View source for 36 Min families

*''Japanese'': 久米三十六姓 ''(Kume sanjuuroku sei)''

The Ryukyuan community of [[Kumemura]], and the scholar-bureaucrat aristocracy that was historically based there, trace their origins to a supposed group of 36 families (戸, C: ''hù'')<ref>Shunzo Sakamaki, "On Early Ryukyuan Names," in Sakamaki (ed.), ''Ryukyuan Names'' (Honolulu: East-West Center, 1964), 14.</ref> of the southern Chinese Min (閩) ethnic group who traveled to [[Okinawa Island|Okinawa]] from [[Fujian province]] and settled there in [[1392]], establishing the community of Kumemura. Some scholars, however, identify the 36 Min families as a myth, arguing that instead the influx of Chinese immigrants into Ryûkyû in the 14th century was a more complex and gradual process, involving some greater number of immigrants coming to the islands across a wider span of time.<ref>[[Gregory Smits]], 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.</ref>

The Chinese immigrants who eventually founded Kumemura came from [[Fuzhou]], [[Quanzhou]], and [[Zhuangzhou]], among other places, and were likely chiefly commoners, mostly shipbuilders and navigators. But an aristocracy grounded in the [[Confucianism|Confucian]] classics and based on the model of the Chinese system of scholar-bureaucrats grew out of their community. They are believed to have also introduced to Okinawa the ''[[sanxian]]'', a musical instrument out of which the Okinawan [[sanshin]] would later develop.<ref>Thompson, Robin. "The Sanshin and its Place in Okinawan Music." ''Okinawa bijutsu zenshû'' 沖縄美術全集. vol. 5. pp. ii-iii.</ref>

Though these Chinese immigrants intermarried and culturally assimilated to a considerable degree, their Min blood surely becoming considerably diluted down through the generations, the members of the Kumemura aristocracy continued throughout the early modern period ([[1609]]-[[1879]]) to be considered at least partially Chinese - that is, at least partially ethnically/racially/culturally different from other Ryukyuans.

A group claiming descent from these Min immigrants formed the Kume Sôseikei in 1914, and continue to oversee the two [[Shiseibyo|Confucian temples]] in Kume today, as well as running a variety of community events and projects, including publishing a journal of scholarly articles on Kume history.<ref>"[http://english.ryukyushimpo.jp/2013/06/25/10659/ Mortuary tablet of Confucius returns to Kume after 69 years]," Ryukyu Shimpo, 16 June 2013.</ref>

==References==
*Uezato Takashi. "The Formation of the Port City of Naha in Ryukyu and the World of Maritime Asia: From the Perspective of a Japanese Network." ''[[Acta Asiatica]]'' 95 (2008). pp57-77. 
*Gallery labels, "Kuninda - Ryûkyû to Chûgoku no kakehashi," special exhibit, Okinawa Prefectural Museum, Sept 2014. 
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[[Category:Ryukyu]]
[[Category:Muromachi Period]]
[[Category:Foreigners]]