Yonaguni Pony
The ponies are Yonaguni’s most famous residents. They live on the cliff tops, huddling against the wind and rain that lashes the island.
Yonaguni Pony
Published on February 29, 2012
My Little Yonaguni Pony
Yonaguni Pony
The ponies are Yonaguni’s most famous residents. They live on the cliff tops, huddling against the wind and rain that lashes the island.
Yonaguni Pony
TRAVEL 67 : Chris Willson Photography 
Thanks for sharing this! I’ve read that the Ryukyu Kingdom used to send horses (or ponies, I guess) as tribute goods to China, but I was never able to find much information about these horse (pony) breeds. You’d think it’d be easier to come across photos, at the very least, but this is definitely among the first I’ve seen. He’s pretty cute, isn’t he?
Are these wild horses? I was under the impression that they were raised and bred as domesticated animals, but here you talk about them living on the clifftops, which if I’m reading it right seems to imply they’re feral or wild…
These are interesting animals indeed. As toranosuke mentions above, I too have read that when the Ryukyu Kingdom was a tributary of China, these horses were the only commodity that the Chinese desired from the Ryukyuans. Indeed, there was probably not much else that the tiny kingdom could offer the mighty Chinese empire during that era.
The story of these horses has peeked my interest as well but additional information is difficult to come by. Thanks for posting.