ウドゥイガマ

Uduigama

Useful Information

Location:	Onna, Kunigami District, Okinawa 904-0411, Japan. Highway 58, turn left on Highway 88 Onna Sunset Coast Road, through Onna, turn left to Cape Manzano, signposted. (26.502077216773014, 127.84419403110996)
Open:	no restrictions. [2024]
Fee:	free. [2024]
Classification:	Sea Cave
Light:	bring torch
Dimension:	A=0 m asl, H=4 m.
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Uduigama
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History

Description

ウドゥイガマ (Uduigama, Dance Cave) is a small sea cave, located on the western side of Cape Manzamo. The whole cape consists of coral limestone named Ryukyu limestone and is riddled with sea caves. This is probably the biggest, and also has some history. It was made accessible with a stone staircase from the land, but of course it is also possible entering and leaving through the natural openings towards the sea. In some spots its necessary to swim, at least during high water.

In former days there was a tradition of the villagers, a festival in August, where a group of dancers performed a classical group dance. Those dancers were called Gamashinka (cave dancers), as they used the cave to practice Kumi Odori, a traditional Ryūkyūan Dance, from August 1st until the performance on the 10th. On the first day of the Mura Ashibai festival, all the participants started from the cave, led by their flag bearer, and participated in a michijune (street parade). So the locals called the cave Dance Cave, in the local Okinawan dialect udu means dance and gama means cave.

The cave is also sometimes called Apogama (Meeting Cave), because long ago it was a popular meeting point.

While the cave is not used any more for dance practice, it is still an important place for the locals. And on Mura Ashibai, a dedication offering ceremony is performed at the cave. The villagers still use the cave as a place for prayer and to conduct traditional dance sessions for special occasions. So if you visit the cave while such an event takes place, be respectful and maintain a respectable distance. Do not take pictures of the ceremony.

But there is also a connection to World War II. The Second Gokyotai (Fourth Guerrilla) used Onna Village as its base to prepare for attacks by the US military. They constructed a small tower, about 1.8 m high made of Ryukyu limestone with a concrete basement. It was probably a shelter against the weather for soldiers of the Japanese military who monitored the landing of US forces from the cave entrance. This unique structure was discovered in 2020, and it is still unclear how it was actually used. As this was 80 years ago, the number of still living witnesses is limited.

Cape Manza is one of Okinawa’s most famous tourist spots. It was developed a few years ago with the Manzamo Area Revitalization Facility, a sort of shopping center with restaurants, bars, souvenir shops and an observation deck on the roof. But the best view is from the cape, a 20 m high vertical cliff made of Ryukyu limestone. On one of the protruding rocks is a through-cave which is only accessible to climbers and is strongly reminiscent of an elephant’s trunk. The name Manzamo originates according to local lore the Ryukyu King Sho Kei, who called it "A field large enough for ten thousand people to sit on." Mo is pronounced as mou and means open field in the Okinawan dialect. The grassy field is a grassy park on top of Cape Manza, where rare plants grow, such as the Korean lawn grass, Taiwanese platypus, Okinawan portulaca, and Japanese quince. The islanders are proud that those do not grow on the mainland. That’s the reason why the whole cape was designated a Prefectural Natural Monument. Please stay on the trails, and picking plants is forbidden.