− | The ''Ryûkyû gashi'', also known as ''Meiyô kenbun zue'', is an illustrated book by [[Odagiri Shunko|Odagiri Shunkô]], depicting and describing events surrounding the passage of the [[1832]] [[Ryukyuan mission to Edo]] through [[Nagoya]]. The title is a play-on-words for Ryukyuan sweets, which are also called ''Ryûkyû gashi'' (琉球菓子). | + | The ''Ryûkyû gashi'' is an illustrated book by [[Odagiri Shunko|Odagiri Shunkô]], depicting and describing events surrounding the passage of the [[1832]] [[Ryukyuan mission to Edo]] through [[Nagoya]]. The title is a play-on-words for Ryukyuan sweets, which are also called ''Ryûkyû gashi'' (琉球菓子). Odagiri also discusses & depicts these same subjects, briefly, in a separate work entitled ''[[Meiyo kenbun zue|Meiyô kenbun zue]]''. |
| The book is comprised of sixteen sheets of paper, bound together to form some thirty pages. Early sections show storefronts where books and prints on Ryukyuan subjects are being sold, as well as street barkers in pseudo-Chinese costume advertising those wares. Next it shows the cleaning and repair of roofing and streets in preparation for the mission, followed by the arrival of a company of porters, carrying portions of the mission's luggage and running a few weeks ahead of the mission itself. The core of the book, for some fourteen pages, depicts the formal street processions of the actual mission through the streets of Nagoya, along with images of onlookers, and the storefront-lined streets otherwise during that time. The last few pages of the volume discuss [[Okinawan language]], [[Ryukyuan court ranks]], banners carried in the processions, etc. | | The book is comprised of sixteen sheets of paper, bound together to form some thirty pages. Early sections show storefronts where books and prints on Ryukyuan subjects are being sold, as well as street barkers in pseudo-Chinese costume advertising those wares. Next it shows the cleaning and repair of roofing and streets in preparation for the mission, followed by the arrival of a company of porters, carrying portions of the mission's luggage and running a few weeks ahead of the mission itself. The core of the book, for some fourteen pages, depicts the formal street processions of the actual mission through the streets of Nagoya, along with images of onlookers, and the storefront-lined streets otherwise during that time. The last few pages of the volume discuss [[Okinawan language]], [[Ryukyuan court ranks]], banners carried in the processions, etc. |