![Nakasone tyumiya tomb](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Nakasone_tyumiya_tomb.jpg)
(active c. 1500–1530) was a
Ryūkyūan Chieftain and later
Anji of the
Miyako Islands
The (also Miyako Jima group) are a group of islands in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, belonging to the Ryukyu Islands. They are situated between the Okinawa Island and Yaeyama Islands.
In the early 1870s, the population of the islands was estim ...
credited with repelling an invasion from
Ishigaki Island
, also known as ''Ishigakijima'', is a Japanese island south-west of Okinawa Hontō and the second-largest island of the Yaeyama Island group, behind Iriomote Island. It is located approximately south-west of Okinawa Hontō. It is within the ...
, and expanding Miyako political control over some of the
Yaeyama Islands
The Yaeyama Islands (八重山列島 ''Yaeyama-rettō'', also 八重山諸島 ''Yaeyama-shotō'', Yaeyama: ''Yaima'', Yonaguni: ''Daama'', Okinawan: ''Yeema'', Northern Ryukyuan: ''Yapema'') are an archipelago in the southwest of Okinawa ...
. When the Miyako Islands were attacked by the
Ryūkyū Kingdom
The Ryukyu Kingdom, Middle Chinese: , , Classical Chinese: (), Historical English language, English names: ''Lew Chew'', ''Lewchew'', ''Luchu'', and ''Loochoo'', Historical French name: ''Liou-tchou'', Historical Dutch name: ''Lioe-kioe'' wa ...
, Nakasone saved the people of Miyako from harm by agreeing to surrender to annexation by the Kingdom.
Early life
Nakasone was the great-great-grandson of
Meguro Mori who, in the 14th century, defeated the
Yonahabara army under
Sata Ubunto to unite the Miyako Islands for the first time.
["Nakasone Tuyumiya Genga." ''Okinawa rekishi jinmei jiten'' (沖縄歴史人名事典, "Encyclopedia of People of Okinawan History"). Naha: Okinawa Bunka-sha, 1996. p54.]
Toyomiya (or, ''Tuyumya'' in Okinawan) was not a name, but rather something akin to a title or honorific. While he passed on the family name Nakasone to his descendants, this lineage, of which he is the founder, is at the same time called the . While the exact year of Nakasone's birth is unknown, the family's records indicate that he was born sometime in the Tianshun
Chinese Imperial era, i.e. 1457–1464.
Oyake Akahachi Rebellion
At this time, the Ryūkyū Kingdom, based at
Shuri on
Okinawa 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 long, an average wide, and has an ...
, did not yet have direct control over the Yaeyama or Miyako Islands, but merely expected
tribute
A tribute (; from Latin ''tributum'', "contribution") is wealth, often in kind, that a party gives to another as a sign of submission, allegiance or respect. Various ancient states exacted tribute from the rulers of land which the state conqu ...
to be paid. In 1500,
Oyake Akahachi
, also or , was a Ryukyuan lord of Ishigaki Island who led a rebellion against the Ryukyu Kingdom in 1500.
Early life and rebellion
It is said that Akahachi was born on Hateruma Island, and that he was large and physically strong even as a chi ...
of Ishigaki Island led the people of Ishigaki and the surrounding islands in revolt against paying tribute and against the Kingdom. Nakasone's family was entrenched in a power struggle with their rival the Kaneshigawa family for control of Miyako, and Oyake planned to invade the island during the division. Upon learning this, Nakasone led a preemptive invasion of the Yaeyama Islands, securing his status as leader of Miyako,
[ and seizing Ishigaki, ]Yonaguni
, one of the Yaeyama Islands, is the westernmost inhabited island of Japan, lying from the east coast of Taiwan, between the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean proper. The island is administered as the Towns of Japan, town of Yonaguni, Okina ...
(where he took the daughter of the chieftain Untura as his prize), and a few other neighboring islands in the process.[Kerr, George. ''Okinawa: the History of an Island People''. (revised ed.) Tokyo: Tuttle Publishing, 2000. pp118, 121-122.]
Shortly after these successful invasions which expanded the geographical scope of Miyako's political control, the islands came under attack from a force of roughly 3,000 Ryūkyūan soldiers sent by King Shō Shin
was a king of the Ryukyu Kingdom, the third ruler 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 dyn ...
to suppress the rebellion. Seeing defeat as inevitable, Nakasone surrendered and agreed to have the Miyako Islands, along with the Yaeyamas which Nakasone had just secured, absorbed by the Ryūkyū Kingdom. He is today worshipped and celebrated as a hero for having spared the people of Miyako from the death and destruction that would have resulted from attempts to resist the invasion.[
]
Later life
Nakasone was formally appointed Aji of Miyako by the Sanshikan
The ''Sanshikan'' (), or Council of Three, was a government body of the Ryūkyū Kingdom, which originally developed out of a council of regents.
It emerged in 1556, when the young Shō Gen, who was speech disorder, mute, ascended to the throne of ...
,[ which also began a system of sending representatives from Okinawa to help oversee the administration of this corner of the kingdom for three-year-long terms. Most aspects of local administration were left in the hands of Nakasone, however, who was also empowered to deal out rewards and punishments, and to appoint local leaders to lesser aristocratic titles and bureaucratic posts.][
Nakasone established a government office called the ''kuramoto''][This is the ]Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
pronunciation of the word, which may not correspond to the native Miyako pronunciation, but would be a closely related cognate
In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymology, etymological ancestor in a proto-language, common parent language. Because language c ...
. (蔵元) which oversaw the collection of contributions to the tribute payment to be sent to Shuri. To help ensure this process, Nakasone effected road maintenance, as well as the construction of the stone bridge .[
Nakasone was succeeded as Chieftain of Miyako around 1530, by someone bearing the same name as his great-great-grandfather, Meguro Mori.][ His grave can be found in Hirara City on Miyako Island.][
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nakasone, Toyomiya
Ryukyuan chiefs
Aji (Ryukyu)
Year of birth uncertain
Ryukyuan people
15th-century Ryukyuan people
16th-century Ryukyuan people
Deified people