Abuchira Cave, Itokazu

Two hundred and seventy metres of cave, and they served as a hospital for more than six hundred wounded.

You go in with a helmet on your head and a torch in your hand, and without a guide you do not go in at all. Inside, the cave has been left as it was: narrow stretches, slippery ground, no lighting. It takes an hour. One review puts it better than any summary: this is not a place to visit in a tourist frame of mind.

A natural cave two hundred and seventy metres long in Itokazu, in the municipality of Nanjō. During the Battle of Okinawa it became a branch of the Haebaru military hospital and came to hold more than six hundred wounded soldiers; it was used as a hospital until 25 May 1945, when it was abandoned in the retreat south.

ℹ️ ⚠️ Booking required, and entering without a guide and without a torch is forbidden. Open 9:00–17:00 all year round, closed from 29 December to 3 January. Three hundred yen from high school up, one hundred and fifty for elementary and junior high school students; helmets are lent free of charge, a torch costs one hundred yen, work gloves fifty a pair. The guide is paid for separately, from 1,500 yen for a group of up to four people. Book on 098-852-6608; groups by fax.

🚉 糸数 · 5 min walk

Sources: abuchiragama.com · 4travel.jp

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