Tei Shokan

• Other Names:　屋部親雲上 (Yabu peechin)
• Japanese: 鄭章観 (Tei Shoukan)

Tei Shôkan was a Ryukyuan scholar-official who traveled to Beijing and Edo on several occasions. He served as secretary on the 1790 mission to Beijing, and as gieisei (head of street musicians) on the 1796 Ryukyuan mission to Edo.

While in Edo in 1796, he was interviewed, along with Sai Hôkin, by Akazaki Kaimon, about their experiences in China. These conversations were then published as Ryûkaku danki, and remain a notable source for historians today investigating Ryûkyû-China-Japan relations.

References

• Gallery labels, "Kuninda - Ryûkyû to Chûgoku no kakehashi," special exhibit, Okinawa Prefectural Museum, Sept 2014.
• Maehira Fusaaki, Ryûkyû shisetsu no ikoku taiken 琉球使節の異国体験, Kokusai kôryû 国際交流 59 (1992), 63.
• Ta-Tuan Ch’en, “Sino–Liu-Ch'iuan Relations in the Nineteenth Century,” PhD dissertation, Indiana University (1963), 124-125.