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Generally, a large stone or tree marks the center of an ''utaki''; small [[incense]] burners and platforms for placing offerings are often arranged there. A particular type of sacred tree, called ''kuba'' or ''shuro'', is also common within ''utaki''. In many ''utaki'', there is a particularly sacred area called ''ibi'', where men are forbidden from entering; ''noro'' priestesses and other women known as ''kaminchu'' (lit. "people of the gods") perform rituals at a spot nearby called ''kami asagi'' or ''tun'', to call down the spirits.<ref>Plaques at Ryukyumura.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/15618268576/sizes/k/]</ref> While some ''utaki'' today have worship halls or some other form of building-like structure, and/or a [[torii]] gate, these are almost exclusively 20th century additions.<ref name=aike2/>
Generally, a large stone or tree marks the center of an ''utaki''; small [[incense]] burners and platforms for placing offerings are often arranged there. A particular type of sacred tree, called ''kuba'' or ''shuro'', is also common within ''utaki''. In many ''utaki'', there is a particularly sacred area called ''ibi'', where men are forbidden from entering; ''noro'' priestesses and other women known as ''kaminchu'' (lit. "people of the gods") perform rituals at a spot nearby called ''kami asagi'' or ''tun'', to call down the spirits.<ref>Plaques at Ryukyumura.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/15618268576/sizes/k/]</ref> While some ''utaki'' today have worship halls or some other form of building-like structure, and/or a [[torii]] gate, these are almost exclusively 20th century additions.<ref name=aike2/>
Though there is no comprehensive information, it is estimated that there are several hundred ''utaki'' on [[Okinawa Island]] today, and perhaps as many as several thousand ''uganju'' sites of other types. While many have been destroyed to make way for homes, roads, and development or construction otherwise, scholars and practitioners/worshippers alike stress that the vast majority of ''utaki'' are neither the mere "physical remnants of a pre-modern past," nor "relics of a religious system that is about to vanish."<ref>Rots, 3.</ref> To the contrary, these are living sites, still actively respected and used by members of their local communities. In recent years, many ''utaki'' have also begun to attract tourists (mainly from mainland Japan) interested in their supposed character as "powerspots," removed in the minds of these tourists from Okinawan religious, historical, and cultural context and significance; some have been exploited by local governments, tourism organizations, and corporations for the purposes of expanding tourism revenues.
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