Uetsuki Gyokei

• Japanese: 上月行敬 (Uetsuki Gyoukei)

Uetsuki Gyôkei was a 19th century member of the Uetsuki family of Iyo province, and a middle-ranking retainer of the Date clan of Uwajima domain. He is known for his paintings of the 1850 Ryukyuan embassy to Edo and related subjects, owned today by Kagoshima University.

Gyôkei was a grandson of Kirino Moritomo, another Uwajima domain retainer, who served for a time on firefighting guard duty in Asakusa, in Edo. During that time, Gyôkei produced a number of paintings of firefighting-related subjects, though it is unclear whether those paintings survive today. When on duty in Edo himself in 1850, Gyôkei recorded the Ryukyuan embassy's procession through Edo, as well as the busy scene of the streets immediately following their passage, the facade of the Uwajima Date clan mansion, and several other related subjects. According to inscriptions on the paintings themselves, he created these images in order to send them to his children back in the provinces, in order to convey to them a sense of the sights of Edo.

References

• Uetsuki Gyôkei, "Ryûkyûjin gyôshô no zu" and "Ryûkyûjin ôrai suji nigiwai no zu," c. 1850, Tamazato Collection, University of Kagoshima Library.
• Niwa Kenji, "Uetsuki gyôkei hitsu Ryûkyûjin gyôshô no zu, Ryûkyûjin ôrai suji nigiwai no zu ni tsuite," Gazoku 雅俗 16 (2017), 61-76.