沖 縄縣 屋部村落의 古文書와 그 特徵

Abstract

The documents found in Yabu(屋部) village, Okinawa, Japan may be classified into four categories: funeral and ancestor worship, family history, local history, and court records. Most of them are the documents regarding funerals and ancestor worship ceremonies since the 19th century. The list of givers and gifts including money was recorded in these documents.

There are also the documents of family and local history, which were recorded for common people to move toward the aristocratic class during Meiji era. In those days, furthermore, when a family had a misfortune, they came to believe that they had neglected the worship of their ancestors. Such an idea made them record the oral family history. The efforts to link one's ancestor with the king of Ryukyu resulted in recording the oral local history.

Particularly, the court records of January 19, 1885 (Meiji's 18th year) were about the disputes of land ownership between Fugu (久護) family and common villagers. They show that commoners tried to increase their interests when the influences of the bureaucratic class such as Fugu family in Ryukyu were weakened by the annexation of Ryukyu to Japan in 1879.