I have written about this before in my Karate 1.0 from 2013. Here I will expand about it.
The Sanshi Incident was a murder case of a prefectural official in Okinawa Prefecture in the early Meiji period. The name of the case comes from the fact that the victim was among those who supported (sansei, Oki. sanshi) the new government after the Disposition of Ryūkyū.
The incident is said to be one of the reasons why the Meiji government adopted the policy of preservation of old customs to appease the ruling class of the former Ryūkyū Kingdom after the establishment of Okinawa Prefecture.
Signed with a seal of blood against cooperation with the government
According to the testimony of the headman of Shimoji Village, Okuhira Chōkō, who served as one of “Shuri’s Great Stewards” at the tribute tax office of Miyako (kuramoto), in April of 1890, in order to deal with the remaining affairs of the former Ryūkyūdomain, the leaders of the resident magistracy (zaiban) and the tribute tax office of Miyako gathered at the home of former resident commissioner, Nakamura Chōryō. At the meeting, a written oath was drawn up, saying, “After consultation, with the intention of restoring the feudal government [of Ryūkyū] by all means, Sunakawa Ryōshō and I become the leaders,” and it passed without objection.
Sunakawa Ryōshō was the headman (gashira) of Taira, i.e., a leader of the samurē class of Miyako, but since he was old and deaf, the headman of Shimoji, Okuhira Chōkō, took initiative on his behalf.
The oath was circulated step by step to lower-level officials, and with the consent and suggestion of the village headmen (yunchū) who were the administrative persons in charge, it was decided that all samurē and commoners of all villages had to sign the oath with a blood seal, reporting that “With full consent of the former village headmen and other officials, we report to you that all samurē and commoners in each village without omission have to sign the oath with a seal of blood immediately.”
They gathered at “Hall of the Incarnation of the Buddha,” and everyone sealed the oath with blood, except Sunakawa Ryōshō, who, since he was so old, performed the blood seal at a later date at his home because.
According to the Tōkyō Nichinichi Shinbun, the oath included the following.
All requests by Yamato people to take up a duty will be refused.
There will be no secret communication and no service at all for the Yamato people.
The persons who disobeys the above conditions will forfeit his life in the village, and his father, mother, wife and children will be exiled.
Note that Yamato people is written as Yamatonchu, a term still regularly heard on Okinawa.
At the end, the written oath is signed by officials and people of each village, and those who denied it were threatened to apply their blood seal by force, and it was carefully stored in the tribute tax office.
Okuhira said that the above written oath was made in Miyako, but the Tokyo Nichinichi Shinbun called this gossip, saying “This oath was circulated by officials of the former [Ryūkyū] domain government, rather than by the stewards on Miyako,” thus insinuating that members of the former royal government in Shuri were responible fot this.
Shimoji government service until the occurrence of the Incident
Shimoji Nīya Risha, a low-ranking samurē from Shimoji Village, succumbed to threats and joined the pact. However, to support his family, he took on a job as an assistant at the new police station.
From the beginning, the leaders knew that Shimoji was working at the police station, but tolerated it. However, after receiving a report from a commoner named Asaki, all members of Shimoji’s family (both parents and younger brothers) were exiled to Irabu Island in accordance with the written oath, to protect the dignity of the tribute tax office leaders.
In response to this, the police immediately summoned village headman Sawada, a leader of the tribute tax office, and ordered him to return Shimoji’s family back from Irabu Island. Afterwards, police questioned Shimoji’s family, and, surprised by the cruelty of the actions, summoned Sawada again and ordered him to bring with him the persons in charge. On July 21, seven people turned themselves in. However, the police officers only issued a warning to these persons.
Meanwhile, Shimoji Nīya caught two suspicious persons on the outside. “Two natives stood outside the police station, holding stones in their hands, and peering inside. The custodian Tarō and Shimoji Nīya immediately questioned the ruffians about their evil intentions, suddenly knocked them down and tied them up, but when the two suspects saw an opportunity during the night, they escaped.”
At around 1:00 pm on the July 22nd, Shimoji Nīya and Ōshiro, the interpreter, went to the Aiya-gawa well to fetch water. Three women were there at the time, talking about yesterday’s arrest made by Shimoji Nīya. One of them was Kinjō Toga, the wife of Kinjō Matsu, a government official of the resident magistracy in Miyako. Although a commoner, he was a gvernment official with a Pēchin title and whose legal domicile was Tōnokura Village in Shuri. Kinjō Toga said, “My husband and all of us are to blame for your deed! The Yamato people didn’t catch anyone walking outside the gates of their government office, but you resented your family for being exiled, so you tied the two up and took them away without permission. As the villagers said this morning, leaving a guy like you alive without knowing how much more you will take revenge on us in the future, we have no choice but to quickly beat you to death and retreat.”
Hearing this, Shimoji Nīya became enraged, grabbed the woman by the hair, and dragged her close to the police station. Thereupon, his colleague, the custodian Tarō, and three ordinary citizens intervened, saying, “If this lady is Kinjō Pēchin’s wife, then she is a noble person, and since she is a woman, you should forgive her little mistake.” So, Shimoji Nīya apologized and released her. However, far from being grateful, the woman ran away after throwing parting threats such as “I’ll take revenge on this enemy soon!”
On this day, in the villages of Nishizato, Nakazato, and Higashi-Nakasone, just as Kinjō Toga has promised, when the momentum was just right, Kinjō Pēchin ran around the villages inciting a riot, saying, “Right now, our wife Toga has been dragged to the government office and suffered such a disgrace by the hands of Shimoji Niya, a guy causing harm to the island not just once or twice. Those who agree with me, let’s go and punish him!” Led by Kinjō Pēchin, the mob headed for the police station.
According to Okuhira’s testimony, he received a report about the affair of Kinjō Matsu’s wife from Sugama village headman Ogimi Chikudun and Irabu Island official Tsukayama Nīya, and said, “Putting aside the question, we cannot control the citizens of the entire island.” In an attempt to capture Shimoji Nīya, he dispatched four custodians to each village to summon the people, but before they received a reply, the people gathered and made a huge fuss.
Therefore, Okuhira ordered, “Shimoji Nīya is supposed to be brought to this office, and it is not possible that he is beaten to death on the way.” Junior clerk Ogimi Nīya and auxiliary officer Katsuren Nīya from Shimozato Village were dispatched, and Okuhira himself headed to the home of former resident commissioner Nakamura Chōryō.
At around 3:00 pm on the 22nd, the mob led by Kinjō Pēchin surrounded the police station. First, Kinjō Pēchin entered through the back gate and went to the station’s back door, shouting, “Is Shimoji Nīya here? He has beating our wife a short while ago and we have come for justice. I need to talk to you about it right now, so come to the gate!”
But there was no response, rather another custodian was seen running off to call the police officers working outside the office. Thereupon Kinjō Pēchin hurried to the front of the station, broke in the front door together with the mob, and seized and kidnapped Shimoji Nīya, who was hiding in the custodians’ room.
The police officer at the station saw the number of insurgents and ignored the kidnapping, thinking that it was too dangerous to provoke them. “Even if I bring Shimoji out of here, I’ll be risking life and limb,” he thought. While ignoring the kidnapping, he hurried to Nakamura Chōryō to requested the arrest of Shimoji Nīya, but late in the evening Shimoji Nīya was reported dead.
According to Okuhira’s testimony, while on the way to Nakamura’s house, he met Nakamura himself together with resident commissioner clerk Ijūin Pēchin, and when they walked together, they met Katsuren Nīya, who had been dispatched earlier, and who reported, “While I had not yet reached the meeting place, a total of 1,200 people from five villages had already gathered, and the person called Shimoji Nīya has already been drawn out from the police station, and on the way has been battered and beaten wildly, and due to the final blows by an unknown person from Higashi-Nakasone Villlage and another person named Kesa, Shimoji Niya finally lost his life.”
Handling the incident
At dawn on the following day, the 23rd, a steamship carrying Police Inspector Anraku Gonchū, who was patrolling the islands in the prefecture, just arrived at Port Harimizu (today’s Hirara Port). Upon receiving the news of his arrival, the police officers from Miyako rushed to the port, and after consultation, Inspector Anraku immediately set out on the return trip, arrived in Naha on the 25th, and reported the incident. Assistant Superintendent of Police Sonoda Yasukata of the Okinawa Prefectural Police Department left Naha on August 2 with three police inspectors and forty-five police officers and arrived on Miyako Island on the 3rd. According to Assistant Superintendent Sonoda’s memo, there was a crowd of insurgents on the mountaintop near the police station, and there was a danger they could be prevented from landing, but then they landed quickly without incident.
As the interrogation progressed, a former domain official who was present at the scene but had nothing to do with the assault, said, the perpetrators plotted to pin the crime on a low-ranking samurē named Shimoji Nīya, who tried to support his family, and when they caught him, Shimoji Nīya confessed to them. Moreover, on August 21, one of the police officers in charge, Maehira Pēchin, committed suicide and this was somehow related to the written oath.
As a result, the following thirteen people were escorted to Naha under guard as suspects.
- Murayoshi Nīya (Shimozato Village samurē class, murderer).
- Kesa (a commoner of Higashi-Nakasone Village, murderer).
- Shimoji Pēchin Okuhira Chōkō (Shimosato Village samurē class).
- Kakinohana Pēchin Keiryū (Higashi-Nakasone Village samurē class).
- Yonabaru Pēchin Kōkei (Shimozato Village samurē class).
- Kamegawa Pēchin Keibi (Shimozato Village samurē class).
- Ijūin Pēchin (Shuri Torikohori Village samurē class).
- Nakamura Pēchin Chōryō (Shuri Samukawa samurē class).
- Ikemura Pēchin (Shimosato Village samurē class).
- Sunagawa Pēchin (Higashi-Nakasone Village samurē class).
- Kinjō Chiku Pēchin Matsu (commoner of Shuri Tōnokura Village).
- Yonabaru Satonushi Pēchin (Shuri Gibo Village samurē class).
- Nozato Pēchin (Tōnokura Village samurē class).
Among them, the following sentences were confirmed.
- Murayoshi Nīya: 3 years
- Kesa: 5 years.
- Okuhira Chōkō: 5 years in prison (later reduced to 4 years due to good behavior).
- Yonabaru Kōkei: 3 years.
- Kamekawa Keibi: 3 years.
- Kakinohana Keiryū: 1 year.
After that, the Meiji government took measures to appease prefectural citizens, and particularly members of the former ruling class. This led to the “preservation of old customs” such as the poll tax and delayed the modernization of Okinawa.
Shimoji’s corpse was picked up by a police officer at the police station and reburied at a temple in Naha with 25 yen for burial expenses and 90 yen of assistance for the bereaved family, which were granted by the government at the request of the prefecture.
Furthermore, in 1921, his younger brother, Shimoji Rikyū, transferred him back to the family grave on Miyako Island, where he was reburied and a gravestone erected next to his birthplace to remind of the incident. When people asked Shimoji Rikyū about the details of the incident, he just cried and said nothing.
The tombstone has endured war damage and remains today as a historic site designated by Nishinakasone, Miyakojima City.
© 2023, Andreas Quast. All rights reserved.