Tameharu

  • Japanese: 為春 (Tameharu)

Tameharu was the name of a man believed to have been the first Ryûkyû Kingdom official to administer Amami Ôshima for the kingdom. Little is known about him, except that he came from Okinawa Island, had a wife who was also Okinawan, took up his post on Amami as Sui-ufuyaku (J: Shuri ôyako) in 1506 at the age of 23, and later died on Okinawa at the age of 61.

He sent his son Tamemitsu to Shuri to apprentice under a court official based there; Tamemitsu later returned to Amami to become ôyako of Higa (Setouchi Higashi) district.

References

  • Gregory Smits, Maritime Ryukyu, University of Hawaii Press (2019), 179-180.