Home > Unique Amami Nature and Culture
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Updated:March 20, 2013
This introduces some of Amami’s unique nature and culture.
With over 1,300 years of history, this high-class woven fabric is noted for its elaborate splashed-pattern texture weave and its use of dyes containing mud rich in Amami’s special iron ores and the Teechi tree (Rhaphiolepis umbellata)
This dance is held every August in the old lunar calendar to thank the gods for a rich harvest. Men and women form a circle, and chant songs as they dance to the tempo of the unique Amami drum, the Chijin.
Noted for their use of falsetto and words unchanged since ancient times, these songs have been sung in each village for many centuries.
Keihan rice, Abura-Zomen noodles, Wanfune (pork bones), Tobinya shellfish, Sea lettuce tempura, etc.
Called a “living fossil” as it retains many very primitive features. It has short ears and its limbs are also short and sturdy.
Squatter in shape than other snipes, and with shorter legs.
The silver-white belly and the yellow stripes near the pectoral fins make this a brilliant fish.
Extremely venomous, these are one of the most poisonous snakes in Japan.
This small tree, which grows in sub-tropical virgin forests, has white flowers with a touch of pale peach.
The world’s largest legume.