- Japanese: 琉球係 (Ryuukyuu gakari)
Ryûkyû-gakari were a pair of officials who oversaw the residents and operations of the Ryûkyû-kan, an institution in Kagoshima which might be described as resembling in its functions, in some respects, an "embassy" or "consulate" of the Ryûkyû Kingdom. The pair was comprised of the zaiban oyakata (在番親方), the chief Ryukyuan official (and representative of the King of Ryûkyû) resident at the Ryûkyû-kan, and the Ryûkyû-kikiyaku (琉球聞役, lit. "Ryûkyû listener"), a samurai official charged with overseeing the Ryûkyû-kan on behalf of the daimyô.
The Ryûkyû-gakari communicated edicts and other messages from Satsuma to Satsuma magistrates resident in Ryûkyû via the sanshikan (the Council of Three; the top advisors to the King of Ryûkyû).
One prominent figure to hold the position of Ryûkyû-kikiyaku was the Satsuma reformer Zusho Shôzaemon.[1]
References
- Sakai, Robert K., “The Ryukyu (Liu-ch’iu) Islands as a Fief of Satsuma,” in John K. Fairbank, The Chinese World Order, Harvard University Press (1968), 122.
- ↑ Plaque on-site at former site of the Ryûkyû-kan, Nagata Middle School, Kagoshima.