Multidisciplinary research about historical and geographical condition and meaning of Ryukyu Island in South sea area

本文的主要目的是从多角度考察南海地区的历史地理条件。以往的琉球地理研究多将城市、村落、民俗、贸易等作为单独的专题进行研究。这些研究也大多集中在冲绳或奄美地区的一个地区。然而，这些个案研究的累积，并不能为我们展现出东海或南海大背景下琉球的全貌。因此，本研究以中国大陆、台湾、越南、菲律宾、冲绳、奄美等沿海地区为研究对象，进行田野调查，探讨都市与乡村景观、传统地理观的影响与接受、传统农作物的传播过程、商品交换与贸易、饮食文化的比较、过去与现在地理教育的差异。通过这种多角度的研究，可以在很大程度上厘清琉球历史的多层次性。该成果的一部分由参与研究的研究人员发表，并于2007年在冲绳县档案馆举行的国际研究会议上发表。我们还发表了研究报告来介绍我们的部分结果。然而，这些成就并没有实现我们的最初目标。我们可以厘清南海地区历史地理事件的大部分扩散过程与变迁，但遗憾的是，本研究的成果仅限于确定文化事件在一个方向上的扩散与影响。在漫长的历史长河中，文化的相互作用和传播往往会以最复杂的行为方式向多个方向交织和纠缠，并通过向各个方向的移动，创造出全新的条件。我们未来的目标是澄清这种多方向的现象，加深我们对这一地区的了解。

This paper's main aim was to investigate historical and geographical conditions in South Sea area from many angles. Previous geographical studies on Ryukyu Islands handled cites, villages, folk custom, trade, etc. separately as an individual topic. Most of those studies focused on one district of Okinawa or Amami area, too. The accumulation of those individual studies, however, does not show us the overall picture of Ryukyu in vast context of East China Sea or South China Sea. Therefore, this study carried out the field research of coast area of China, Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Okinawa and Amami, and studied on city and village landscape, influence and acceptance of traditional geographical view, the propagation process of traditional farm crop, exchange of goods and trading, comparison on food culture, and difference in geographical education in past and today. By this effort to study Ryukyu from many angles, we could clarify the multi-layered historical rolls of Ryukyu for great degree. This achievement was partially published by participating researchers, and in the international research conference at Okinawa Prefectural Archives in 2007. We also published the research report to introduce part of our result. These achievements, however, have not fulfilled our original aim. We could clarify most of the diffusion process and modification of historical and geographical affairs in South Sea area, but we regret that our achievement in this study was limited to identify the diffusion and influence of cultural affair in one direction only. In long history, cultural interaction and diffusion would mix and tangle in multi directions in most complicate behavior, and by moving in every direction, it would create completely new condition. It is our future aim to clarify such multi directional phenomena and to deepen our understanding in this region.