Ryukyu orai

• Written: 1603-1605, Taichû
• Japanese: 琉球往来 (Ryuukyuu ourai)

Ryûkyû ôrai ("Ryûkyû Communications") is a text written in 1603-1605 by Taichû, a Japanese Buddhist monk who was temporarily resident in the Ryûkyû Kingdom for that span of time. Along with Taichû's Ryûkyû Shintô ki, also completed in 1605, the Ryûkyû ôrai is one of the two first Japanese books to describe Ryûkyû at length. Both books were commissioned, or requested, by Ryukyuan scholar-bureaucrat Ba Kômei.

Collected in two sections (上・下巻), the text is a compilation of twenty-eight documents circulated in Ryûkyû at that time, selected by Taichû to represent Ryûkyû's culture and customs. These include pieces reflecting Ryukyuan poetry, festivals, Buddhist temples & offerings made to them, events surrounding the reception of Ming imperial envoys, tax goods collected from the other islands, and the cargoes of Ryukyuan and Japanese ships which made port at Naha.

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), 53.