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UC Santa Barbara Journal of Astronomy in Culture UC Santa Barbara Journal of Astronomy in Culture Title Solar Kingdom of Ryukyu: the formation of a Cosmovision in the Southern Islands of the Japanese Archipelago Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1sz9h06h Journal Journal of Astronomy in Culture, 1(1) Author Goto, Akira Publication Date 2016 License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ 4.0 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Solar Kingdom of Ryukyu: the formation of a Cosmovision in the Southern Islands of the Japanese Archipelago Akira Goto Nanzan University Abstract: and the Korean Peninsula. A star lore and On the Okinawa Island, the largest of the island chain, cosmology developed, based on the mix- the Kingdom of Shuri was established around the 15th ture of Buddhism, Shintoism, Confucian- century A.D. Its political ideology was characterized by ism, and probably indigenous animistic a Sun ritual, and the king was worshiped as a child of folk beliefs (Dolce 2006; Sano 1994). On the Sun. Women had a sacred role on these islands, and the other hand, in the “north” there is a priestesses had the role of introducing sacred power from the Sun to the royal palace. In the religious thought of hunter-gatherer group, Hokkaido Ainu, this kingdom, Kudaka-jima Island was the most sacred. which has a rich star lore tradition that is This tiny island in the southeastern sea off the shore of mainly based on animism and has some Okinawa Island occupied an important position in royal relevance to those of ethnic groups in rituals, including an enthronement ceremony of the high- northeast Asia (Sueoka 1979). In the est priestesses who were close kin of the king. In the “south,” the Ryukyu Kingdom developed, Urasoe Dynasty, predecessor of the Shuri Dynasty, it which had maintained independence until was possible to see the rising Sun of the December sol- the beginning of the 17th century. Their stice behind the Kudaka-jima Island, and the ritual on lore is built by the mixture of Chinese, Jap- the December solstice was probably performed for the re- birth of the king. During the proceeding Gusuku Period anese, and indigenous traditions which between the 13th and the 14th centuries, several castles probably include some Austronesian ele- were constructed there with gates that opened toward the ments (Goto 2010, 2015). In this paper, I June solstice. This custom was meant to introduce the analyze the development of the sun wor- strongest power of the Sun into the sacred place of the ship that culminated in the Ryukyu King- castle. On Kudaka-jima Island facing these castles, dom. I will trace the development of an there is a folk belief in celebrating both June and De- ideology that placed kings as the children cember solstices. This paper traces the process in which of the sun. I also attempt to relate this a primary folk belief of the Sun had been transformed into a political ideology in which the king himself became royal ideology to folk beliefs concerning the Sun, radiating the land and the people. the sun. Keywords: Ryukyu (Okinawa) Islands, Shuri Ryukyu Islands Dynasty, sun rituals, solstice The Ryukyu Islands lie at the southern end of the Japanese Archipelago, between Introduction Kyushu Island and Taiwan. (Figure 1) The Japanese Archipelago is a long island The largest island of the Ryukyu Islands is chain, extending almost 20 degrees of lati- the Okinawa Island where the Ryukyu tude (from 25 to 45 degrees North). This Kingdom flourished between the 15th and north-south extension provides an interest- the 19th centuries. The Kingdom extended ing situation for the comparison of star lore its original trade relations to include China and cosmology within the archipelago. In and Southeast Asia. Unlike the main Jap- the “middle,” there is “Japanese” culture anese islands, the Ryukyu Islands have with a long history influenced by China been little influenced either by Buddhism Journal of Astronomy in Culture 1(1), 2016, pp. 77-88 Copyright © International Society for Archaeoastronomy and Astronomy in Culture 78 Figure 1. Map of Ryukyu Islands or Shintoism. Their indigenous religion is tools, and distributed them to their follow- based on shamanism until today. ers. Small chiefdoms were united into The earliest human occupation of the three kingdoms by the late 14th century Ryukyu Islands is now traced back to into the Northern Kingdom, the Central 35,000 B.P. and the oldest human remains Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom. in Japan so far have been found from these These three kingdoms were eventually islands (Kaifu et al. 2015). Since 9,000 united by the Central Kingdom and this B.P. a ‘shell-mound’ period started, based marked the beginning of the Ryukyu King- on a foraging economy with distinctive dom (Asato 1998). pottery. By the period between the 10th The Ryukyu Kingdom consisted of and 12th centuries A.D., the foraging econ- three dynasties: the Urasoe Dynasty omy had shifted to an agricultural econ- whose era was still in the Three Kingdoms omy, and this marks the beginning of the Period; the First Sho Dynasty, between Gusuku Period. Gusuku literally means A.D. 1406 to 1468; and the Second Sho ‘castle,’ and many castles were constructed Dynasty, between A.D. 1470 to 1879. In throughout the islands. A gusuku was a res- 1879 the Ryukyu Kingdom came to an idence and a fortification that included a end, right after the Tokugawa Govern- sacred shrine and was constructed by local ment was collapsed by civil war and the chiefs. In this period, social stratification Modern Japanese era had started. was marked based on agriculture and do- During the era of King Shonei of the mestication (Asato 1990). Second Dynasty, the Satsuma Clan, the Local chiefs in the 13th and 14th centu- southernmost clan of Kyushu Island, in- ries competed with each other by trading vaded the Ryukyu Kingdom in 1609 with China and Southeast Asia to obtain (Asato 2006; Irumada and Tomiyama prestige goods such as ceramics and iron 2002). Then the Satsuma Clan subordi- Goto, A. 79 nated the Ryukyu Kingdom, but let it ap- Shuri, there were 10 generations in the pear to be independent, since the Satsuma Urasoe dynasty whose royal history was Clan wanted to take advantage of the im- not linear at all. The Urasoe Dynasty con- ported goods from China and Southeast sisted of three discontinuous lineages. The Asia that the Ryukyu Kingdom had ob- first king, Shunten, was said to be a son of tained through trade. Along with this Minamoto Tametomo, a legendary samu- trade, the Chinese geomancy practice of rai hero. Legend has it that after being de- feng shui and the calendar had been intro- feated by a rival samurai clan in Kyoto, duced. Also throughout the islands, there Tametomo escaped by boat and arrived at were situated marine affairs stations to the Ryukyu Islands. Then Shunten was watch the going and coming of ships born to him, and became the first King of (Irumada and Tomiyama 2002). the Urasoe Dynasty. His lineage contin- Omoro-soshi, a collection of chants com- ued for three generations, but Eiso became piled (between A.D. 1531 and 1632) by the the 4th king by abdication by an emperor Second Sho Dynasty is full of expressions in favor of a more virtuous successor: zenjo of the King as the Sun. I examine the de- (禅譲) that is the Chinese philosophy of velopment of the thought of the king as the ideal succession of the emperorship. Sun in the Ryukyu Kingdom. The final king of the Urasoe Dynasty, King Satto who lived in the latter half of Three Kingdom Period and the Uni- the 14th century, was invited to Shuri Cas- fication of the Islands tle to construct a new capital: again zenjo The Ryukyu Kingdom that united the is- succession. King Satto was succeeded by lands in the 15th century originated in the his son Bunei, but King Bunei was de- Urasoe Dynasty of the Central Kingdom. feated by the Sho Clan. The Sho Clan Urasoe is located 5 km north of Shuri then founded the Sho Dynasty at the be- where the Ryukyu Dynasty was finally es- ginning of the 15th century, and defeated tablished. (Figure 2) Before coming to the Northern and Southern Kingdoms, Figure 2. Urasoe Castle, Shuri Castle and Kudaka-jima Island JAC, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2016 80 uniting the islands. The First Sho Dynasty of the sun’ at the horizon of the sea (Waku- continued for 7 generations, and the Se- gami 1992). cond Sho Dynasty continued for 19 gener- There is also a royal tomb, Urasoe Yo- ations (Asato 2006). dore in Urasoe Castle. This tomb was con- structed by the 4th king of the Urasoe Dyn- Solar Kingship from Urasoe Castle asty, King Eiso (A.D. 1260-1299). King to Kudaka-jima Island Eiso constructed this tomb and is often re- As already mentioned, the first King ferred to as the child of the sun; he is the Shunten of the Urasoe Dynasty is said to key person when considering the develop- have been a son of the samurai hero Mina- ment of solar ideology of the dynasty. Leg- moto Tametomo. On the southeastern end has it that the wife of Chief Iso had a end of the castle, there is a rock called dream of the Sun coming into her breast, Tametomo Rock (or hanareji, meaning and she was pregnant the next morning. ‘separated rock’ in the Ryukyu dialect). She begot a baby who later became King Looking towards the southeast from this Eiso.
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