Performers leave the Tanadui Matsuri (Festival) through the sandy streets of the coral island of Taketomi. the Tanadui Masturi a 600 year history on Taketomi and has been designated by the Japanese government as an important intangible cultural heritage. The festival is held in part to ensure a good harvest. Taketomi Island, Ryukyu Archipelago, Japan.
Their clean lines conceal how traditional Sabani boats were born out of necessity and nascent environmental concerns centuries ago. In the early 18th century, advisor to the King of Ryukyu, Sai On, crafted one of the most impactful forest-conservation plans still referenced today in Japan and the United States. Part of that plan forbade construction of ‘kuribune’ (dug-out) canoes, ubiquitous among fishermen, to protect trees of large girth in 1737. Confronted with the need to innovate, fishermen had to come up with a new kind of vessel - one that consumed less timber. //WHITLOWDELANOJAMES_sipa.30951/Credit:James Whitlow Delano/SIPA/2401101225