The Beauty of Okinawa: Ryukyu Glass Village

Not too long ago I was able to take a short vacation to Okinawa. I was only there for 5 days, but it was absolutely packed with fun adventures and amazing food. English was not very commonly spoken there, but I tried my best with my cheat sheet of phrases, and everyone I encountered was very kind and patient with me. From watching a lot of anime, I got the impression that the islands of Okinawa Prefecture were a tropical getaway not dissimilar to Hawaii. That’s pretty much what I found when I got there. Tropical breezes, beautiful seaside vistas, amazingly fresh seafood. After my time living in Hawai’i, Okinawa felt familiar yet exotic.

One of my first excursions was to a glass blowing facility called the Ryukyu Glass Village. Ryukyu refers to the native people of Okinawa and the kingdom that ruled them before Japan annexed the chain of islands (Wikipedia). The Ryukyu Glass Village is in the south near Itoman.

Google Maps

The whole building was just mesmerizing. The outside of the building is a beautiful mosaic, and the entrance to the glass shop has a huge faulted ceiling with a giant rainbow colored stained glass skylight (the picture at the top of this post). The glass shop had one of many Shi-Shi (Foo Dogs) that are famous in Okinawa, large artistic show pieces pieces, and smaller souvineers. The workshop was situated near the entrance and was open-aired.

The glass takes a few days to cure in their kilns, so this needed to be my first stop so I would be able to pick up my finished works before flying home. I was the only American in the class, and I got the impression that not a lot of Americans even sign up for the glass blowing class. No matter, they were very kind when they were trying to explain the process to me. It was very exciting to see the artisans pull molten glass out of the kiln, and rotate it and swing around the glowing blob so it didn’t fall off the end of the pipe, or cool too quickly as to be unusable.

The artisans explained the process (in Japanese, which I couldn’t understand, but I got the gist) and then we lined up and they filed us tourists through. One man would bring the molten glass out while another held the mold, then we carefully and slowly blew air through the pipe.

I did a cup and a shallow bowl, so I actually did this process twice.

After forming it in the mold, one of the artisans heated it back up in a kiln. Then they showed us how to shape it with a wet wooden paddle. This is actually much harder than it looks! I had to roll the pipe back and forth so the bowl didn’t slump to one side or fall off, while trying my best to shape the glass with the wooden paddle and metal calipers.

And after a few days to cool in the kiln, these are the pieces I made!

The overall experience was touristy, but I love hands on activities and I have always wanted to learn glass blowing. It was fascinating to watch the artisans work, and it was fun to try something new! If you go to Ryukyu Glass village, don’t forget to visit the cafeteria and get some delicious ramen! Mine was served with some kind of sauce or chutney made with bitter melon (in the tiny yellow bowl). They had packages of the condiment for sale because it is made in that area, but I didn’t buy any. I though I would be able to find it later but I was wrong! I couldn’t find it anywhere! So, if you go, make sure you buy a package of the bitter melon chutney to have with your ramen that you make at home.

THank you for looking, Steemians, and I hope this inspires you to visit Okinawa and try glass blowing for yourself!