Tei Junsoku was a Ryukyuan Confucian scholar and government official, credited with numerous major educational reforms.
Born into the Kumemura scholar-bureaucrat class, he spent four years in China as a youth, studying Confucianism, among other subjects.
He journeyed to China in 1689 as an official translator, and after his return presented copies of the Seventeen Histories (shíqī shih) to the Confucian temple. He traveled to China again in 1707, as the vice-envoy on a tribute mission. After his return, he had copies of the Six Courses in Morals (六諭衍義) printed, and presented copies to Satsuma han, who in turn presented them to Shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune. The shogunate then distributed copies to terakoya to use as textbooks.
In 1718, Junsoku established the Meirindô as a school for the children of Kumemura's scholar-bureaucrat class; it would later become the kingdom's first public school.
Junsoku had literati contacts in China, and was active in composing and exchanging poetry with them. At the peak of his career, he held the rank of shikin daifu (紫金大夫) and was a member of the Sanshikan. He later served as jitô of Nago magiri, and at some point in his career was Kumemura sôyaku (head of the administration of Kumemura).
References
- "Tei Junsoku." Okinawa Compact Encyclopedia 沖縄コンパクト事典. Ryûkyû Shimpô. 1 March 2003.
- "Tei Junsoku." Okinawa rekishi jinmei jiten 沖縄歴史人名事典. Okinawa bunka-sha, 2002. p50.