Standing Guard

This statue was standing guard at the entrance to the Shurijo Castle. I only saw the one, but apparently they always guard in pairs. One has his mouth open, and the second one has his mouth closed. There is a reason for this, we were told, but for now has slipped my memory. Appologies once again for the very green photo.

A Castle Gate

Another very green photo, this time of the Shurijo Castle Gate. Thought to be built sometime between 1322 and 1429, this area was the Royal Court of the Ryuku Islands Kingdom for over 400 years, from 1429.

The Stone Gate of the Sonohyan Shrine

A very green photo of the Stone Gate of the Sonohyan Shrine, that we passed on our way to the entrance of the Shurijo Castle. This gateway was built in 1519 by King Sho Shin, and behind it is a sacred place of prayer.

Profiteering

Another of my lovely green pics now. This one is of a young lady making money from us tourists  as we headed into the Surijo Castle grounds. Obviously a cost to have our photograph taken with her dressed in a kimino with a dated sign.  I was more interested in her kimino and would have loved to have stopped to have a closer inspection, but we were on a time limit. What about that hat? Isn't that just fabulous? Something else I would have loved to take hold of, to touch, to turn upside down and really inspect how it was made. I found it fascinating. However, the restraints of touring left us with limited time and we still needed to see the castle.

Surijo Castle Gate

The Surijo Castle is in Okiniwa, Japan. This is a postcard of the gate that I purchased at the shop inside the castle grounds. It wasn't until later that day that I noticed that my camera settings had changed, and my photos of the gate (and other treasures inside the castle) were somewhat green. So please accept my apologies for the state of some of my future photos, they are not good, and no amount of photo shopping can fix them. Below is my photo of the gate. As you can see, quite green.

A Tree

This was tree that I noticed out of the coach window on our way to the Shurijo Castle Park. I am not sure what type of tree is is, probably a fig of some kind by the look of those roots. It had also been severely pruned. I just thought the lines created by those roots would make an interesting base design for some stitching.

A Street View

A street view now of some local shops,  taken through the window of the coach we were travelling in, We were on our way to the Shurijo Castle Park for some more Japanese history and culture.

Our Cruise Ship

This was a view of our cruise ship, the Diamond Princess, as she lay in port in Okinawa. This was taken from the bus window as we left for our tour. Our cabin was on the other side, up towards to front, so not visible from here. We were also up the top with our own personal balcony.

The Diamond Princess has room for 2,700 passengers, with 1,100 crew. She is 952 feet long, 205 feet high, and has 18 decks. There are five main dining rooms, a buffet, an Italian restaurant, a steakhouse, a burger grill, a pizzeria, a hamburger grill, an ice cream parlour, 6 theatres and lounges, 4 pools, a gym, and much more. Is it any wonder I like cruising?

The "A" Line

This was view now from the other side of our ship as we sailed into port in Okinawa. This was the cargo side of the harbour, with big cranes ready to lift containers off their transport. I am not sure what this "A" Line boat was, there were no containers on board, and no portholes as such or windows for passengers to look out of. Still, it was part of this busy port of Okinawa .

A Bridge at Sunrise

A view now of one of the bridges in Okinawa as we sailed into port.