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Along with the history, topography, governmental structures, customs, and language of Ryûkyû, the text also describes the Chinese envoys' journey to the island kingdom, and a variety of formal receptions and banquets enjoyed by the envoys, along with official rituals and ceremonies, including the investiture ceremony itself. The volume's diagrams of the maritime distances between [[Fuzhou]] and [[Naha]], and between Naha and various other locations in the [[Ryukyu Islands|Ryûkyû Islands]], may be the earliest extant such record.<ref>Katrien Hendrick, ''The Origins of Banana-Fibre Cloth in the Ryukyus'', Japan, Leuven University Press (2007), 54.</ref>
Along with the history, topography, governmental structures, customs, and language of Ryûkyû, the text also describes the Chinese envoys' journey to the island kingdom, and a variety of formal receptions and banquets enjoyed by the envoys, along with official rituals and ceremonies, including the investiture ceremony itself. The volume's diagrams of the maritime distances between [[Fuzhou]] and [[Naha]], and between Naha and various other locations in the [[Ryukyu Islands|Ryûkyû Islands]], may be the earliest extant such record.<ref>Katrien Hendrick, ''The Origins of Banana-Fibre Cloth in the Ryukyus'', Japan, Leuven University Press (2007), 54.</ref>
Following his return to China in [[1720]], Xu organized the text to be formally presented to the [[Kangxi Emperor]]. It was then published for wider consumption in China in [[1721]], by a publisher called Èr'yǒuzhāi (二友斎, lit. "Two Friends Studio"). It is unclear precisely when the text first made its way to Japan, but it is mentioned in documents from 1740 and 1759;<ref> Yokoyama Manabu 横山学, ''Ryûkyû koku shisetsu torai no kenkyû'' 琉球国使節渡来の研究, Tokyo: Yoshikawa kôbunkan (1987), 226.</ref> it was then republished in [[Edo]] and [[Kyoto]] beginning in [[1765]], including a version published in Kyoto in [[1766]] by [[Hattori Somon]] which included ''kundoku'' marks aiding the Japanese reader to read the [[kanbun|classical Chinese]].<ref>William Fleming, “The World Beyond the Walls: Morishima Chūryō (1756-1810) and the Development of Late Edo Fiction,” PhD dissertation, Harvard University (2011), 89.</ref> The text was later re-published in a variety of different forms, some more loyal to the original than others. [[Morishima Churyo|Morishima Chûryô's]] ''[[Ryukyu-dan|Ryûkyû-dan]]'', published in [[1790]], draws extensively on the ''Chûzan denshin roku'', as do the ''[[Ryukyu nendaiki|Ryûkyû nendaiki]]'' and ''[[Ryukyu kitan|Ryûkyû kitan]]''<!--琉球奇譚-->, both published in [[1832]].
Following his return to China in [[1720]], Xu organized the text to be formally presented to the [[Kangxi Emperor]]. It was then published for wider consumption in China in [[1721]], by a publisher called Èr'yǒuzhāi (二友斎, lit. "Two Friends Studio"). It is unclear precisely when the text first made its way to Japan, but it is mentioned in documents from 1740 and 1759;<ref>Yokoyama, 226.</ref> it was then republished in [[Edo]] and [[Kyoto]] beginning in [[1765]], including a version published in Kyoto in [[1766]] by [[Hattori Somon]] which included ''kundoku'' marks aiding the Japanese reader to read the [[kanbun|classical Chinese]].<ref>William Fleming, “The World Beyond the Walls: Morishima Chūryō (1756-1810) and the Development of Late Edo Fiction,” PhD dissertation, Harvard University (2011), 89.</ref> The text was later re-published in a variety of different forms, some more loyal to the original than others. [[Morishima Churyo|Morishima Chûryô's]] ''[[Ryukyu-dan|Ryûkyû-dan]]'', published in [[1790]], draws extensively on the ''Chûzan denshin roku'', as do the ''[[Ryukyu nendaiki|Ryûkyû nendaiki]]'' and ''[[Ryukyu kitan|Ryûkyû kitan]]''<!--琉球奇譚-->, both published in [[1832]].
==Sections==
The book is divided into six chapters (''kan'', 巻).
# Records regarding the investiture vessel, guards and officials, onboard equipment (e.g. compass, quartz clock), navigational directions, diaries of previous journeys, day-by-day schedule of previous investiture missions' journeys, day-by-day record of the winds, record of worship of [[Tenpi]], and sections relating to Confucian observance and worship of sea deities.
# Records of the missions' banquets and formal rituals, the ship's arrival in port at [[Naha]], the [[Tenshikan]], the [[Kume Tenpi-gu|Tenpi Shrines]] in [[Kumemura]], shrines to previous kings of [[Chuzan|Chûzan]], Confucian festivals, [[Shuri castle]], the investiture ceremony, the Imperial Decree of investiture, the royal entourage in procession, [[Mid-Autumn Festival]] banquet, [[Chrysanthemum Festival]] banquet, and the royal gratitude ceremony and presentation of [[tribute]].
# A genealogy of the Ryukyuan kings
#Descriptions of the stars visible in Ryûkyû, the tides, the supposed 36 islands of the archipelago, and a map of the islands.
#Descriptions of [[Ryukyuan court ranks]]; court costume; [[scholar-aristocracy of Ryukyu|aristocratic families]]; land-holdings; ''[[anji]]'' and their stipends; the calendar; rites & rituals; an image of the arrangement of memorial tablets for the former kings; the memorial tablets at [[Engaku-ji (Okinawa)|Engaku-ji]]; descriptions of study, scholarship, and writing in the kingdom; [[Zen]]; and monks' stipends.
#Descriptions of customs, homes (architecture), rice and grains, household goods (dishes, [[Ryukyuan lacquerware|lacquerware]] platters, etc.), women, ships, palanquins, [[Ryukyuan horses|horses]], bows & arrows, local products, writing, and [[Okinawan language]].
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==References==
==References==
*Yokoyama Manabu 横山学, ''Ryûkyû koku shisetsu torai no kenkyû'' 琉球国使節渡来の研究, Tokyo: Yoshikawa kôbunkan (1987), 226-228.
*[[Yokoyama Manabu]], presentation at "[http://www.hawaii.edu/asiaref/japan/event2013/Index.htm#symposium Interpreting Parades and Processions of Edo Japan]" symposium, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 11 Feb 2013.
*[[Yokoyama Manabu]], presentation at "[http://www.hawaii.edu/asiaref/japan/event2013/Index.htm#symposium Interpreting Parades and Processions of Edo Japan]" symposium, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 11 Feb 2013.
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