Revaluing Kā Springs in Okinawa’s Islands, Japan: From Cultural Practice to Water Governance

Springs known as kā once sustained everyday life across Okinawa’s islands, but their practical role declined with the expansion of piped water systems. In recent years, traditional water sources have regained attention in Japan as supplementary resources when centralized water supplies are disrupted during disasters. This study examines how kā can be revalued as local water places that may support disaster preparedness in the island region of Uruma City, Okinawa. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, dialogue-based workshops, questionnaire surveys, and participatory water-quality testing conducted across five islands between 2022 and 2023, the study analyzes the ecological conditions, cultural meanings, and practices of care through which kā are maintained and reinterpreted. The findings show that some kā retain potential as emergency water sources while remaining culturally meaningful places associated with cleaning, ritual practice, memory, and local identity. The analysis further identifies uneven but significant forms of renewed involvement, including collective maintenance, intergenerational learning, and collaboration among residents, newcomers, return migrants, and external volunteers. It argues that kā should not be understood simply as remnants of premodern water use or as heritage objects separated from everyday life. Rather, they function as relational infrastructures in which water use, memory, ecological conditions, and local care are held together through practice. By showing how engineered systems can be complemented by locally maintained and culturally embedded water places, the study contributes to debates on island water administration.