, also known by his Chinese style name , was a bureaucrat of the

Ryukyu Kingdom The Ryukyu Kingdom was a kingdom in the Ryukyu Islands from 1429 to 1879. It was ruled as a Tributary system of China, tributary state of Ming dynasty, imperial Ming China by the King of Ryukyu, Ryukyuan monarchy, who unified Okinawa Island t ...

. He was the ninth head of an aristocrat family, '' Ba-uji Yonabaru Dunchi'' (). He was dispatched to China to pay tribute together with Ryō Kō () in 1762,''Chūzan Seifu'', vol.10 and was sent to

Satsuma Satsuma may refer to: * Satsuma (fruit), a citrus fruit * ''Satsuma'' (gastropod), a genus of land snails Places Japan * Satsuma, Kagoshima, a Japanese town * Satsuma District, Kagoshima, a district in Kagoshima Prefecture * Satsuma Domain, a ...

to report this in 1665. Yonabaru served as a member of 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 ...

'' from 1769 to 1796.中山王府相卿伝職年譜　向祐等著写本
/ref> He managed to run the country by

Confucianism Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China, and is variously described as a tradition, philosophy, Religious Confucianism, religion, theory of government, or way of li ...

, and earned the nickname . He put forward a proposal to make the first

statutory law A statute is a law or formal written enactment of a legislature. Statutes typically declare, command or prohibit something. Statutes are distinguished from court law and unwritten law (also known as common law) in that they are the expressed wi ...

in Ryukyuan history together with his two colleagues, Miyahira Ryōtei and Wakugawa Chōkyō, and the ''

sessei was the highest government post of the Ryūkyū Kingdom below the king; the ''sessei'' served the function of royal or national advisor. In the Ryukyuan languages, Ryukyuan language at the time, the pronunciation was closer to ''shisshii'', and h ...

'' Yuntanza Chōkō in 1775. This proposal was approved by King

Shō Boku was a king of Ryukyu. His reign began in 1752. Life Although a period of relative stability, he had to contend with a tsunami in 1771 that devastated the Miyako Islands and Yaeyama Islands. His reign also saw the Chinese envoy Chou Huang w ...

. The law was completed by Ie Chōkei and Kōchi Ryōtoku in 1786. It was called '' Ryūkyū Karitsu'' (), and was jointly signed by Yonabaru and his two colleagues, Fukuyama Chōki () and Ie Chōkei. It was officially promulgated and implemented by the king in the same year.Ryūkyū Karitsu
" ''Okinawa konpakuto jiten'' (沖縄コンパクト事典, "Okinawa Compact Encyclopedia"). Yonabaru was skilled at ''ryūka'' poetry. He was designated a member of the .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryoku, Yonabaru 1718 births 1797 deaths Sanshikan 18th-century Ryukyuan people