Reading Okinawa

1. Introduction

“Suijō yōran” was first published in Gunjō in August 2001 and later republished in Tsuki ya, aran together with its title story. The novella centers on a middle-aged Okinawan woman who abandoned kumiodori (traditional Okinawan dance-drama) about twenty years earlier. After receiving an invitation from Y to attend a commemorative performance, she travels to an unnamed island, where she is forced to confront her past. Narrated in the first person, the story follows her fragmented memories as she gradually recovers her identity and ultimately returns to the stage.

Key themes include obsession, identity, memory, and the meaning of theater and performance. The title refers both to the theater Y constructed on the ocean and to the narrator’s symbolic rebirth. Because the story is told entirely from the protagonist’s perspective, readers closely participate in her psychological struggle to reclaim herself.

2. Character List

Watashi (“I”) わたし

Watashi is the narrator and protagonist, a woman in her forties who once performed kumiodori. Twenty years earlier, she acted in Shushin kaneiri, directed by Y, but her performance was poorly received. Traumatized by the experience, she abandoned acting altogether. Years later, she reunites with Y on an unnamed island, where she is gradually drawn back into the world of kumiodori.

Y　わい

Y is a kumiodori director in his fifties who has devoted his life to preserving the art form. Orphaned at a young age, he was raised by his actor father and later became a director himself. He previously had a relationship with Watashi and now invites her to the island under the pretense of a commemorative performance, subtly manipulating her into performing again.

Tamaki Mizuho　玉城瑞穂

Mizuho is a kumiodori performer and the owner of the island’s hotel. Now around forty, she rose to fame twenty years earlier after playing a prostitute in a popular role. She behaves coldly toward Watashi, possibly out of jealousy.

Unnamed young dancer　名無しの踊り子

A young dancer who assists Watashi backstage. Although unnamed, her role is significant: she encourages Watashi to return to the stage and affirms her identity as a performer.

3. Plot Summary

Chapter 1: Arriving at the Island (134–44)

In her hotel room, Watashi studies the cover of a play program. She has arrived on the island after receiving Y’s invitation to attend a commemorative kumiodori performance. Her thoughts drift back to her role in Shushin kaneiri, in which she played an innkeeper who descends into madness after being rejected by a young man named Wakamatsu.
During the performance, Watashi identified so strongly with the role that she lost control. She suddenly lost her hearing and collapsed onstage. Traumatized, she quit kumiodori altogether.

Chapter 2: A Distant View of the Theater (145–66)

While sitting in the hotel café, Watashi imagines encountering Y. A woman greets her in the Okinawan language, triggering a sense of nostalgia, before switching to standard Japanese. The woman reveals that Y invited Watashi to the island and wants to see her. Watashi realizes the woman is Tamaki Mizuho, a former colleague. Together they see a theater floating on the ocean. Soon after, Y calls Watashi and insists she come to the theater, declaring that everyone who visits the island must perform kumiodori.

Chapter 3: Quicksand (166–75)

As Watashi walks toward the theater, she feels as though she is sinking into the sand. This physical sensation triggers memories of her breakdown twenty years earlier. She recalls that she did not lose her hearing entirely—only Y’s voice and the sounds of kumiodori disappeared. She eventually reaches the bridge leading to the theater.

Chapter 4: Obelisk of Worldly Wisdom (176–87)

Inside the theater, Watashi watches Y rehearsing with a young dancer. When Y approaches her, she realizes she still cannot hear his voice. His smile triggers memories of their past, including conversations at a café where he spoke passionately about kumiodori and lamented the disappearance of their island culture. After his father’s death, Y chose to become a director. Although Watashi senses his controlling influence, she follows him obediently.

Chapter 5: Heading to the Forest (188–209)

Watashi finds herself at the entrance to a forest called Utugani mui, a place that feels inexplicably familiar. When Y embraces her, he asks if she remembers it. She recalls delivering a costume to a priestess as a child and remembers her warabina (secret childhood name), Utugani, given by her great-grandmother. Pretending to sleep in Y’s arms, she later sees Mizuho enter, triggering jealousy. When Y urges her to return to the forest—and reveals that he knows the meaning of Utugani—Watashi is confused but complies.

Chapter 6: Fading Views, Floating Voices (210–26)

In the forest, Watashi experiences vivid childhood flashbacks. She hears festival sounds and listens to men recounting the island’s creation myth, repeatedly invoking the god Ushumaiganashi. A faint voice calls her childhood name. Her mother appears but avoids her and eventually goes insane. The scene shifts to a kumiodori performance of Onna mono gurui, in which a mother goes mad searching for her kidnapped son.
Watashi recalls discussing a play based on Y’s life, in which she played his mother. Y’s expectations placed immense pressure on her, and she knew even then that she would eventually leave him.

Chapter 7: Backstage (227–38)

Backstage, an unnamed young dancer helps Watashi prepare. Addressing her as Utugani, the dancer urges her to be herself and reassures her that Y believes only she can perform the role. As the curtain call sounds, the dancer sends her onto the stage.

Chapter 8: Crossing Water (239–46)

On her way to the stage, Watashi sees Y embrace Mizuho. Consumed by unfocused anger, she transforms into the madwoman Utugani and steps onto the stage.

Commentary

Although the plot appears straightforward, the central conflict concerns whether Watashi can confront her past and reclaim her identity. Throughout the story, she embodies multiple female figures from Okinawan history and kumiodori, making some familiarity with these plays helpful for interpretation. By agreeing to perform again, Watashi begins to confront both her feelings for Y and her relationship with kumiodori. The frequent flashbacks, while disorienting, reveal the emotional depth of her memories and relationships.

4. Setting

Although never explicitly stated, the story is clearly set on an island in the Yaeyama archipelago. Characters occasionally speak the Yaeyama language, and Watashi describes traveling by plane from mainland Okinawa and then by boat, passing what may be the Taketomi Islands. At the same time, the unnaturally pristine beach suggests that the island may exist partly within Watashi’s imagination.

Temporally, the narrative moves between the present and Watashi’s childhood roughly thirty years earlier, placing her memories in the early 1970s. References to the Izaiho Festival further anchor the story in this period.

By avoiding a specific location, Sakiyama encourages readers to research Okinawa’s island cultures and rituals. The story suggests that those who leave remote communities should return, confront their pasts, and reengage with traditional culture, particularly kumiodori.

5. Point of View

The story is told entirely from Watashi’s first-person perspective. Readers only access events through her fragmented memories, making her an unreliable narrator. Unrealistic scenes are often indistinguishable from memory, reinforcing the story’s dreamlike quality.

This limited perspective allows readers to share Watashi’s mystical experience in the forest, where she recovers her warabina and her desire to dance again.

6. Symbolism and Imagery

Bougainvillaea

Bougainvillaea, a flower associated with Okinawa, symbolizes passion, intimacy, and suppressed emotion. Its appearance—especially coiled at the forest entrance—reflects Watashi’s tangled memories and feelings. Sakiyama employs the flower similarly in “Yuratiku yuratiku.”


Ornamental foliage plant

Ornamental foliage represents performers as objects of observation. When Watashi encounters Mizuho, the foliage suggests that both women are already performing roles within a theatrical frame.

Cradle (yōran)

The word yōran appears only in the title and signifies rebirth. The theater on the ocean functions as a cradle where Watashi loses and regains herself, transforming from madness into renewed performance.

7. Cultural Background

Kumiodori

Kumiodori is a traditional Ryukyuan musical drama combining dance, music, and chant, developed during the Ryukyu Kingdom. Many works were written by Tamagusuku Chōkun.

Shushin kaneiri

This play depicts an innkeeper who descends into madness after being rejected by a handsome traveler, ultimately transforming into a demon driven by obsession.

Onna mono gurui

This play tells the story of a mother who searches desperately for her kidnapped son and goes mad from grief and resentment, before being reunited with him.

Secret Ritual

According to Miyara Takahiro, the Yaeyama islands practiced the secret ritual Akamata Kuromata, in which priestesses mediated between villagers and agricultural deities.

8. Criticism

Kurosawa, Asako. “Sakiyama Tami kenkyū: watashi to tasha no monogatari.” 23 March 2017. Print.

Kurosawa Asako argues that “Suijō yōran” depicts both the collapse and reproduction of island ritual. Although the island has vanished, Watashi revives it internally by reenacting ritual. Kurosawa highlights sound as a key motif and distinguishes Utugani’s madness from other female figures, emphasizing her autonomy from Y’s control.

Sato, Izumi. “Voice and Language of Japanese-speaking Literature; Tami Sakiyama and Park Kyong Mi’s Dialogue.” Seikei daigaku taiheiyou kenkyu center. November 2017. Print.

Sato Izumi examines Sakiyama’s work linguistically, arguing that identity is constructed through voice and dialect. Characters listen for lost voices as they seek erased identities, pursuing the impossible task of recovering what history has silenced.
Sakiyama, Tami. “Okinawa to bunka no kōsaten” [Okinawa and the Intersection of Culture]. Mita Bungaku. No. 139, 2019. 120-133. Print.

In her own essay, Sakiyama discusses her decision to use a hybrid of Japanese and Okinawan language, challenging linguistic power structures shaped by colonial history.

9. Themes

Relationship of Identity, Acting, and Language

Watashi’s fragile identity reflects her distance from both her island community and its language. Kumiodori becomes the medium through which she reconnects with both. As Yaeyama language increasingly appears, Watashi gradually reclaims her identity as an islander.
Ambiguous narration mirrors the way memory operates, blurring reality and imagination. Sound functions as a crucial medium of self-recovery: by losing external hearing, Watashi becomes attuned to internal voices.

Love and Insanity

The novella repeatedly links unrequited love with madness. Female characters in the embedded kumiodori plays descend into insanity through obsession or loss, mirroring Watashi’s fixation on Y and the island. By recalling her warabina, Watashi fully immerses herself in ritual memory, ultimately losing herself to reclaim herself.

 

10. Discussion Questions

1. Why is Watashi obsessed with dancing kumiodori?
 
2. Why doesn’t Sakiyama mention the actual name of the island?
 
3. Why are there many artificial things on the unnamed island? What is Sakiyama trying to suggest?
 
4. Why does Watashi forget so many things from her childhood? How is she able to remember?
 
5. What is Y’s true purpose in inviting Watashi to the unnamed island? What is the nature of their relationship?
 
6. Why is Mizuho mean to Watashi throughout the story?
 
7. Why does Sakiyama have so many confusing or ambiguous scenes in the story?
 
8. Why does Sakiyama use kumiodori in which insane women appear?
 
9. What is the identity of the unnamed dancer? What is her role in the story?
 
10. What does Sakiyama’s story teach us about the role of kumiodori in Okinawa? Do you think kumiodori is relevant to modern Okinawa? Why or why not?
 

11. Works Cited
 
Hatayama, Atsushi. “Ryukyu no kokumotsukugen denshō to kokumotu girei.” No.42. Hiromae gakuin daigaku, 2006. 100-73. Print.
 
Kurosawa, Ayako. “Sakiyama Tami kenkyū Watashi to Tasya no monogatari.” 23 March            2017. Print.
 
Miyara, Takayuki. “Yaeyamagun ni okeru iwayuru himitsukesya ni tsuite.” Minzokugaku kenkyū. Vol.27. Dec. 1962. 13-8. Print.
 
Okamoto, Keitoku. “Shudai toshite no shima” [Shima as Subject]. Appendix.
Kurikaeshi gaeshi. Tokyo: Sunagoya Press, 1994. Print.
 
“Sakiyama Tami, suijō yōran.” Rakuten blog. Okinawan no Chunen, Inc., Web. 30 Aug. 2001.
 
Sakiyama, Tami. “Suijō yōran.” Gunjō. Kōdansha, Aug. 2001. 76-120. Print.
 
---. “Okinawa to bunka no kōsaten.” Mita Bungaku. Vol. 139. Oct. 2019. 120-33. Print.
 
---. “Suijō yōran.” Tsukiya, aran. Okinawa: Nanyō Bunko Press. 133-246. 2012.
 
---. “Tsunagu kotoba wo sagasite 2.” Mita Bungaku. Vol. 139. Oct. 2019. 232-5. Print.
 
---. “Watashi no kotoba to kotoba no takurami.” Shakai Bungaku. 2019. 2-11. Print.
 
Sato, Izumi. “Voice and Language of Japanese-speaking Literature; Tami Sakiyama and Park    Kyong Mi’s Dialogue.” Seikei daigaku taiheiyou kenkyu center. November 2017. Print.
 
Yamada, Naomi. “Ryūkyū kumiodori tamagusuku chōkun no sekai.” Shakai imobesion kenkyū. Vol. 1. Nov. 2005. 101-9. Print. Web.
 
 

Original report by Umi Miyara. Edited and revised by Kasumi Sminkey.