Kunigami is a district located in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. Roughly translated, kunigami means "head of the country", referring to its northern location on the island of Okinawa. Compare this to Shimajiri District, Okinawa.
Kunigami is a village in Kunigami District, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. It occupies the north tip of Okinawa Island, with the East China Sea to the west, Pacific Ocean to the east, and villages of Higashi and Ōgimi to the south.
Yomitan is a village located in Nakagami District, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan.
Nishihara is a town located in Nakagami District, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. In the Okinawan language, nishi means "north", as Nishihara was north of the historical Ryukyuan capital of Shuri.
The Ryukyu Kingdom was a kingdom in the Ryukyu Islands from 1429 to 1879. It was ruled as a tributary state of imperial Ming China by the Ryukyuan monarchy, who unified Okinawa Island to end the Sanzan period, and extended the kingdom to the Amami Islands and Sakishima Islands. The Ryukyu Kingdom played a central role in the maritime trade networks of medieval East Asia and Southeast Asia despite its small size. The Ryukyu Kingdom became a vassal state of the Satsuma Domain of Japan after the invasion of Ryukyu in 1609 but retained de jure independence until it was transformed into the Ryukyu Domain by the Empire of Japan in 1872. The Ryukyu Kingdom was formally annexed and dissolved by Japan in 1879 to form Okinawa Prefecture, and the Ryukyuan monarchy was integrated into the new Japanese nobility.
Okinawa Island, officially Okinawa Main Island, is the largest of the Okinawa Islands and the Ryukyu (Nansei) Islands of Japan in the Kyushu region. It is the smallest and least populated of the five main islands of Japan. The island is approximately 106 kilometres (66 mi) long, an average 11 kilometres (7 mi) wide, and has an area of 1,206.98 square kilometers (466.02 sq mi). It is roughly 640 kilometres south of the main island of Kyushu and the rest of Japan. It is 500 km northeast of Taiwan. The total population of Okinawa Island is 1,384,762. The greater Naha area has roughly 800,000 residents, while the city itself has about 320,000 people. Naha is the seat of Okinawa Prefecture on the southwestern part of Okinawa Island. Okinawa has a humid subtropical climate.
The Sanzan period is a period in the history of the Okinawa Islands when three lines of kings, namely Sanhoku, Chūzan and Sannan, are said to have co-existed on Okinawa Island. It is said to have started during King Tamagusuku's reign and, according to Sai On's edition of the Chūzan Seifu (1725), ended in 1429 when Shō Hashi unified the island. Historical records of the period are fragmentary and mutually conflicting. Some even question the co-existence of the three polities.
The Kunigami or Northern Okinawan language, is a Ryukyuan language of Northern Okinawa Island in Kunigami District and city of Nago, otherwise known as the Yanbaru region, historically the territory of the kingdom of Hokuzan.
Naha is the capital city of Okinawa Prefecture, the southernmost prefecture of Japan. As of 1 June 2019, the city has an estimated population of 317,405 and a population density of 7,939 people per km2. The total area is 39.98 km2 (15.44 sq mi).
Hokuzan, also known as Sanhoku (山北) before the 18th century, located in the north of Okinawa Island, was one of three independent political entities which controlled Okinawa in the 14th century during Sanzan period. The political entity was identified as a tiny country, a kingdom, or a principality by modern historians, however the ruler of Hokuzan was in fact not "kings" at all, but petty lords with their own retainers owing their direct service, and their own estates.
Shō Shin was a king of the Ryukyu Kingdom, the third ruler of the second Shō dynasty. Shō Shin's long reign has been described as "the Great Days of Chūzan", a period of great peace and relative prosperity. He was the son of Shō En, the founder of the dynasty, by Yosoidon, Shō En's second wife, often referred to as the queen mother. He succeeded his uncle, Shō Sen'i, who was forced to abdicate in his favor.
The Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu is an UNESCO World Heritage Site which consists of nine sites all located in the Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. The heritage sites include two utaki, the Tamaudun mausoleum, one garden, and five gusuku castles sites, four of which are ruins and one of which is a reconstruction. The sites were inscribed based on the criteria that they were a fine representation of the Ryūkyū Kingdom's culture, whose unique blend of Japanese and Chinese influence made it a crucial economic and cultural junction between several neighboring states.
Masami Chinen was an Okinawan martial arts master who formed Yamani ryu. He taught Bōjutsu privately at his home in the village of Tobaru, in Shuri, Okinawa.
The Northern Ryukyuan languages are a group of languages spoken in the Amami Islands, Kagoshima Prefecture and the Okinawa Islands, Okinawa Prefecture of southwestern Japan. It is one of two primary branches of the Ryukyuan languages, which are then part of the Japonic languages. The subdivisions of Northern Ryukyuan are a matter of scholarly debate.
Noro are priestesses of the Ryukyuan religion at Utaki. They have existed since at least the beginning of the Gusuku period and continue to perform rituals even today. They are distinct from yuta (psychics), but are classified as kaminchu.
The military of the Ryukyu Kingdom defended the kingdom from 1429 until 1879. It had roots in the late army of Chūzan, which became the Ryukyu Kingdom under the leadership of King Shō Hashi. The Ryukyuan military operated throughout the Ryukyu Islands, the East China Sea, and elsewhere that Ryukyuan ships went. Ryukyu primarily fought with other Ryukyuan kingdoms and chiefdoms, but also Japanese samurai from Satsuma Domain and pirates. Soldiers were stationed aboard ships and Ryukyuan fortifications. The Ryukyuan military declined after the 17th century until it was abolished following the Japanese annexation of Ryukyu in 1879.
Amamikyu, or Amekushin-otome-ōankami (天久臣乙女王御神), is the creation goddess of the Ryukyu Islands in the Ryukyuan religion.
Ryūkyū-koku yurai-ki is a chorography compiled by the government of the Ryukyu Kingdom. It was the first chronography compiled by the royal government and was presented to King Shō Kei in 1713. It is an essential resource for Okinawan studies.
The Eiso dynasty (英祖王統) was the third dynasty in the traditional historiography of Okinawa Island. It was established by Eiso in 1259. Chūzan Seikan, the first official history of the Ryūkyū Kingdom, claimed that Eiso was a descendant of the ancient Tenson dynasty. During Gihon's reign, Okinawa sufferred from several terrible disasters, including storm, flood and famine. Around 1254, Gihon appointed Eiso to be regent (sessei). Seven years later, Gihon abdicated in favor of Eiso, whom established the Eiso dynasty in the same year. Gihon had to hand over his power because he was unable to manage these disasters and that discontent made it necessary to share authority with a representative chosen from the old Tenson chieftains; or a rival from Tenson chieftains forced Gihon to relinquish power. Though commonly called the "kings", the Okinawan rulers at that time should be more accurately identified as paramount chiefs, or overlords among aji during the Gusuku period.
King of Sanhoku was a title given to a line of local rulers on Okinawa Island from the late 14th century to the early 15th century. Contemporary sources on the Kings of Sanhoku are extremely scarce, and narratives on them have gradually been expanded over time. In historiography, the term Sanhoku conveniently refers to a realm supposedly under their control. Sanhoku is also known as Hokuzan (北山). The new term was coined in the 18th century by Sai On by flipping the two-character title.
