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The Ryukyuan community of [[Kumemura]], and the scholar-bureaucrat aristocracy that was historically based there, trace their origins to a supposed group of 36 families (戸, C: ''hù'')<ref>Shunzo Sakamaki, "On Early Ryukyuan Names," in Sakamaki (ed.), ''Ryukyuan Names'' (Honolulu: East-West Center, 1964), 14.</ref> of the southern Chinese Min (閩) ethnic group who traveled to [[Okinawa Island|Okinawa]] from [[Fujian province]] and settled there in [[1392]], establishing the community of Kumemura. Some scholars, however, identify the 36 Min families as a myth, arguing that instead the influx of Chinese immigrants into Ryûkyû in the 14th century was a more complex and gradual process, involving some greater number of immigrants coming to the islands across a wider span of time.<ref>[[Gregory Smits]], presentation at "[http://www.hawaii.edu/asiaref/japan/event2013/Index.htm#symposium Interpreting Parades and Processions of Edo Japan]" symposium, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 11 Feb 2013.</ref>

The Ryukyuan community of [[Kumemura]], and the scholar-bureaucrat aristocracy that was historically based there, trace their origins to a supposed group of 36 families (戸, C: ''hù'')<ref>Shunzo Sakamaki, "On Early Ryukyuan Names," in Sakamaki (ed.), ''Ryukyuan Names'' (Honolulu: East-West Center, 1964), 14.</ref> of the southern Chinese Min (閩) ethnic group who traveled to [[Okinawa Island|Okinawa]] from [[Fujian province]] and settled there in [[1392]], establishing the community of Kumemura. Some scholars, however, identify the 36 Min families as a myth, arguing that instead the influx of Chinese immigrants into Ryûkyû in the 14th century was a more complex and gradual process, involving some greater number of immigrants coming to the islands across a wider span of time.<ref>[[Gregory Smits]], presentation at "[http://www.hawaii.edu/asiaref/japan/event2013/Index.htm#symposium Interpreting Parades and Processions of Edo Japan]" symposium, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 11 Feb 2013.</ref>

The Chinese immigrants who eventually founded Kumemura came from [[Fuzhou]], [[Quanzhou]], and [[Zhuangzhou]], among other places, and were likely chiefly commoners, mostly shipbuilders and navigators. But an aristocracy grounded in the [[Confucianism|Confucian]] classics and based on the model of the Chinese system of scholar-bureaucrats grew out of their community. They are believed to have also introduced to Okinawa the ''sanxian'', a musical instrument out of which the Okinawan [[sanshin]] would later develop.<ref>Thompson, Robin. "The Sanshin and its Place in Okinawan Music." ''Okinawa bijutsu zenshû'' 沖縄美術全集. vol. 5. pp. ii-iii.</ref>

The Chinese immigrants who eventually founded Kumemura came from [[Fuzhou]], [[Quanzhou]], and [[Zhuangzhou]], among other places, and were likely chiefly commoners, mostly shipbuilders and navigators. But an aristocracy grounded in the [[Confucianism|Confucian]] classics and based on the model of the Chinese system of scholar-bureaucrats grew out of their community. They are believed to have also introduced to Okinawa the ''[[sanxian]]'', a musical instrument out of which the Okinawan [[sanshin]] would later develop.<ref>Thompson, Robin. "The Sanshin and its Place in Okinawan Music." ''Okinawa bijutsu zenshû'' 沖縄美術全集. vol. 5. pp. ii-iii.</ref>

Though these Chinese immigrants intermarried and culturally assimilated to a considerable degree, their Min blood surely becoming considerably diluted down through the generations, the members of the Kumemura aristocracy continued throughout the early modern period ([[1609]]-[[1879]]) to be considered at least partially Chinese - that is, at least partially ethnically/racially/culturally different from other Ryukyuans.

Though these Chinese immigrants intermarried and culturally assimilated to a considerable degree, their Min blood surely becoming considerably diluted down through the generations, the members of the Kumemura aristocracy continued throughout the early modern period ([[1609]]-[[1879]]) to be considered at least partially Chinese - that is, at least partially ethnically/racially/culturally different from other Ryukyuans.