Ba Shoko

Titles: 濱元里之子 (Hamamoto satunushi), 濱元里之子親雲上 (Hamamoto satunushi peechin), 濱元親雲上 (Hamamoto peechin)
Japanese/Chinese: 馬昌浩 (Ba Shoukou / Mǎ Chānghào)

Ba Shôkô was a Ryukyuan scholar-aristocrat who served as a performer on two Ryukyuan missions to Edo, in 1832 and 1842, as well as for the reception of a Chinese investiture mission to Ryûkyû in 1838.

He first traveled to Edo as a teenager, in 1832. According to some sources, he seems to have been regarded as the most talented of the gakudôji on that mission, and played quite a number of instruments, including dongxiao and other flutes, pipa, sanxian, and sanshin in uzagaku (chamber music) performances. At that time, his aristocratic title was Hamamoto satunushi.

Hamamoto was then promoted to the rank of satunushi peechin after his service on the Edo mission, and participated as a dancer in entertainments for the 1838 investiture mission. Promoted again to Hamamoto peechin, he then served as gakushi on the 1842 mission to Edo, accompanying and overseeing the new generation of teenage gakudôji.

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References

Kaneshiro Atsumi, "Gakudôji, gakushi, kagakushi - uzagaku o tsutaeta hitobito" 「楽童子・楽師・歌楽師－御座楽を伝えた人々」, in Uzagaku no fukugen ni mukete 御座楽の復元に向けて, Naha, Okinawa: Uzagaku fukugen ensô kenkyûkai 御座楽復元演奏研究会 (2007), 75-78.