ABSTRACT
Local residents and tour guides alike complain about what they perceive as improper behaviour by tourists. Spirit mediums and other ritual practitioners feel that their sacred site has been taken away from them, and they argue that worship areas should be fenced off. This chapter analyses recent transformations at Sefa Utaki in relation to issues such as mass tourism, environmental degradation, and competing understandings of Okinawan traditional religion. Sefa Utaki was the most important worship site of the Ryukyu Kingdom. In reality, the noro system has undergone significant changes in the course of its history, and so has Sefa Utaki. The video explains that Sefa Utaki is a “sacred site” and, therefore, visitors should speak quietly, stay away from the stone altars, and refrain from taking pictures of worshippers. Sefa Utaki is visited by a variety of Okinawan worshippers, by mainland Japanese spiritual tourists, and of course by tourists who have little or no affinity with spiritual matters.
