渡琉日記

Main author, Hetsuyō, afterwards Misao Tanshin. Diary of a trip where they carried payments up to the government from Okinoerabu Island for King Sho Iku’s appointment, called “Inu no Okansen”.Even though Hetsuyō (1800-1861) and his company departed on the 5th of April the same year, because of an accident at sea, they abandoned the pigs and found another payment instead. Whilst staying in Naha, they attended banquets with the Chinese Rin Zeng-Gao and the Anji Tomigusuku, and there they learnt to write Chinese poetry, and through their exchange with the Ryukyuan officials the banquet progressed onto the composition and exchange of Ryuka. Also having learnt the basics of Chinese medicine and observing rites and ceremonies at Sōgenji, on the 29th of June they started to make their way back, and on the 12th of July returned home. It’s an important diary which can’t be seen anywhere else, showing the extent of the education of Hetsuyō and the officials of Okinoerabu Island, and how the exchange of investiture parties should take place.