Cape Hedo & Asumui
From an Ancient Sea to a Sacred Land
1️⃣ A Story that Began 200 Million Years Ago
The dramatic cliffs of Cape Hedo and the rocky peaks of Asumui are made primarily of limestone.
This limestone began as coral reefs, shells, and tiny marine organisms that lived in a warm, shallow sea about 200 million years ago during the Mesozoic Era.
Over millions of years, their remains accumulated on the seabed and hardened into rock.
Later, powerful tectonic movements lifted this ancient ocean floor above sea level.
Okinawa is part of the Ryukyu Arc, formed along the edge of the Eurasian continent.
As the Philippine Sea Plate subducted beneath the Eurasian Plate, the crust was compressed and uplifted — bringing these limestone layers into the mountains we see today.
2️⃣ Landscape Formation After the Last Ice Age (Since ~20,000 Years Ago)
The mountains of Yanbaru took on their present form after the Last Glacial Period ended around 20,000 years ago.
Several forces shaped this land:
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Repeated sea-level rise and uplift
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Intense subtropical rainfall
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Karst processes, where rainwater dissolves limestone
Because limestone dissolves easily in rainwater, it forms caves, sharp ridges, and dramatic rock towers.
Asumui is less a “mountain” in the usual sense, and more a collection of sacred limestone spires — shaped slowly by water, time, and earth movement.
3️⃣ Around 10,000 Years Ago — People Arrived from the North
During the last Ice Age, sea levels were lower, and the distance between Amami and Okinawa was shorter than today.
Around 10,000 years ago, people migrated from the north — from Kyushu and the Amami Islands — and gradually settled in the forests of Yanbaru.
They:
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Lived from the sea and forest
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Formed small communities
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Built pit dwellings (semi-underground houses)
Here began a lifestyle deeply connected to nature — a balance between ocean, forest, and human life.
4️⃣ Asumui — The Sacred Birthplace of Okinawa
Over time, Asumui gained profound spiritual meaning.
In Ryukyuan mythology, the creator deity Amamikyu is said to have descended upon this land, marking it as one of the sacred origins of Okinawa.
Asumui became recognized as one of Okinawa’s Seven Sacred Sites, and it remains a place of prayer and reverence today.
This is a place where:
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Land rose from the sea
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People arrived from the north
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Prayer and belief were born
Here, geology and mythology meet.
🌿 YAAYA Message
When you stand at Cape Hedo and look toward Asumui,
you are witnessing 200 million years of earth history —
and 10,000 years of human story.
This is not only a landscape.
It is a meeting point of ocean, mountain, people, and spirit.
Sokokufukki straggle Monument― Monument to the Struggle for Reversion ―
A continuing reminder after 1972
This monument was erected in 1976, four years after Okinawa’s reversion to Japan in 1972.
Although reversion was achieved, U.S. military bases remained, and a large concentration of them still exists in Okinawa today.
The monument therefore serves not only as a memory of past struggle, but also as an ongoing question:
“What kind of future should Okinawa have?”
In recent years, the international security environment in East Asia has become more tense, including concerns related to China.
As a result, opinions within Okinawa are diverse:
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Some people emphasize realistic security needs.
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Some strongly oppose the presence of military bases.
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Some feel a historical sense of distance or misunderstanding between Okinawa and mainland Japan.
Dialogue is not always easy.
This monument has come to symbolize not only the reversion movement, but also the continuing complexity and division surrounding peace, security, and identity in Okinawa.
It invites visitors to reflect quietly on what “peace” means in this place.