Chatan Town Uchinaa-ya Furu (Former Sakihara Family Residence Furu)

What Is Chatan Town Uchinaa-ya Furu?

Chatan Town Uchinaa-ya Furu (Former Sakihara Family Residence Furu) is a stone pigsty and toilet from the early Meiji period, now set in the grounds of Chatan Town Uchinaa-ya in Kamiseido, Chatan Town, Okinawa Prefecture, and it was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on February 23, 2012.

In Japanese it is 北谷町うちなぁ家ふーる（旧崎原家住宅ふーる）, read Chatan-chō Uchinā-ya fūru (kyū Sakihara-ke jūtaku fūru). A fūru, also called wā-fūru, is the Okinawan household structure that combined a pig pen with the family toilet. This one belonged to the Sakihara family of Tamagami, elsewhere in Chatan, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs records its move to the present site in 2006. It is built of Ryukyu limestone, covers 17 square meters and is owned by Chatan Town.

Why the Sakihara Furu Was Registered

Chatan Town Uchinaa-ya Furu was registered under the criterion of being a model of form. In the Agency's words, it preserves the typical form of a fūru well.

The arrangement was simple and thoroughly practical. People used a latrine above, and the pigs kept below disposed of the waste. The town's leaflet notes that the design is said to have come from China. What gives Chatan Town Uchinaa-ya Furu its value is that a double fūru built of Ryukyu limestone survives in its original shape, so the whole system can still be read in stone.

How the Sakihara Furu Is Built

The structure measures 4 meters across the front and 4.6 meters deep, and it works in two halves.

The northern, rear half is split into two chambers, east and west, each covered by an arched stone roof 1.6 meters deep. These were the pigs' shelters; from the front they show as two rounded openings side by side. The southern half holds two stone-walled pens, also east and west, floored with stone paving.

Each roofed chamber pairs with an open pen in front of it. The photograph in the town's leaflet shows the arrangement plainly: two arched mouths, with low stone walls enclosing the pens before them. A covered chamber behind an open pen is the basic form of the fūru, and here it appears twice.

Where the Sakihara Furu Sits, and Its Dates

The leaflet explains that in a south-facing homestead the fūru belonged in the northwest corner. Chatan Town Uchinaa-ya Furu follows the rule, placed west of the main house in the northwest corner of the compound. From the gate, walk north along the west side of the yard and it comes into view at the far end.

The fūru is dated to the early Meiji period. The Agency's database gives its relocation as Heisei 18, which is 2006, in its Japanese-era column, but its Western-calendar column reads 1882, which does not match. This article follows the Heisei 18 entry.

Visiting the Sakihara Furu

Chatan Town Uchinaa-ya Furu stands in the open inside the Uchinaa-ya compound and can be seen freely during opening hours. Standing in front of it, you take in both arched chambers and the pens in a single view. As a registered cultural property, it should not be climbed on, and visitors should stay out of the chambers and pens.

The town gives no official guidance on photography. Opening hours, closing days and directions are covered on the Chatan Town Uchinaa-ya page.