Entering Sōgwachi with the Ancestors
Okinawan New Year — Sōgwachi — is not simply a date.It is a returning.
A cyclical turning toward ancestors, land, and continuity itself.
This year, I entered Sōgwachi holding something tangible:
Clay.
Not symbolic clay.Not decorative clay.But cups inscribed with ancestral names — including my own lineage, Nā Gushiku.
In this episode of the Loochoo Nation Podcast, I sit down with ceramic artist Becca Doll-Tyler to explore what it means when clay carries names, land, and ethical teachings into the present.
Handmade, Small Batch, Rooted in Land
Becca is the maker behind NINAZUMA Pottery, based in Ouray, Colorado.
Her work is small-batch, wheel-thrown, earth-toned, and intentional.
We begin our conversation with land.
Clay is earth.Earth is place.Place is lineage.
She speaks about the mountains surrounding her studio — how landscape shapes glaze, palette, pace. Not abstractly. Physically.
There is no separation between environment and making.
That grounding feels deeply aligned with Okinawan continuity.
From Miyashiro to Nā Gushiku
Like many Okinawan families, our surname shifted over time.
Miyashiro is the modern rendering.
But the older Uchinānchu place-based name is Nā Gushiku.
Learning that name shifted something.
Seeing it etched into clay shifted something again.
Nā Gushiku is not just a surname.It is a place.It is geography carried forward.
When Becca inscribed those names into earth, lineage became tangible.
Not theoretical.Not genealogical.Held.
Clay as Listening
During the episode, Becca references Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act — particularly the idea that art is less about control and more about attunement.
Pottery does not reward ego.It rewards presence.
Clay collapses when rushed.Glaze reveals impatience.Fire exposes what you tried to hide.
The process demands sincerity.
That mirrors one of the Okinawan sayings we discuss:
まくとぅそーけー なんくるないさMakutū sōkē nankuru nāisa
Often simplified as “everything will be okay.”More accurately:
If you live with sincerity and integrity, things will resolve as they should.
Pottery embodies this ethic.
Live rightly in the process — the result will hold.
Cups That Carry Words
These cups carry ancestral names and Okinawan sayings such as:
いちゃりばちょーでーIcharibachōdē“Once we meet, we are family.”
These are not decorative phrases.
They are ethical instructions.
Historically, Okinawan pottery — yachimun — lived in kitchens, not galleries. It held water, awamori, rice. It existed inside daily ritual.
Becca’s work continues that lineage.
These cups are meant to be:
* Used
* Washed
* Shared
* Passed on
Culture survives through use.
Sōgwachi: Cyclical Time
Sōgwachi is about renewal — but renewal in Okinawan cosmology is not rupture.
It is return.
To begin the year holding cups inscribed with ancestral names feels less like starting over and more like stepping forward in continuity.
Land → Name → Vessel → Ritual → Time.
Clay remembers.
Diaspora, Responsibility, and Quiet Work
We also discuss diaspora awakening during the pandemic, the importance of speaking with elders, and the difference between cultural performance and cultural practice.
Becca’s work does not attempt spectacle.
It asks something quieter:
How do we live with sincerity?How do we honor place while living elsewhere?How do we let earth teach us again?
Clay does not shout.
It endures.
Soundtrack
Special thanks to Harikuyamaku of Uchinā (Okinawa Island) for sharing his music with us.
🎵 Featured Tracks:
Anigamahttps://buff.ly/46SHy3g
Nachijin-myahkuniihttps://buff.ly/3AtfLdU
🌺 Instagramhttps://buff.ly/46ThVzq
🌊 Mystic Islands Dub Albumhttps://buff.ly/4e9irMn
Music shapes the tone of these conversations.Please support indigenous artists.
If this conversation resonates, consider:
* Speaking with an elder this week
* Learning your older place-based name
* Beginning Sōgwachi with intention
* Supporting indigenous makers
Culture survives through practice.
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