- Sep 11, 2021

EPISODE 3 pt.2 🌺 Hajichi with Co Lewis & June Owatari

Episode 3... part 2!

What is the future of hajichi? How does a shifting culture and identity of the Ryukyuan / Okinawan diaspora affect a practice such as this?

Join co-host Mariko with returning guest speakers Co Lewis and June Owatari as they continue the discussion on the Ryukyuan practice of Hajichi, or traditional Ryukyuan hand tattoo. Looking to the present day revival practices of hajichi, we will talk about the future of this beautiful practice, how it has adapted or changed, and what hajichi might look like in the future. ... and of course, we’ll end with our Okinawa fun fact of the day.

Listen to us on:

🌟 Apple Podcasts 🌟 Google Podcasts 🌟 Spotify 🌟 YouTube (audio only)

or... click the link below to listen!

Show Notes:

Courtesan and Actor Hajichi: Furness, William Henry. Life in the Luchu Islands (Japan). United States, University of Pennsylvania, 1899. 'To distinguish from workers; only “two large dots on the first phalanx of the middle fingers of both hands”

At 04:40, June uses the example of hijabi women to illustrate Western orientalist myths of non-Western customs being barbaric and oppressive. We want to clarify that neither June nor Co support this way of thinking.

Hajichi in Okinawa and Tattoos in Taiwan / 特別企画展　沖縄のハジチ、台湾原住民族のタトゥー「歴史と今」

Amami Island: Ryukyu (Loochoo) Islands. United States, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Navy Department, 1944

Male Tattooing from Basil Hall

Thoughts on Tattoos of the Southern Islands by Kazuo Ohara

“Women of the Sacred Grove: Divine Priestesses of Okinawa,” by Susan Sered

GUEST SPEAKER & MUSIC CREDITS

June Owatari (they/them): Website: jlowatari.com Instagram: instagram.com/juniejuniejune Mastadon: mastodon.design/@juniejuniejune Co Lewis (she /her): Shimanchu Hajichi Revival website: hajichirevival.wixsite.com/shimanchuhajichi Shimanchu Hajichi Revival Instagram: instagram.com/shimanchuhajichi Email: hajichirevival@gmail.com