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Pictures of an Island Kingdom Depictions of Ryūkyū in Early Modern Japan
PICTURES OF AN ISLAND KINGDOM DEPICTIONS OF RYŪKYŪ IN EARLY MODERN JAPAN A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I AT MĀNOA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN ART HISTORY MAY 2012 By Travis Seifman Thesis Committee: John Szostak, Chairperson Kate Lingley Paul Lavy Gregory Smits Table of Contents Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………… 1 Chapter I: Handscroll Paintings as Visual Record………………………………. 18 Chapter II: Illustrated Books and Popular Discourse…………………………. 33 Chapter III: Hokusai Ryūkyū Hakkei: A Case Study……………………………. 55 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………. 78 Appendix: Figures …………………………………………………………………………… 81 Works Cited ……………………………………………………………………………………. 106 ii Abstract This paper seeks to uncover early modern Japanese understandings of the Ryūkyū Kingdom through examination of popular publications, including illustrated books and woodblock prints, as well as handscroll paintings depicting Ryukyuan embassy processions within Japan. The objects examined include one such handscroll painting, several illustrated books from the Sakamaki-Hawley Collection, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Library, and Hokusai Ryūkyū Hakkei, an 1832 series of eight landscape prints depicting sites in Okinawa. Drawing upon previous scholarship on the role of popular publishing in forming conceptions of “Japan” or of “national identity” at this time, a media discourse approach is employed to argue that such publications can serve as reliable indicators of understandings -
Nansei Islands Biological Diversity Evaluation Project Report 1 Chapter 1
Introduction WWF Japan’s involvement with the Nansei Islands can be traced back to a request in 1982 by Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh. The “World Conservation Strategy”, which was drafted at the time through a collaborative effort by the WWF’s network, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), posed the notion that the problems affecting environments were problems that had global implications. Furthermore, the findings presented offered information on precious environments extant throughout the globe and where they were distributed, thereby providing an impetus for people to think about issues relevant to humankind’s harmonious existence with the rest of nature. One of the precious natural environments for Japan given in the “World Conservation Strategy” was the Nansei Islands. The Duke of Edinburgh, who was the President of the WWF at the time (now President Emeritus), naturally sought to promote acts of conservation by those who could see them through most effectively, i.e. pertinent conservation parties in the area, a mandate which naturally fell on the shoulders of WWF Japan with regard to nature conservation activities concerning the Nansei Islands. This marked the beginning of the Nansei Islands initiative of WWF Japan, and ever since, WWF Japan has not only consistently performed globally-relevant environmental studies of particular areas within the Nansei Islands during the 1980’s and 1990’s, but has put pressure on the national and local governments to use the findings of those studies in public policy. Unfortunately, like many other places throughout the world, the deterioration of the natural environments in the Nansei Islands has yet to stop. -
Shima-Uta:” of Windows, Mirrors, and the Adventures of a Traveling Song
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO “SHIMA-UTA:” OF WINDOWS, MIRRORS, AND THE ADVENTURES OF A TRAVELING SONG A thesis submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts in Music by Ana-Mar´ıa Alarcon-Jim´ enez´ Committee in charge: Nancy Guy, Chair Anthony Burr Anthony Davis 2009 Copyright Ana-Mar´ıa Alarcon-Jim´ enez,´ 2009 All rights reserved. The thesis of Ana-Mar´ıa Alarcon-Jim´ enez´ is ap- proved, and it is accepted in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically : Chair University of California, San Diego 2009 iii DEDICATION To my family and my extended family (my friends from everywhere). iv EPIGRAPH Collective identity is an ineluctable component of individual identity. However, collec- tive identity is also a need that is felt in the present, and that stems from the more funda- mental need to have a sense of one’s own existence. We are given this sense of existence through the eyes of others, and our collective belonging is derived from their gaze. I am not nothing nor nobody: I am French, a youth, a Christian, a farmer... (Todorov 2003, 150) v TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page............................................ iii Dedication.............................................. iv Epigraph...............................................v Table of Contents.......................................... vi List of Figures............................................ vii Acknowledgements........................................ viii Abstract of the Thesis....................................... ix Chapter 1. Introduction......................................1 1.1. Itinerary of a Traveling Song............................1 1.2. Background and Questions Addressed......................4 Chapter 2. Before Departure: Shimauta...........................6 2.1. Okinawa: A Brief Overview............................6 2.2. About Shimauta....................................8 2.3. Amami Shimauta...................................8 2.4. -
The Ethnology of Okinawa: Between Folklore Studies and Social Anthropology
The Ethnology of Okinawa: Between Folklore Studies and Social Anthropology. 沖縄の民族学:民俗学と社会人類学のはざま Patrick Beillevaire (French National Center for Scientific Research – Japan Research Center, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris) With a population of slightly over 1,300,000 people, Okinawa must be one of the regions of the world that has received the greatest attention from scholars, be they historians, folklorists, anthropologists or linguists, although this is hardly common knowledge outside Japan. Any systematic attempt at reviewing the scholars and literature concerned with folklore studies and anthropology would assuredly prove tedious and of little interest in comparison with various sources, of which, I am sure, you are already aware.1 Here I would like to take a more casual approach based on my personal experience of Okinawan studies. But, first, let me introduce myself briefly. My interest in Okinawa arose from the reading of Mabuchi Tōichi’s and Muratake Seiichi’s papers when I was a student of Louis Dumont, a specialist on India and a prominent figure in French anthropology. His teaching at the time, which developed new perspectives on socio-symbolic order and hierarchy, provided immediate connections with what I was starting to learn from Mabuchi Tōichi and Muratake Seiichi concerning Okinawa. My first visit there took place in March 1977, and I started doing fieldwork on Tarama-jima the following year, while I was attached to Ryūkyū Daigaku as a kyakuin kenkyūsha. My stay on Tarama-jima lasted one and a half years. Since then I have been visiting Okinawa at least once a year. -
THE RYUKYU ISLANDS by William P
THE RYUKYU ISLANDS by William P. Lebra Introduction The commonly held stereotype of Japan as a culturally and linguistically homogeneous nation overlooks the existence of more than one million Ryukyuans (not to mention the Ainu, Chinese, and Koreans) also present in Japan. To illustrate more vividly that point I considered, somewhat face- tiously, subtitling this paper with a well-known Okinawan joke, "Urukun Nippon du yaibii ga yaa" ("Is Oroku a part of Japan?"), which pokes fun at the dialect spoken by the inhabitants of the Oroku district of Naha, the capital of the Ryukyu Islands. It also expresses, I believe, the concern withidentity vis-&-vis Japan common among Ryukyuans. This problem of identity derives from the fact that the Ryukyus have maintained culture(s) and language(s) quite separate and distinct from those of Japan until very recent times. The island groups of Amami, Okinawa, Miyako, and Yaeyama encompass at least four related yet mutually un- intelligible languages which make up the Ryukyuan branch of a Japanese- Ryukyuan family. From 1372 until 1874 the Ryukyu kingdom made regular tribute payments to China, permitting a beneficial trade and assimilation of many aspects of Chinese culture. Although conquest by Satsuma in 1609 reduced the small state to vassalage, a high degree of cultural and political autonomy was permitted; moreover, interaction with China, especially trade, was actually encouraged to the benefit of Satsuma. This duality of cultural influences has been well-recognized by Ryukyuans; for example, the author of the Kian Nikki (1618-1619) ascribes to "elders" the saying, "Think of China as grandmother and regard Japan as grandfather." Al- though the Japanese government announced annexation in 1872, direct administration did not occur until March 30, 1879, when the last king, Sh6 Tai, was forcibly removed by soldiers to permanent exile in Tokyo. -
Women in the Religious Life of the Ryukyu Islands: Structure and Status
WOMEN IN THE RELIGIOUS LIFE OF THE RYUKYU ISLANDS: STRUCTURE AND STATUS IntY'oduction The Ryukyu Islands, having for centuries enjoyed some kind in- dependence, are now part of Japan. Inspired by the work of Yanagita Kunio, Japanese folklorists have started to record some of the surviving traditions of the area, not for their intrinsic interest, but also for the light these may throw on the culture of 'mainland' Japan. Works in Western languages are relatively few, and the area has been neglected by social anthropologists. The Ryukyu archipelago includes more than seventy islands, of which the largest is Okinawa. They are scattered along an arc of about 700 miles lying east of China, between Kagoshima Prefecture (in southern Japan) and Taiwan. Korea, The Philippines and island groups of the Pacific are within reach by sea. Storms and coral reefs made sea travel hazardous until recently; despite this, Okinawa's gives it great significance. While this has the Ryukyus to a variety of cultural in- fluences and useful trading contacts, it has also exposed them to less benevolent incursions. Ryukyuans have long been aware of the vulnerability of their small islands to violent forces from both the natural and the human environment. The poverty and unpredictability of resources and a of intervention from foreign powers has not only fostered a sense of the and transient quality of life, but has also encouraged a conciliatory approach in external relations. The values of co-operation and mediation are in dealings between , between Ryukyuans and foreigners, and between mortals and supernatural beings. While Ryukyuan culture and social structure arc closely 119 C;: 120 Rosamund Bell related to that of the rest of Japan, significant differences can be seen in the development of religious traditions. -
Japanese in the Samba”: Japanese Brazilian Musical Citizenship, Racial Consciousness, and Transnational Migration
“JAPANESE IN THE SAMBA”: JAPANESE BRAZILIAN MUSICAL CITIZENSHIP, RACIAL CONSCIOUSNESS, AND TRANSNATIONAL MIGRATION by Shanna Lorenz B.A., Reed College, 1995 M.A., University of Pittsburgh, 1999 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2007 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Shanna Lorenz It was defended on November 27, 2007 and approved by Bell Yung, Professor, Department of Music Mary Lewis, Professor, Department of Music Hermann Herlinghaus, Professor, Hispanic Languages and Literatures Dissertation Director: Andrew Weintraub, Associate Professor, Department of Music ii Copyright © by Shanna Lorenz 2007 iii “JAPANESE IN THE SAMBA”: JAPANESE BRAZILIAN MUSICAL CITIZENSHIP, RACIAL CONSCIOUSNESS, AND TRANSNATIONAL MIGRATION Shanna Lorenz, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2007 This doctoral dissertation is an ethnographic study of musical culture among Japanese Brazilians in São Paulo, Brazil. Specifically, the study explores how the musical culture of this community has changed in recent years as a result of the dekasegui movement, the migration of hundreds of thousands of Japanese Brazilians who have traveled to Japan since 1990 in search of work. In order to explore these questions, I conducted fieldwork between May and November of 2003 on three musical groups, Zhen Brasil, Ton Ton Mi, and Wadaiko Sho, each of which have found different ways to invoke, contest, and reinvent their Brazilian and Japanese musical heritages. By exploring these groups’ musical practices, texts, dance, costumes, and discourses of self-definition, this study offers insight into shifts in the ethnic self-definition and racial consciousness of the Japanese Brazilian community that have taken place as the result of face-to-face contact between Japanese Brazilians and Japanese under the conditions of contiguous globalization. -
War Memories at Shuri Castle
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE 69 Cultures of( dis) remembrance: War Memories at Shuri Castle Justin Aukema Abstract: This paper examines the history of the 32nd Imperial Japanese Army headquarters tunnels, a major wartime heritage site, or, war site( sensō iseki), from the 1945 Battle of Okinawa. The paper shows that the tunnels, and their roles in history and memory, have been shaped by the successive and cumulative effects of past and ongoing discourses in a process that it calls “cultures of( dis) remembrance.” In this context, the paper highlights three discourses that impacted the fate of the 32nd Army tunnels. The first is a pre-1945 “assimilation discourse,” in which Japanese and Okinawan officials argued the historical and cultural similarities between the two regions to integrate the islands into Japan’s imperial nation-building project. This transformed Shuri Castle, the seat of power for the autonomous Ryukyu Kingdom, into a staging ground for the dissemination of patriotic Japanese education, and it paved the way for the 32nd Army tunnels to be built there during the Battle of Okinawa. The second is a post-1945 “Cold War discourse” in which U.S. army occupiers remodeled memories and markers of Ryukyuan cultural heritage and Japanese militarism to align with their postwar vision for Okinawa; namely, this was as a showcase for U.S.-style liberal democracy and as a springboard for the Cold War. In this milieu, the remains of Shuri Castle were reconstructed as the University of the Ryukyus, while the 32nd Army tunnels were cast into the dustbin of history. -
Rise Up: Okinawa Protests Against Foreign Occupation by John Edwin Dietrich III B.A., Albright College, 2008 a THESIS Submitted
Rise Up: Okinawa Protests Against Foreign Occupation by John Edwin Dietrich III B.A., Albright College, 2008 A THESIS submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF ARTS Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work College of Arts and Sciences KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY Manhattan, Kansas 2016 Approved by: Major Professor Lisa Melander, Ph.D. Copyright © John Dietrich 2016. Abstract Okinawa, Japan has a long history of struggle with Japan and the United States of America. Okinawa was annexed by the Japanese during the Shogunate, mistreated by Imperial Japan during World War II, destroyed during the Battle of Okinawa, and occupied by U.S. military. Okinawa hosts some of the largest U.S. military bases outside of the Continental United States. Since Okinawa has been occupied by the U.S. military since World War II, it also has a history of contentious politics and protests against the occupation. Okinawa’s economy and cultural identity within the domestic and international spheres with the U.S. military and the Government of Japan has shaped its political protest identities. The “Okinawan Struggle” has evolved and into a new form, but often seen as a long lasting and unified struggle. This thesis explores Okinawa’s different protest episodes during different governing administrations and different economic structures. Table of Contents Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... v Dedication ..................................................................................................................................... -
Teaching Democracy in Okinawa
ISSN: 1500-0713 ______________________________________________________________ Article Title: American Cultural Policy Toward Okinawa 1945- 1950s Author(s): Chizuru Saeki Source: Japanese Studies Review, Vol. XII (2008), pp. 51 - 68 Stable URL: https://asian.fiu.edu/projects-and-grants/japan- studies-review/journal-archive/volume-xii-2008/saeki-teaching- democracy-in-okinawa-p51.pdf AMERICAN CULTURAL POLICY TOWARD OKINAWA 1945-1950s Chizuru Saeki University of North Alabama In John Patrick’s play based on the Vern Schneider novel, Teahouse of the August Moon, Col. Wainright Purdy III declares, “My job is to teach these natives [Okinawans] the meaning of democracy, and they’re going to learn democracy if I have to shoot every one of them.”1 Capt. Fisby’s first order of business as military governor in the village of Tobiki was also to deliver an address to the Okinawan people, explaining democracy to them and that it was now in their hands. Everyone cheered. The captain was delighted until his interpreter, Sakini, explained that during 800 years of foreign occupation the Okinawans had learned to cheer for whoever was in charge, no matter what was said. Col. Purdy and Capt. Fisby were to convert the Okinawans to the “American way of life.” The American way consisted of organizing a Women’s League for Democratic Action, establishing an education program, and setting up a local industry, like bicycle manufacturing. However, eventually both Col. Purdy and Capt. Fisby ended up being converted to the Okinawan way of life. The Okinawan method of living consisted of converting American target cloth into fancy pajamas, holding sumo wrestling matches, accomplishing industrialization through the construction of a sweet potato distillery, and, finally, building up a pentagon-shaped teahouse for geisha. -
Kayano V. Hokkaidō Expropriation Committee Revisited: Recognition of Ryūkyūans As a Cultural Minority Under the Internationa
Kayano v. Hokkaidō Expropriation Committee Revisited: Recognition of Ryūkyūans as a Cultural Minority Under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, an Alternative Paradigm for Okinawan Demilitarization I. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................... 383 II. THE NIBUTANI DAM DECISION .............................................. 387 A. Case Summary............................................................................ 387 B. The Court’s Rationale................................................................. 388 III. APPLICABILITY OF THE NIBUTANI DAM JURISPRUDENCE TO OKINAWA...................................................... 394 A. Ryukyuans as a Cultural Minority .............................................. 396 1. Ethnicity, Religion, and Language.......................................... 396 2. Numerosity .............................................................................. 403 3. Non-Dominance ...................................................................... 403 4. Citizenship............................................................................... 405 5. Solidarity................................................................................. 405 B. Ryūkyūans as an Indigenous Minority........................................ 407 1. The Ryūkyū Kingdom .............................................................. 408 2. Distinct Culture....................................................................... 410 3. Retention of Cultural Identity -
Visualizing Priestesses Or Performing Prostitutes?: Ifa Fuyū’S Depictions of Okinawan Women, 1913-1943
Studies on Asia Visualizing Priestesses or Performing Prostitutes?: Ifa Fuyū’s Depictions of Okinawan Women, 1913-1943 Valerie H. Barske University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point On January 18, 1913, the “Great Fire of Naha” consumed half of the area known as Higashi-machi, adjacent to the Tsuji-machi pleasure district on the main island of Okinawa.1 The local police arrested several women identified as yuta (diviners or shamans) accused of suspicious connections to the fire. Despite their separate social and religious functions, yuta were often conflated with and ridiculed in ways similar to unlicensed prostitutes. Newspaper reports in the Ryūkyū Shinpō and the Okinawa Mainichi Shinbun implicated yuta as suspects involved in spreading rumors during the fire, foretelling the event, and attempting to heal the possessed female arsonist responsible for the blaze.2 Headlines forewarned of a “great offensive” by the Naha police that would punish all yuta of the district with “the goal of removing their ‘noxious bane’ once and for all.”3 Although the authorities only detained three women in total, these intense statements against yuta reflect a larger historical process 1 Although there were several “Great Fires” that affected Okinawa in the early twentieth century, including the “Great Fire of Naha” in 1901, the “Great Fire of Higashi” in 1910, and Tsuji fire in late 1913, Ifa’s work on yuta specifically identifies the “Great Fire” with the date January 18, 1913. See Ifa Fuyū, “Yuta no rekishiteki kenkyū,” Ryūkyū Shinpō, March 11, 1913. 2 Okinawa-ken Kyoiku Iinkai, et al., Okinawa Kenshi: Shiryō Hen vol.