“The Ryukyu Kingdom Map in the Okinawa Prefecture Museum: Its Value as Historical Source and Relation to the Haedong chegukki,”

The Japanses Journal of diplomatics (Komonjyo Kenkyu) 60, 2005.

*a joint work of Koichiro Fukase, Takashi Uezato and Miki Watanabe

[Abstract]

The Ryukyu Kingdom Map (Ryukyu-koku zu) was presented to the Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine by the Fukuoka samurai Takemori Doetsu in 1696. The representation of the Ryukyu archipelago in Takemori’s map resembles quite closely the “map of the Ryukyu Kingdom” (Yugung-guk chi t’o) in the Headomg chegukki (1471) compiled by Korean scholar-official Sin Sukchu, which is the oldest known printed map of the Ryukyu Kingdom. We analyze the Ryukyu Kingdom Map, with particular attention to its evidentiary value as a analyze the Ryukyu Kingdom Map, with particular attention to its evidentiary value as a historical source, and for its relationship to the Headong chegukki. Our examination establishes three main points. (1) Takemori’s Ryukyu Kingdom Map is not based on directly on the Headong chegukki map of the Ryukyus, but is more closely similar to the map of the medieval Japanese monk Doan, on which Sin Sukchu’s map was based. (2) Takemori’s Ryukyu Kingdom Map was produced in the early modern era, but it represents the “Old Ryukyu” Kingdom (Ko-ryukyu) rather than early modern Ryukyu, including a wealth of data about Old Ryukyu and the surrounding seas –such information about the city of Naha, fortifications (gusuku), and religious institutions; sea lane and ports. (3) There is a high degree of likelihood that Takemori’s map (a) is an accurate copy of an old map that closely approximated Doan’s map, and (b) that it was produced by the vibrant network of samurai-scholars in the Fukuoka domain of the Genroku era (1688-1704).

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