NOTES ON LOOCHOO,
BY
E. SATOW, Esq.
Read before the Asiatic Society of Japan,
on the 30th, October, 1872.
———o———
Loochoo, called Linkin by the Chinese and Riukiu by the Japanese, is the chief island of a group lying in the North Pacific Ocean, between the 24th and 29th parallels of latitude. Its name is said to be derived from a fancied resemblance to a ‘dragon lying stretched out,’ but is not written with the Chinese characters which would bear that interpretation. In the commencement of the 14th century it was split up into three independent sovereignties called Chiuzan, Sannan and Samboku, which were re-united under one monarch about the year 1430. Since that time it has been divided into three provinces, namely, Shimajiri Sei on the south, Chiuzan Sei in the centre, and Kunikia Sei on the north. The central province contains the capital Shiuri and its port Nafa. The whole number of subject islands, including those on the north which in later times were considered as belonging to the Princes of Satsuma, is thirty-six. The smaller ones are administered by a single Governor, while to Taiheizan (or Miyako) Yayéyama and Ôshima[1] three, and to Bashi, two officials are appointed.
The Japanese manuscript account called Riukiu Jiriaku (by Arai Hakuséki), states that the first intercourse between Japan and Loochoo took place in the year 1451,
- ↑ Ôshima, Kikiaga shima, Tokuno shima and Oki no Erabu shima were entirely under the jurisdiction of Satsuma. The author of the Chiuzankoku Shiriaku seems to have been ignorant of this fact. E. S.
