Peechin

• Okinawan: 親雲上 (peechin, peekumi)

Peechin, sometimes rendered as peekumi, was an aristocratic title held by scholar-aristocrats associated with the royal court of the Ryûkyû Kingdom. It was a middle-ranking title, held by those in the Third through Seventh Ranks (out of nine), and was associated with the privilege of wearing a yellow hachimachi court cap. The title was always associated with an individual's fief - combined with the placename of his fief, an official might therefore be known as Gima peechin, Noguni peechin, or Yoseyama peechin, for example.

Some have suggested that the term peechin might be related to the Japanese word baishin 陪臣, meaning simply "retainer" or "vassal." Meanwhile, the characters used to write the term, 親雲上, do not normally carry a reading (pronunciation) at all similar to peechin, but rather might be read in Okinawan as uya kumu uii, suggesting that the term may have derived from or been related to the Ryukyuan title ufuyakumui 大屋子もい (J: ôyakomoi) held by officials in certain government posts.

References

• Matsuda Mitsugu. The Government of the Kingdom of Ryukyu, 1609-1872. Naha: Yui Publishing, 2001. pp203-205ff.