“In the 13th year of King Shō Iku’s reign (1847), Satsuma conferred husked rice and edible seaweed.”
Since the year of the Dragon [1844], ships from both France and England repeatedly arrived in this country [Ryūkyū]. They made all kinds of disrespectful requests which harmed this country’s own affairs. Moreover, persons from both these countries came ashore and stayed for a long time, even more so since they were two countries [and not just one]. Last autumn, due to the issue of said French and English persons, a special envoy was dispatched to China. At a time when the entire country was hard-pressed and weary, and moreover met with the greatest expenses, on top of being weary there was additional weary, and to poorness came even more poorness. When Lord Shimazu heard about this, he granted [Ryūkyū] the huge favor of 300 koku of husked rice and ten thousand catty of edible seaweed as an emergency relief.
© 2017, Andreas Quast. All rights reserved.