Case file · Folklore / legend
The last Izaihō on Kudaka island
In 1978 Kudaka, the 'island of the gods' off Okinawa, held what has so far been the last Izaihō, a rite every twelve years in which island women became priestesses of the village gods.
1978 CE · 26.16, 127.90 · status: official
The account
Kudaka is where the Ryukyuan creator goddess Amamikiyo is said to have first come ashore. The rite lapsed when too few women of the right age remained on the island.