Yamato yokome

  • Japanese: 大和横目 (yamato yokome)

The Yamato yokome was an official position within the zaiban bugyôsho, the Satsuma han office which oversaw Satsuma business in the Ryûkyû Kingdom.

The position was originally filled by a samurai official from Satsuma, but later came to be filled instead by a Ryukyuan member of the scholar-aristocracy of Naha. The Yamato yokome helped oversee ships and shipping in Naha harbor, and served the zaiban bugyô in a variety of ways. In the later period, when this position was held by a Ryukyuan official, he also oversaw the dispatching of officials to Kumejima and elsewhere in conjunction with the kingdom's reception of Chinese investiture envoys.

References

  • Naha shizoku no isshô 那覇士族の一生 (Naha: Naha City Museum of History, 2010), 3.