Zaiban (Ryukyu)
- Japanese: 在番 (zaiban)
Zaiban (lit. "resident watch[man]") was a title held by two types of officials in the early modern Ryûkyû Kingdom. The term can refer either to samurai officials sent from Satsuma han to keep an eye on the kingdom's adherence to Satsuma's policies, and also to Ryukyuan officials dispatched to the outer islands and some of the more remote regions of Okinawa Island to serve as inspectors.
Satsuma zaiban in Ryûkyû
The Satsuma zaiban (resident magistrate) stationed in the main Okinawan port city of Naha was officially described in Satsuma documents as a metsuke (inspector). He and his staff of roughly 100 men from Satsuma oversaw activities in Ryûkyû, conveying orders and other messages from the daimyô, and reporting back whether the kingdom was behaving in accord with Satsuma's interests and edicts. He and his staff were explicitly required to limit their interactions with Ryukyuans as much as possible, and politically or administratively had only minimal influence on Ryûkyû's domestic affairs; it was chiefly in the fields of foreign relations, enforcing the ban on Christianity, and matters of crime and punishment, that the zaiban exercised any significant degree of power or influence, and then, of course, only in accord with his orders from Satsuma.
The zaiban's staff of roughly 100 men included four yoriki (low-ranking samurai), several tsuke-yakunin (attachés), and a number of yokome (censors); some of these yokome were assigned to outlying islands, to keep an eye on goings-on there, on behalf of the zaiban. Most of these men served only for periods of three years, before returning to Satsuma and being replaced by a new batch of officials.
As Satsuma's representative in Ryûkyû, the zaiban was forbidden from borrowing things or money from the Ryukyuan government treasury, or otherwise asking favors of the king; when members of the sanshikan or other high-ranking Ryukyuan officials came to his office on business, they were to be received by the zaiban himself, and not by members of his staff. As for the zaiban himself paying visits to government officials, or to the king, these were limited to New Year's greetings, official reports of the arrival or departure of the zaiban to/from his post, and certain other official circumstances; he was explicitly instructed not to overstay his welcome or to accept entertainments.
While the zaiban post and office were necessary for Satsuma to maintain some degree of awareness of, and influence upon, goings-on in the islands, it was at the same time to Satsuma's great advantage that it limit as much as possible its visible presence in, or influence upon, the islands. Throughout the Edo period, Satsuma made great efforts to perpetuate the fiction that the Ryûkyû Kingdom remained fully independent; Ryûkyû was useful to Satsuma primarily as a source of access to Chinese goods and information (intelligence) about conditions and events in China, and since the Ming Dynasty had severed all official Sino-Japanese relations, Ryûkyû's own relations with China could only continue so long as it was not a part of Japan. Or so the standard explanation of the logics of this triangular relationship goes.
Thus, numerous steps were taken to limit the visibility and impact of the zaiban office in Naha. The office staff, and the zaiban himself, were prohibited from bringing their families with them from Satsuma, and also forbidden from fraternizing with Ryukyuans, let alone marrying Ryukyuan women. Those who did the latter were dismissed from their positions and sent home to Satsuma, their Ryukyuan family forced to remain behind.
By way of minimizing both expenses, and interactions with Ryukyuans, the zaiban and his staff were quite restricted in their travels, and in entertainments and the like. Satsuma's policies stipulated that when traveling, one should travel directly to one's destination without delay, and that engaging in private trade or business was forbidden; further, while in Naha, even when entertaining Ryukyuan officials or other guests, the office was expected to avoid banquets or feasts, as well as extensive entertainments. The office of the zaiban was also meant to limit as much as possible cutting trees, using fuel, or its impact otherwise on Ryukyuan land and resources. Extensive hunting parties were similarly off-limits, due to the impacts on land and resources, the lavishness & expense of the activity, the potential of damage to private property, and the desire to limit interactions with Ryukyuans (e.g. officials who might be invited along on the hunt as guests). A certain amount of deer and boar hunting was allowed, however.
The yokome were charged with reporting back to Satsuma on the behavior of the zaiban and their other colleagues, in order to help enforce these many policies and restrictions.
Ryukyuan zaiban
The Ryukyuan zaiban were officials of the Ryukyuan royal court, selected from the Ryukyuan scholar-bureaucrat aristocracy. Six were dispatched to Miyako, Yaeyama, Kumejima, and seven to various regions on the island of Okinawa proper. In the outer islands, one zaiban was assisted by two clerks. Kumejima had two zaiban - one overseeing Gushikawa magiri, and one overseeing Nakazato magiri.
References
- "Zaiban," Okinawa Compact Encyclopedia 沖縄コンパクト事典, Ryukyu Shimpo, 1 March 2003.
- Sakai, Robert K. “The Ryukyu (Liu-ch’iu) Islands as a Fief of Satsuma,” in John King Fairbank (ed.), The Chinese World Order, Harvard University Press (1968), 119-120.
