Explore: Ryukyu Poetry

Ryukyu Islands (琉球列島, Ryūkyū Rettō), also known as the Nansei Islands (南西諸島, Nansei Shotō; lit. 'Southwest Islands') or the Ryukyu Arc (琉球弧, Ryūkyū-ko)

Ryukyuans are a Japonic-speaking East Asian ethnic group indigenous to the Ryukyu Islands, which stretch from the island of Kyushu to the island of Taiwan

The Ryukyu Kingdom (1372–1879) on Okinawa Island used various writing conventions, all of which were markedly different from spoken registers. A unique

Ryūka (琉歌, lit. "Ryūkyū song/poem") is a genre of songs and poetry originating from the Okinawa Islands, Okinawa Prefecture of southwestern Japan. Most

The Ryukyuan languages (琉球語派, Ryūkyū-goha; also 琉球諸語, Ryūkyū-shogo or 島言葉 in Ryukyuan, Shima kotoba, literally "Island Speech"), also Lewchewan or Luchuan

wild in the forests of Japan and are referred to in the poetry of the early Japanese and Ryukyu Islands kingdoms. The Tanaka System assigns them their

Okinawan, known as Old Okinawan. After Ryukyu became a vassal of Satsuma Domain, kanji gained more prominence in poetry; however, official Ryukyuan documents

Though reflective of ancient folk traditions, the poetry also reflects the intricate links the Ryukyus enjoyed with other nearby states. Many of the Ryukyuan

medieval waka (poetry) and his most recent work examines how traditional Japanese literature and culture was practiced and deployed in the Ryukyu Kingdom both

growing in the wild, and the mention of both in the early poetry of the Japanese and Ryukyu kingdoms suggests that these hybridization events occurred