- Chinese/Japanese: 全 魁 (Quan Kui / Zen Kai)
Quan Kui was a Chinese bureaucrat and diplomat who led the 1756-1757 Chinese investiture mission to the Kingdom of Ryûkyû, where he officially invested Shô Boku, on behalf of the Qing Imperial Court, with the title and powers of King of Ryûkyû.
A Manchu, he held the post of imperial tutor at the Hanlin Academy[1].
On the way to Okinawa, the envoys' ship ran aground on coral, and was shipwrecked; everyone made it safely to shore on Kumejima, however, where they erected a shrine to Tenpi (aka Matsu or Mazu), Taoist patron goddess of sailor and of navigation, in thanks[2].
After arriving in Shuri and performing the necessary ceremonies and exchanges of gifts, Quan Kui and his fellow envoys remained in Okinawa for roughly seven months[3].
An example of calligraphy attributed to Quan Kui and dated to his time in Ryûkyû (1756) survives today, in an Okinawan collection. Though it is said that Quan's calligraphy was quite poor, and that he generally had a scribe write for him, the signature and seal on this work are his[1].
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Zen kai sho." Okinawa Prefectural Government. Ô-chô jidai no bijutsu to sho (王朝時代の美術と書, "Writings and Art of the Dynastic Period"). Wonder-Okinawa.jp. 2003. Accessed 14 October 2009.
- ↑ "Shû Kô". Okinawa konpakuto jiten (沖縄コンパクト事典, "Okinawa Compact Encyclopedia"). Ryukyu Shimpo (琉球新報). 1 March 2003. Accessed 14 October 2009.
- ↑ Hirata, Tsugumasa (trans.). Chou, Huang. Ryûkyû-koku shiryaku. Tokyo: San-ichi Shobô, 1977.