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...

Article by Emanuel Giordano Relations between China and Okinawa began in 1372, when King Satto of Chuzan (1320-1395), one of the three kingdoms of Okinawa, met with Chinese envoys. Chinese envoys arrived in Chuzan in 1372, demanding the admission of Chinese cultural supremacy and for Okinawa...

Article by Emanuel Giordano As we have seen in the two previous articles (part 1; part 2) there are two lineages for Oyadomari no Passai: the lineage Oyadomari> Kyan> Shimabukuro Taro and the lineage Oyadomari> Oshiro> Kinjo Hiroshi. In order to avoid...