The Appearance and Disappearance of Ryukyu: The Historical Views of Tō Teikan, Motoori Norinaga, and Ueda Akinari

Edo-era Japanese intellectuals viewed the Ryukyu Kingdom (now Okinawa Prefecture) as occupying an ambiguous geopolitical space, neither fully foreign nor entirely native. This perspective emerged from debates between Motoori Norinaga and Ueda Akinari, who both engaged with Tō Teikan's controversial claims in Shōkōhatsu (1781), which suggested continental influences on ancient Japan and proposed that Emperor Jimmu had Ryukyuan origins. While Norinaga opposed the latter idea but acknowledged possible ties between Ryukyu and Japan, Akinari remained agnostic about Jimmu's origins while supporting continental influence. Their debate influenced 19th-century depictions of Ryukyu’s historical and cultural connections to Japan, notably in Kyokutei Bakin’s Chinsetsu yumiharizuki (1811). The study reconstructs these intellectual tensions using historiographical analysis.

McNally, M. T. (2025). The Appearance and Disappearance of Ryukyu: The Historical Views of Tō Teikan, Motoori Norinaga, and Ueda Akinari. Histories, 5(3), 32. https://doi.org/10.3390/histories5030032