Gi Gakuken

• Born: 1806/8/29
• Died: 1850/7/4
• Japanese: 魏 学賢 (Gi Gakuken)

Gi Gakuken was a Ryukyuan scholar-aristocrat who traveled as a musician on the 1842 Ryukyuan embassy to Edo, and to China in 1844.

Originally from Kumemura, Gi would have been well-trained in a variety of traditional arts. In addition to serving as a musician, he composed numerous Chinese-style poems (kanshi) during his 1842 journey in Japan; these were published in Japan the following year, alongside poems by the lead envoy of that mission, Urasoe Chôki, and the gieisei (head of processional music) Tei Gen'i.

While resident in Fuzhou in 1844, Gi received from the British consul the opportunity to create and keep a copy of the 1842 Treaty of Nanjing.

References

• "Gi Gakuken," Okinawa Compact Encyclopedia, Ryukyu Shimpo, 1 March 2003.
• Shirarezaru Ryûkyû shisetsu 知られざる琉球使節, Fukuyama-shi Tomonoura rekishi minzoku shiryôkan (2006), 46.