Ryukyu Mura


Ryukyu Mura is a theme park and folk museum in Onna, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. It is an open-air museum featuring ten traditional Ryukyuan residences brought over from different parts of the prefecture, seven of which are Nationally Registered Tangible Cultural Properties. It is also a living museum where visitors may partake in Ryukyuan cultural activities led by staff, who are dressed in traditional Ryukyuan attire.

Attractions and activities

Ryukyu Mura is a reconstructed village containing ten traditional Ryukyuan residences, which were disassembled for transportation and reassembled at the park before it opened on October 23, 1982. The residences range in age from several decades to over two centuries, with the former Nakasone family home, built in 1808, being the oldest. As such, the Japanese government recognizes seven of them as Nationally Registered Tangible Cultural Properties.
The staff at Ryukyu Mura dress in traditional Ryukyuan attire and lead traditional activities that visitors may partake in, such as crafting pottery, weaving cloth, grinding sugarcane, and painting small shisa statues. The park also hosts regular musical performances, showcasing taiko eisa dances, Okinawan folk songs, and sanshin music.
Visitors may rent traditional Ryukyuan clothing before entering the park. The catering area offers traditional Ryukyuan cuisine.

Transportation

Ryukyu Mura is located in Onna village, in the central part of Okinawa Island, about north of the prefectural capital Naha. It is a roughly 50-minute drive from Naha via the Naha–Ishikawa expressway, or an 80-minute bus ride on the bus from the Naha Bus Terminal.