I had no intention of letting the rain dampen my mood or the day! So, I set out to find something nearby to do. I didn't want to get too far out of Uruma - if at all - because I didn't want to have to drive a long distance if the weather got even worse. It didn't take long to decide upon what to do. I was going to find the Agena bullring even if it took all day! I got on Google Street View and located the bullring, made a few notes for the directions along with a rough stick map and got ready to go. I had made note of one landmark - a large yellow building on the right where I was to make a right turn. We'll see how well that works out. Shortly after leaving the house though I stopped at a Family Mart to buy myself a bento to enjoy in the center of the bullring! Well, it looks like I'm off to a good start! There's the big yellow building... Turned right and drove down a ways until I came to the parking lot on the left. I suspected that I might have parked in an auxilliary parking lot because there was no clear path forward leading to the bullring. I climbed up a small embankment and found my way onto what looked like a central plaza. No worries! I felt I was close! Two huge granite sculptures looked to me like two bulls' locked horns. I was close! In this next video, the plaza. There is a Memorial Monument with walls onto which are inscribed the names of area residents who perished during the Russo-Japanese War and World War 2 Battle of Okinawa, erected by the Bereaved Family Association in 1988. Monument to 3,400 military, civilian employees of the military, and local residents who died in war. 50th Anniversary Project Executive Committee Gushikawa City War Relief Association YATTA! I found the tunnel leading into the ring. I was there! Armed with lunch, Dr Bung, and Kelly in my backpack, I proceeded into the breech. And, there it was! I had seen photos of this sight so many times but had never laid eyes on it before. At first sight I knew that I would be finding an alternative location to enjoy my peaceful feast - the center was a mud-hole! I thought to myself that it must certainly have been a long time since anyone gathered here in this arena to observe a bullfight. It looked totally abandoned. I was a little bit intrigued by the complexity of the work that went into the seating in this arena. These were not just simple concrete pourings to create the tiers but the craftsmen had carefully applied ceramic tiles to both sides of the concrete. Walking around the interior of the bowl made it abundantly clear that the overgrowth was the result of a few years of neglect. Over on the back side of the arena bowl were some stairs that lead to... ? ...Who knows? I didn't, but was gonna find out! Adjacent to some tombs that lay off to the right there was what I'm guessing was once a very stylish plaza and park area. I had imaginary visions of men and women in their kimonos and geta clogging up and down, back and forth across the concrete promenade. A tall clock tower, testifying that time had indeed stood still here, was doubtless looked upon by thousands of natives while counting down the minutes until the beginning of the first bloodless beast against beast contest of will and might. I was going to go down there to enjoy my bento but, frankly, there were too many spiders! So, back to the arena and the "preferred seating" that protected me from the drizzle of rain. I didn't realize it at the time that I was near the approach to the ruins of the old Agena Castle. But I did return a few days later and climbed up to see it. Though there are no longer any bullfights in this arena the pastime of bull fighting is alive and well in Uruma. 1987 Bullfight at Koza Back to ClickOkinawa.com ©2017 Contact: ClickOkinawa.com