Ryukyu umisuzume

• Published: 1711
• Japanese: 琉球うみすずめ (Ryuukyuu umi suzume)

Ryûkyû umisuzume is considered the first widely circulated woodblock-printed book about the Ryûkyû Kingdom. Published in 1711 in order to capitalize on the popular interest in Ryûkyû which came in conjunction with the Ryukyuan embassy to Edo of the previous year, the volume combines images of the embassy's procession through the streets with text relating a fictional story about a Japanese who traveled to Ryûkyû.

The story is closely based upon the Teisai hôshi den, with only the changes that the main character is called Saisaburô instead of Heisuke or Teisai, and that the portions of the story involving Ôkubo Nagayasu, and the main character becoming a monk, are omitted. The text of this story occupies the top two-thirds of each page, while unrelated images of the Ryukyuan street procession run along the bottom third. These images are labeled with the names of the members of the Ryukyuan embassy; the gifts they are bringing to the shogun are identified as well.

Though published in 1711, the text itself gives a date of Meireki 4 (1658). This indicates that it was quite likely reproduced in manuscript form for several decades before being put into publication.

References

• Yokoyama Manabu 横山学, Ryûkyû koku shisetsu torai no kenkyû 琉球国使節渡来の研究, Tokyo: Yoshikawa kôbunkan (1987), 144-145.