Ryukyu Sabo Ashibiuna (100 Kobudo Kata 2020)

This one is number three on my list and was also the third place that I visited.

It is very close to Wolfbrau- my next stop and only a ten minute walk from the monorail station.

Based just off the main road and with a small gated entrance it really is like walking into a secret garden, with lots of  blooming flowers, shrubbery and a little cobbled path to the door.

All customers are asked to take their shoes off before going into the restaurant which adds to the atmosphere and overall traditional effect. 

Outside they display part of the menu, I went in the lunchtime opening time (from 11am-3pm) but they also open for the evening (from 5pm-11pm). They are Open seven days a week. 

I was met by very friendly staff who give you the option of sitting outside under the canopy or inside- either on the low tatami tables or on a western style table and chairs. 

The interior of the restaurant is very traditional but well maintained.  There is only so much you can say about a restaurant- there are good menu choices, the staff are approachable and friendly and they will adjust sets for you taking allergies and dislikes into account. 

The food is freshly cooked and well presented for a reasonable price.

I'll go here again. 

Ryusen Textile Workshop (100 Kobudo Kata Challenge)

This was actually the first stop on my list of places to visit.

I chose this one because I was hoping to buy a new purse because the zip on mine broke recently. It was also the farthest away from the monorail station and so I decided to start at the farthest away and work my way back.

Having now been to them all, I would recommend a different order, and for sure a whole day as opposed to just the afternoon:

1- The first stop would be Zuisen Awamori Distillery first because it doesn't take too much time.

2- I would recommend Ryusen Textiles second- but make sure that if you plan to take part in the coral dying experience or the bingata making experience then you allow yourself a couple of hours for that and looking around the shop, so that you aren't too rushed.

3- I would then go to Ryukyu Sabo Ashibiuna restaurant for lunch- it is open between midday and 3pm and then has a break before opening for the evening.

4- After lunch a walk around the park, castle and the backstreets of shuri is a good option.

5- Followed by an afternoon stop at Eichin sweets shop for a drink of shiquasa soda and a snack.

6- Then you can finish the day at the Wolfbrau brewery sampling beer and drinking coffee.

Back to the Textile shop, I had been to the shop before but never actually went inside. 

Once I had gone inside I was greeted by very welcoming and friendly staff. 

They explained to me that the first floor is things you can buy. 

There is beautiful displays of table cloths, scarves, coin purses, little bags and plates, fabric, door curtains and artwork. 

They are quite expensive but for the quality of the item and that each one is uniquely handmade I think that it is worth the price. 

The second floor is the experience area. You take your shoes off and go up the stairs. Here you can try coral dying and bingata.

The whole building encapsulates history and art but the third floor is where they have a little museum type part where it teaches you a bit more about the history of the fabrics, shuri and how Ryusen came to be.

I thought the design of the rolls of fabric weaving through the beams of the ceiling was beautiful. 

They had old pictures of Shuri Castle and Shuri Town. 

The pictures don't do it justice, but these fabrics are truly a masterpiece. 

I didn't intend to become quite so immersed in the place but there I was and I didn't want to regret not taking opportunities, so I decided I would give the coral dying a try.

The staff were incredibly friendly and some can speak English if you need help. 

For the coral dying, first you chose what you will dye. The options are a tshirt, cloth, tote bag or a furoshiki (wrapping cloth).

I chose the furoshiki, because its always good to wrap your bento up with. 

So, you sit down and the staff give you a overview on how to do the dying, how to mix the colours etc.

Then they let you go ahead and create your masterpiece. 

Thinking back now, I should have made a plan for how I'd have liked it to look and then started and not just gone all freestyle. My advice for you is to have some sort of idea what you would like and which colours- or you might just end up with a mess.

There is inspiration over all the walls for you to draw from if you like. 

You take a coral and wrap your fabric around it, secure it with a band and pull tight.

Then you decide which colours you will do it and go ahead and paint it on. 

There are corals of all sizes, shapes and designs so it's completely up to you what you will make and it will for sure be unique. 

For a first time, the experience is a lot more valuable to me than the furoshiki. I would like to go back and do another one with a bit more thought given to the design.  This is not something I can create well spontaneously! 

So, overall I think this is a brilliant addition to the list of places to visit. I had a really wonderful few hours. It doesn't matter if you go alone or with a whole group of friends. 

The staff are amazing, the building is stunning and for sure you will come away a little more enriched in some way. 

I really reccomend this one. 

Address: 1-54 Shuriyamagawa-cho, 

Naha-shi, Okinawa

Website: www.shuri-ryusen.com/en

Hours: 9am to 6pm

Eichin - Castella Cakes (100 Kobudo Kata Challenge)

Recently the design for this year's 100 Kobudo Kata Challenge has been released and it is highlighting small businesses in Shuri that may have been affected by the fire at Shuri Castle that happened in October 2019.

I decided to take the afternoon while I can and go on my own little tour of each of the places, some of which I hadn't been to yet and so it seemed like it would be a good afternoon. 

This little shop was number two in my afternoon T-Shirt tour, but had to be blog number one in my 'write up about each one' because it was for sure the underdog and the best part of the day for me in the line up of places. 

Eichin is owned and run by my karate senpai Manabu and his wife. 

It was the first time I had been there since it opened (which was long overdue) I was welcomed like family and invited into their beautiful little garden and house, the garden is also spectacular with all kinds of herbs and vegetables growing. 

Manabu was one of the first Senpai's I met in the Arakaki dojo and we rarely get to train together because of family, work and other life commitments but to see what a wonderful little shop he has created using local, fresh ingredients is inspiring for my own ventures one day. 

The base idea of this shop is little bite sized Castella cake- that is the plain option.

It is made with no preservatives or additives so it is reccomended to eat within 3 - 4 days from buying. 

Then there are flavour options- 

The apple and cinnamon were my favourite for sure- fresh pieces of apple in the cake and coated in cinnamon. 

There is lemon, kinako (soy bean powder) with traditional Okinawan sweets on the inside (from James' wife's sweet shop-Jahana Kippan), purple sweet potato, sweet red bean paste and seasonal options. 

There is also the plain option with the 12 Chinese Zodiacs printed on them. 

This is because there is the 12 zodiac animals enshrined at the four temples in shuri, these are the snacks to eat on the pilgrimage to the 12 animals. I think that will be another blog pretty soon (and I'll be sure to take some zodiac snacks along with me on the pilgrimage). 

I was so pleasantly surprised with how good the simplicity of these makes them. 

For sure I'll be gifting these as presents to people. 

Prices range from about 300 yen for a one person treat, to 1600 yen for a gift box. 

Website - www.a-chin.com 

Phone- 098-886-5889

Address- 1-36 Shuri, Gibo-cho, Naha, Okinawa. (about ten minute walk from Gibo Monorail Station) 

Preparing for the 100 Kobudo Kata Challenge 2020

This year in October will be my 6 year anniversary of moving to Okinawa and this year is also the 6th Anniversary of the 100 Kobudo Kata Challenge.

The Kobudo Challenge started in 2015 -Six months after the 100 Kata for Karate Day Challenge held every year in October because as we are told here in Okinawa- Karate and Kobudo are like brother and sister.

Each Year has been memorable for it's own reason:

2015 - Kira Kira Beach at sunrise- Challenge Number 1 

2016- Toyosaki Beach with a BBQ and water fight after

2017- Karate Kaikan (Tomishiro) Just as the karate kaikan opened we had the chance to practice here- Inside and Outside.

2018- Sougenji Park (Naha) - The year we opened Asato Dojo. 

2019 - Sakiyama Park (Shuri)- With our first group of students and some of our local Okinawan friends. 

This year is planned to also be in Sakiyama Park.
In October 2019 a fire started at Shuri Castle and a lot of the main building got burned down. The damage was so severe that it will take years to repair.

The castle as a tourist attraction was a huge source of income for small local businesses in Shuri.
So, the plan for this years challenge is to highlight some of the small businesses surrounding the castle.

The back of the T-Shirt has five local businesses and the park where we will do the challenge shown on a map surrounding the castle site.
I guess the idea is to show that there is a lot more to Shuri than just the castle.

1- Eichin - Handmade Sweets 

2-  Shuri Ryusen - Textile Workshop 

3- Wolfbrau Brewery - Craft Beer and Coffee 

4- Ryukyu Sabo Ashibina - Restaurant 

5- Zuisen Distillery - Awamori factory 

6-  Sakiyama Park - The place we will complete our 100 kata 

The plan for my own 100 kobudo kata this year is to practice the second Sai Kata that we do in Matsubayashi Ryu and solidify it into my memory. Of course I'll be helping and supporting the kids to make it through their own challenge.

See my blogs coming next about my visits to each of the five reccomended Shuri businesses. 

The Sumo Encounter

In December before I went back to England Rambo Sensei, Emilie and I went out for dinner to the yakitori place right next to my house.

It's a nice little place run by a couple from Tokyo. They have a coal grill where they make all the yakitori and they do some traditional stir fries, and Japanese dishes. 

We've been there a couple of times and I've tried lots of new foods, some I really liked and some I really didn't 😂

Tonight though we were having a quiet dinner when two Sumo wrestlers came in to join a group of locals. 

At first I didn't really realise who they were, and I still don't really know who they were but apparently they are pretty famous wrestlers who were visiting okinawa for a match. 

I'll try and research who they are and how thier matches went and add it in, but I thought it would be cool to at least update about the time I got to meet some actual Sumo wrestlers.

Matsubayashi Ryu Bonenkai 2019

This is just going to be a short one, and now it's super late because I havent made updating my blog much of a priority with work and karate recently. 

This year (2019) was the Arakaki Dojo's turn to host the Bonenkai so of course sensei decided the venue would be Dojo Bar.

I think this actually made it one of the best so far- in my opinion the usual hotel ones aren't particularly fun and feel very inpersonal, at least with the bar one everyone seemed more relaxed -that could have been due to the open bar though!

I didn't manage to get many pictures because my job was to run the bar and make sure everyone had whatever they wanted to drink- the food was buffet style with the pig as the center piece. 

In total there was about 50 people and it was a private party so the bar was closed to anyone else. 50 people is about our capacity I would say. We bought in some extra chairs and it worked pretty well. 

James organised quite the spread of food with the whole piggy and sashimi alongside bar snacks and salads. 

If course there's was speeches and Paul played guitar for some entertainment.

Seikichi San also played some music once it was late and most people had left- he is more shy. We didn't get to train together this time because he has hurt his knee and I had to take the kids classes and work the days he was here. 

Hopefully when he visits next year we can train together. 

The South East Botanical Gardens

What a hidden gem we found!

This one plus Bios were on my list to visit because I hadn't been to either of them. I'm trying to start crossing off all the things that I have wondered about but haven't done yet. We still didn't get Bios done because of car trouble, but this one is really worth a visit.
It's about a 40 minute drive from Naha.
It is in Okinawa City- not far from the big new Rycom Mall.
The tickets are reasonably priced at just over 1000 yen per person- with a deal if you decide to do the buffet lunch too. We had just eaten with Sensei so didn't need to do the lunch.

The gardens are split into two sections- The first is a maze of trees and is much quieter than the big main section. We went over there first but only stayed for around 20 minutes there. 

Then we went over to the bigger part. I think we went around it a bit backwards but it really didn't matter.

The first thing we saw was all the staff putting up all the lights for when they will do evening illuminations of thousands of lights- If you are there at a time of year that they are doing that- staying until the evening when they light it up where possible would very likely be well worth it.

After that we came across some scary looking ducks who seemed to really like eating the fish food. We fed them a little and then continued on the journey to find the goats.

I like to feed the goats- although they have scary eyes- Habu sensei always made it really fun to feed his goats, they're pretty cute really and will eat basically anything and everything.

After the Goat Island, we found the monkey and capybara pen.

This was fun, the monkeys jumped all over you to get the food you had and the capybara was the most chilled giant rat- porcupine looking thing I'd ever seen.

After the Monkey, we had the rabbit and Tortoise section. There was Guinea Pigs there too. I really liked feeding the Tortoise.

We found the 'Dragon Blood' trees- which sap is bright red which is why it was given the name apparently. But there was no sap when we were there. 

The dragon trees were right outside the bird enclosure.

Little did I expect to be walking into a cage full of Peacocks, Flamingos, Big long beaked birds and a tufty headed Heron. You could take the food from the closed cupboard (and pay your money into the box) and just go ahead and feed them- the flamingos weren't interested though. 

It was really really good- but the birds did make me a little nervous. I'm not sure why because I've always thought my spirit animal is a heron. I still think it is. Not a tufty headed one, just a regular white one that lives in the wild. 

After the Birds section, you carry on walking and you make it to the area where you can colour in a giant plastic cow. I'm not really sure of the significance of this but it's there, if you want to spend some time doing this.

Then you reach the pigs! This was fun. There was one black piggy that was really hungry- the rest were sleeping. He was basically like a dog- standing up on the fence and wagging his tail when he got some cabbage!

The lake/ Pond and beautiful bridge is after this. In this area you can catch a fish (and release it again)
This of course will take time- it recommends at least an hour for the fish catching activity- but if you have the whole day it would be really fun to do. As just a side note- the cow painting and the catching a fish has separate extra charge, so does feeding all the animals. Just about 100 yen per food for the animals and a few hundred for the other ones. But it all adds up. We probably at least doubled the cost of entrance feeding all the animals. Maybe we got a bit over excited but it's definately worth the extra coins.

We wandered across the bridge and up to the ridge road - you can walk along and have a beautiful view of the park and see lots of different flowers.
The buffet restaurant looks out over the park from up here too. We didn't go in there so I couldn't tell you how it was. Looked nice though.

The Ice cream they sell in the gift shop isn't Blue Seal, but it is good. I had the strawberry and Sensei went for shiquasa. 

The gift shop itself was pretty standard, a few nice touristy things for sale, but nothing that's really unique.
There is quite a lot of craft options available at the Gardens though which is cool. You can do the cow painting, shisa and ornament painting, sand art and there's more too- I'm just not very good at describing it. 

I really enjoyed our time here and it really wasn't very busy at all. 

I hope I can make it back before the illuminations end.