Ifa Fuyu

• Born: 1876/2/20
• Died: 1947
• Japanese: 伊波普猷 (Iha Fuyuu, or Ifa Fuyuu)

Iha Fuyû, or Ifa by the Okinawan language pronunciation of his surname, was a pioneer and leader in the field of Okinawan Studies. He was a fierce advocate for the idea that Okinawan and Japanese people, and cultures, came from the same origin, and that with Okinawa prefecture now being a part of Japan, assimilation was the best path.

Ifa wrote in his essay Ryûkyû jinshu ron ("On the Race/Ethnicity of Ryukyu") in 1910 or 1911 that the Ryukyuans were of the same race or ethnicity (J: jinshu) as the Japanese, and that for today's Ryukyuans, quick assimilation (J: dôka) with the Japanese was the best path.

A number of prominent anthropologists and folklorists (minzokugakusha) from the mainland visited Okinawa and met with Ifa and others beginning in the 1920s. This included Yanagita Kunio in 1921, and Orikuchi Shinobu, who visited Okinawa in 1921 and again in 1923. Yanagita convinced Ifa to travel to Tokyo in 1925, where he stayed for some time and took part in symposiums and research meetings held by Yanagita. Ifa also attended meetings on Ainu Studies in Tokyo, and began his own colloquium to discuss the Omoro sôshi. Over the course of 1925-26, he published four books.

Ifa was an active and prominent participant in many of the significant scholarly debates of the early 20th century. In 1926, he argued that references to "Ryûkyû" in the Book of Sui (the earliest references to "Ryûkyû" in any written text) did in fact refer to Ryûkyû, against a number of scholars who asserted it referred to Taiwan.

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), 8-11.