Comparative Folklore Study of Kinship Ties Among the Shizoku (Elite) Clans in Okinawa

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This research project focused on field studies of shizoku clans in Okinawa, an area that has not been investigated extensively in the study of clans (munchu) in Okinawa. These shizoku clans differ from the munchu of the ordinary people in that their genealogy is duly recorded. However, many shizoku clans that moved to the countryside to engage in farming after the Ryukyus became a prefecture during the Meiji Period have also failed to keep proper records, rendering some records ambiguous or dubious.An attempt was made to compare the shizoku clans and the peasant clans in Yagaji in Nago City, northern Okinawa. The shizoku clans came during the period from the late modern period to the Meiji Era when the shizoku in Shuri or Naha stopped being paid their stipend as public servants and had to move to the countryside. These people, who had no land, earned a living in Yagaji by making salt and eventually settled there.The shizoku clans recorded their genealogical ties, which extended all ove … More r the Okinawa island. The internal structure of the shizoku clans was multilayered, with the head family at its center, while the sub-head family or the main family branch presiding over the regional branches. The sub-head family or main regional branch exercised leadership through ancestor warship and other activities participated in by the various branches.Even shizoku clans do not necessarily have a family register or a flawless genealogy. Some clans claim shizoku ancestry through oral tradition, but there might be some ambiguity in their genealogical records, or their relationship with ancestors of the older generations may not be clear, or clan members do not have close contacts through ancestor worship and other activities. Yet, the clan members regard themselves as shizoku and they are recognized as such by other people. It was leamed that although shizoku clans are characterized by explicit genealogical trees and proper relationships with the family branches, there are some clans that are ambiguous in this respect.Field study was also conducted on the shizoku clans of Shuri and of Kume Village, who trace their roots to China Internally, the clan is always divided into branches, with the head family in the center and sub-head families further down the hierarchy. Specific ancestor worship activities are conducted separately within the scope of the head family, sub-head family or the main family branch. By investigating each ancestor worship activity based on the factors defining such activities, analysis was made on the how the internal structure of the munchu correspond to ancestor worship rituals. Less