Okinawa · Izena IslandNo.667★★Open in map →

Izena Island

historyOff the trail — and worth it

The king who founded Okinawa's Second Sho dynasty was born on this small island northwest of the main island. His parents' tomb, the castle ruin above it and a hamlet of coral walls all sit within a few kilometres of the ferry pier.

FromUnten Port, Nakijin
~55 minVillage ferry, twice a day
Get off atNakada Port (Izena village ferry)
From there
Izena Island

Directions ↗

The sweet spot

None of this is hidden. The prefecture's own tourism site has a page for Izena and the crossing is a scheduled public service. What keeps the island quiet is arithmetic rather than secrecy: the boat sets a hard ceiling on how many people can be ashore at once, and most of them are islanders coming home.

Where it is

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What to look for — in walking order

Nakada Portthe island's only scheduled landing, with the tourist association a few minutes along the shore
Izena Tamaudunthe stone tomb built for the founding king's parents, on the north slope of the castle hill
Izena Castle ruina prefecturally designated site on the southeast headland, with the sea on three sides
Izena hamlet lanescoral-block walls and fukugi windbreaks along the west coast, kept because no vipers live here
Mekaru housea nationally designated Important Cultural Property, a rebuilt island dwelling in the same hamlet

How to actually get there

Naha → Nago Bus Terminal (highway bus), then taxi or hire car to Unten Port in Nakijin.
Unten Port → Nakada Port (Izena village ferry, about 55 min, two sailings a day).
Nakada Port → Izena Tamaudun (about 15 min on foot, south along the coast road).
Tamaudun → Izena Castle ruin → across to the west-coast hamlet for the coral walls and the Mekaru house.

Village ferry from Unten Port: Unten Port in Nakijin →(Izena village ferry, about 55 min)→ Nakada Port on Izena. Two sailings a day in each direction, one mid-morning and one mid-afternoon. Unten Port is on the Motobu Peninsula: from Naha the usual approach is the highway bus to Nago Bus Terminal and a taxi or hire car from there, and by car the whole run takes the best part of two hours.
Return from Nakada Port: The same two sailings run back to Unten, the first in the morning and the second in the early afternoon. There is no evening boat, so a day trip means leaving the island well before dark. Check the departure board when you land rather than when you want to go; if you would rather see the whole island, there are small inns in the port hamlet.

Directions from my location (Google Maps) ↗

About the place

Izena is one island that holds a whole village, and the boat that reaches it is run by that village. The land is low and open, and the sea is rarely out of sight from the road. Most of what a visitor comes for sits on the southeast side: a headland castle ruin and, on the slope beneath it, the tomb built for the parents of a king. There are no habu vipers on Izena, so the coral-block walls around the older houses were never taken down for concrete ones, and the lanes through the west-coast hamlet still read the way island lanes used to. Everything starts at the pier, because that is where the boat puts you.

How to enjoy it

Plan around the boat rather than the sights. The morning crossing leaves you the island until mid-afternoon, which is enough for the tomb, the castle ruin and the west-coast hamlet if you pick up wheels near the port. The folk museum and the small park laid out for the founder's six-hundredth anniversary fill the gap before the last sailing back.

Background & history

Okinawa's Second Sho dynasty begins with a man born on this island. The castle ruin on the southeast headland is a prefecturally designated historic site, and tradition names its first lord as Samekawa-ufunushi, an ancestor of the royal line that came before. On the slope below the ruin stands the tomb that a later king had built for that founder's parents, and his descendants keep it still. In the west-coast hamlet the Mekaru house is a nationally designated Important Cultural Property, and the village runs a folk museum of island life.

Before you go

Cash: Assume cash. Fares are paid at the port counter, and small island businesses may not take cards. Bring notes over with you rather than expecting to draw them on the island.
Good to know: Wind and swell cancel the crossing outright, and typhoons between summer and autumn can strand visitors for days, so check the village's ferry notice before you travel. Drifting pumice has closed the pier before now, which is a reminder that this is a lifeline service rather than a tourist boat. The tomb is a family grave still in use, so keep to the approach and do not climb the walls.
Another way: There is no scheduled boat between Izena and neighbouring Iheya. An irregular crossing runs from Uchihana Port on the north side of Izena to Noho Island beside Iheya, which is the only way to put the two islands into one trip.
After you get off: From Nakada Port follow the coast road south for about fifteen minutes on foot; the tomb stands at the foot of the castle hill where the road bends inland, and the path up to the ruin begins beside it. Rental cars and bicycles can be arranged on the island if you want the west coast in the same day.