Anji

• Japanese: 按司 (anji, aji)

Anji, also known as aji, were a class of landed local lords in the Ryûkyû Kingdom. They were the highest ranking in the Ryukyuan royal court below princes (ôji), and above the ueekata.

Prior to the 16th century, anji ruled domains or estates in the Okinawan countryside. Often based at gusuku fortresses, they wielded considerable local power. In the early 16th century, however, King Shô Shin made efforts to consolidate power in the hands of the central royal government. He confiscated the lords' weapons and required them all to reside in Shuri, the royal capital, rather than on their own estates out in the countryside. Anji mansions were established in Shuri, organized according to the region one nominally controlled, whether it was located in Northern, Central, or Southern Okinawa. Through involvement in court culture and court politics, the anji quickly developed into a more cohesive class than they had been in previous centuries, and their presence in Shuri contributed to the further development and consolidation of Ryukyuan elite culture, and of urbanization, commercialization, and economic integration of the kingdom, as anji brought goods and commodities from their domains to the capital and vice versa.

The anji left deputies, called anji okite, to administer their lands on their behalf, and some years later a system of jito dai, agents sent by the central government to oversee the outlying territories, was established. Some anji of the northern regions were allowed to remain there, not moving to Shuri, as they were too powerful for the king to force their obedience in this matter; the king's third son was made Warden of the North, however, and granted authority to maintain peace and order in the region.

Anji could gain or inherit the title in one of three ways. One could inherit the title directly from one's father, if the father was an anji or ôji ("prince"; princes could not pass on that title, but rather the title of anji, one step down in rank); or, one could be elevated from a lower rank and granted the title of anji (along with an associated estate, nominally at least) by the king, i.e. the court, as a reward for exemplary service.

References

• "Aji." Okinawa Compact Encyclopedia 沖縄コンパクト事典. Ryukyu Shimpo. 1 March 2003.
• Smits, Gregory. Visions of Ryukyu: Identity and Ideology in Early-Modern Thought and Politics. University of Hawaii Press, 1999. p165.