Omoro Sōshi
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The is a compilation of ancient poems and songs from
Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...
and the
Amami Islands The The name ''Amami-guntō'' was standardized on February 15, 2010. Prior to that, another name, ''Amami shotō'' (奄美諸島), was also used. is a Japanese archipelago in the Satsunan Islands, which is part of the Ryukyu Islands, and is sout ...
, collected into 22 volumes and written primarily in
hiragana is a Japanese language, Japanese syllabary, part of the Japanese writing system, along with ''katakana'' as well as ''kanji''. It is a phonetic lettering system. The word ''hiragana'' means "common" or "plain" kana (originally also "easy", ...
with some simple
kanji are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...
. There are 1,553 poems in the collection, but many are repeated; the number of unique pieces is 1,144. The hiragana used, however, is a traditional orthography which associates different sounds to the characters than their normal Japanese readings, due to it originally being based on an earlier stage of Northern Ryukyuan that has not yet undergone vowel raising characteristic of the modern languages. The characters used to write ''omoro'', for example (おもろ), would be written this same way, but pronounced as ''umuru'' in Okinawan. The poetry contained in the volumes extends from the 12th century, or possibly earlier, to some composed by the Queen of
Shō Nei was king of the Ryukyu Kingdom from 1589 to 1620. He reigned during the 1609 invasion of Ryukyu and was the first king of Ryukyu to be a vassal to the Shimazu clan of Satsuma, a Japanese feudal domain. Shō Nei was the great-grandson of Sh ...
(1589-1619). Though formally composed and recorded at these times, most if not all are believed to derive from far earlier traditions, as a result of their language, style, and content. The poems contained in the compilation vary, but follow a general pattern of celebrating famous heroes of the past, from poets and warriors to kings and voyagers. A few are love poems. They range from two verses to forty, some making extensive use of rhyme and couplet structures. More than 80% of the words used in Omoro are common with the Yamato language and were used in the Muromachi period. This usage of language indicates that the people who carried Omoro poems were those who migrated south from
Yamato was originally the area around today's Sakurai, Nara, Sakurai City in Nara Prefecture of Japan, which became Yamato Province and by extension a Names of Japan, name for the whole of Japan. Yamato is also the dynastic name of the ruling Imperial ...
to Okinawa in the late
Heian The Japanese word Heian (平安, lit. "peace") may refer to: * Heian period, an era of Japanese history * Heian-kyō, the Heian-period capital of Japan that has become the present-day city of Kyoto * Heian series, a group of karate kata (forms) * ...
to
Muromachi The , also known as the , is a division of History of Japan, Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Ashikaga shogunate, Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate ( or ), which was officially establ ...
periods.


Etymology

''Sōshi'' () means collection of stories, as medieval Japanese books like Makurano Soshi, Otogi Zoshi have Soshi in the title. but the origins and meaning of the term "omoro" are more elusive. Iha Fuyū was among the scholars who traced it to various words associated with oracles and divine songs. He further derived the term as referring to ''omori'', a Ryukyuan word for sacred groves. Nakahara Zenchū, on the other hand, traced it back to the Ryukyuan ''umuru'', or ''umui'', which comes from mainland Japanese ''omoi'' () meaning "to think" or to "feel".Sakihara. pp3-4.  Regardless of the true meaning or origins of the term, however, a basic cloud of meanings is nevertheless apparent. The ''omoro sōshi'', a "compilation of thoughts" or of collective memory, is also associated with sacred groves and with divine songs.


History

The ''omoro'', as a form, are said to be the predecessors in Ryukyuan culture to distinct forms of music, dance, and literature; they incorporate all three of these. Only after centuries of development, and influence from China, Japan, and various
South Seas Today the term South Seas, or South Sea, most commonly refers to the portion of the Pacific Ocean south of the equator. The term South Sea may also be used synonymously for Oceania, or even more narrowly for Polynesia or the Polynesian Triangle ...
cultures, did distinct traditions of music, dance, and literature develop, literature being the only one to be recorded with any consistency. Outside of what might be inferred or reconstructed from the ''Omoro Sōshi'', no record survives today of earlier forms of Ryukyuan music and dance. Though reflective of ancient folk traditions, the poetry also reflects the intricate links the Ryukyus enjoyed with other nearby states. Many of the Ryukyuan islands, largely culturally and linguistically isolated, are mentioned, along with various locations in Japan, China, Southeast Asia, and the South Seas. The ''Omoro Sōshi'' was first compiled in 1531, and again in 1613 and 1623, as part of attempts by the royal government to secure their cultural or spiritual legitimacy and power. The first compilation came just after the reign of
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 ...
, who consolidated, centralized, and reformed the government, and the second came just after Ryukyu became a direct vassal to Satsuma. At both times, cultural and ideological means, as well as more mundane political ones, were needed to ensure unity and to maintain a connection to tradition and history. Only a small handful of scholars has studied the documents in any significant depth. The vast changes in Ryukyuan culture and language over the last several centuries have made the poetry difficult to access and understand, and Iha Fuyū (d. 1947) and Nakahara Zenchū (d. 1964) were among the only ones to extensively study it. Iha, Nakahara, and several others have used the compilation as a basis for research into ancient Ryukyuan customs and society. Thorough analysis has yielded elements of a foundation of understanding of ancient governance, social structures, and folk religion, but it cannot be expected that a comprehensive understanding may be derived from the material.


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Omoro soshi Ryukyu Kingdom Japanese poetry anthologies