Ryukyu-gakari
- Japanese: 琉球係 (Ryuukyuu gakari)
Ryûkyû-gakari were a pair of officials who oversaw the residents and operations of the Ryûkyû-kan, an institution in Kagoshima which might be described as resembling in its functions, in some respects, an "embassy" or "consulate" of the Ryûkyû Kingdom. The pair was comprised of the zaiban ueekata (在番親方), the chief Ryukyuan official (and representative of the King of Ryûkyû) resident at the Ryûkyû-kan, and the Ryûkyû-kikiyaku (琉球聞役, lit. "Ryûkyû listener"), a samurai official charged with overseeing the Ryûkyû-kan on behalf of the daimyô.
The Ryûkyû-kan kikiyaku was originally known as the kariya-no-kami ("head of the temporary residence").[1] He traveled with Ryukyuan embassies to Edo, serving as an intermediary for conveying communications between Kagoshima and the embassy.[2]
The Ryûkyû-gakari communicated edicts and other messages from Satsuma to Satsuma magistrates resident in Ryûkyû via the sanshikan (the Council of Three; the top advisors to the King of Ryûkyû). The zaiban ueekata changed every year, as the lead New Year's envoy (nentôshi) took on that position each New Year's.[3]
One prominent figure to hold the position of Ryûkyû-kikiyaku was the Satsuma reformer Zusho Shôzaemon.[4]
References
- Sakai, Robert K., “The Ryukyu (Liu-ch’iu) Islands as a Fief of Satsuma,” in John K. Fairbank, The Chinese World Order, Harvard University Press (1968), 122.
- ↑ Yano Misako 矢野美沙子, "Shiryôhen kaidai shiryô honkoku: Edo dachi ni tsuki oose watashi dome" 「史料編解題・史料翻刻「江戸立二付仰渡留」」, in Kamiya Nobuyuki 紙屋敦之 (ed.), Kinsei Nihon ni okeru gaikoku shisetsu to shakai hen'yô 3: taikun gaikô kaitai wo ou 『近世日本における外国使節と社会変容（３）－大君外交解体を追う－』, Tokyo: Waseda University (2009), 5.
- ↑ Yano, 43n9.
- ↑ "Nentôshi," Okinawa Compact Encyclopedia, Ryukyu Shimpo, 1 March 2003.
- ↑ Plaque on-site at former site of the Ryûkyû-kan, Nagata Middle School, Kagoshima.
