Okinawa｜Ryugu Stone Monument—Amaterasu Omikami and the Dragon God Kuno-Kunohime are worshipped together, and Ebisu Omikami co-resides in this protective realm where heaven and earth intertwine.

In a corner of downtown Okinawa, I stumbled upon this group of stone tablets. Standing quietly on a white stone altar, they are unadorned, yet imbued with a solemnity thanks to the inscriptions. The central tablet bears the inscription "Sky Kuono Ryu-Omikami," symbolizing the guardianship of the male dragon deity. To the right is "Sky Kuono Ryu-gu-oh," connected to "Amaterasu Omikami," showcasing the radiant union of the female dragon deity and the sun deity. The left-hand tablet, "Ebisu Omikami," serves as a reminder that the abundance and blessings of the human world are also closely tied to the beliefs of this land. Standing before the tablets, I felt a sense of the interweaving of heaven and earth: the dragon deity represents the depths of the ocean, Amaterasu symbolizes the brightness of the sun, and Ebisu connects to the daily needs of the human world. These three converge to form a perfect guardianship, allowing one to engage not merely in appreciating the tablets but in a dialogue with the order of heaven and earth. Perhaps this is the beauty of travel—what you thought was just a city street corner turns out to be a covenant between heaven and earth and the human heart.