While researching a family lineage I came across the following entry for a person:
“1757/12/01: He becomes hissha of the Takajo.”
Such are the entries in genealogies. That is, basically every second word is an obsolete term the meaning of which is unknown.
It is therefore important to understand the terms used for duties (like hissha or clerk) as well as the royal government institutions, like Takajo.
The Takajo was a royal government office overseeing the cargo taken by tribute ships to China. It also assessed the state of farm workers, the annual rice crop yield etc.
The Takajo office building and associated storage facilities were in use from 1733 to 1879. From 1886 until the Battle of Okinawa the site was used for the Prefectural Normal School, that is the teachers training college were Itosu Ankō was the karate instructor. Many of the early Shuri-te masters came from this school.
In 1986 the Okinawa Prefectural University of Arts was established on the grounds. This university was the working place of a number of karate men, including Miyagi Tokumasa, Nakaima Kenji (the 5th generation sōke of Ryū’ei-ryū), and Sakumoto Tsuguo.
On the other side of the street you’ll find a romantic old style tea house/restaurant which you should check out when there. It is a famous place.
All this is located at 1-4, Shuri Tonokura-cho, Naha-shi, Okinawa-ken, 903-8602.
Location of the Takajo from an old map in today’s 1-4, Shuri Tonokura-cho, Naha-shi, Okinawa-ken, 903-8602. Source: Flicker. “Artwork” by me.
© 2016, Andreas Quast. All rights reserved.