishigaki island. Furthermore, the three ladies demonstrating karate are from the Yamanashi Gakuin University's ladies karate club. Among them, two are from Okinawa.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amwsFDEVjSg&feature=youtu.be
A special feature focusing on Okinawa karate was released on the Japan Sports Agency's WEB public relations magazine "Deportare".
Report on "Martial Arts Tourism" which can be experienced only in Japan
https://sports.go.jp/movie/post-14.html#an01
The video is in Japanese only, but text is also available so using a translation software may help you understand the contents.
