Articolo a cura di Emanuel Giordano  Il kata Shushi no kun/kon è uno dei kata di Bo più diffusi. Molte sono le versioni oggi praticate, e sebbene la maggior parte siano variazioni della versione Sho, si tratta quasi sempre di kata elaborati/modificati in tempi recenti (seconda metà del...

Article by Emanuel Giordano After Sho Iku's death, his second son 尚 泰 Sho Tai (1843 - 1901), the last king of the Ryukyu, ascended the throne of the Ryukyu Kingdom. Sho Tai had already been appointed Prince Nakagusuku (中城 王子 Nakagusuku Oji), that is, the prince heir to the throne, on the...

Article by Emanuel Giordano Continuation of PART 8   As we saw in the previous part, King Sho Ko retained his title until his death, despite having received permission from the Shogun to abdicate. The son reigned de facto from 1828 with the rank of sessei, and obtained the crown...

Article by Emanuel Giordano Continuation of PART 7 As I mentioned in part 6, Sho On died at the age of only 18, leaving the throne to the eldest son 尚成 Sho Sei (1800-1804). Sho Sei (also known by the infant name 思徳金 Umitokugani) was officially crowned on January 6, 1803, but reigned for a...

Article by Emanuel Giordano Continuation of PART 6   Before moving on to the next investiture mission, that of 1808, I would like to talk about the scholar aristocracy, one of the administrative classes of the Kingdom of the Ryukyu. The families of the scholar aristocracy were...

Article by Emanuel Giordano Continuation of PART 5   Continuing on our path, we will now face the diplomatic mission following that of 1756. In 1794 King Sho Boku died, who was succeeded by his young nephew Sho On (1784-1802) the following year. The latter reigned briefly, as he...

Article by Emanuel Giordano Continuation of PART 4   Previously we stopped to talk about the sapposhi Quan Kui, but although he is less famous, I would like to dwell for a moment on his deputy, namely the Chinese diplomat 周 煌 Zhou Huang / Shuu Kou (? -1785).   Zhou Huang...

Article by Emanuel Giordano Before continuing, I would like to delve into some details of this latest Chinese mission, in particular some interesting details on the sapposhi Quan Kui / Zen Kai 全魁.   First of all, its title in Japanese is written 侍講 / 侍讀, which means imperial tutor,...

Article by Emanuel Giordano On November 17, 1668, King Sho Shitsu died, who was replaced by his son Sho Tei, who was officially crowned on January 11, 1670. According to Liao Zhenpei, music typical of the Qing dynasty was played for the first time on this occasion, during an official...

Article by Emanuel Giordano After requesting the investiture from Peking (Beijing) in 1621, 1625, 1626 and 1627, Sho Ho finally received the investiture in 1633. This was the last mission sent by the Ming dynasty. In fact, Beijing, the capital of the Ming dynasty, fell to the invading Manchu...