The ''Sanshikan'' (), or Council of Three, was a
government body
A government or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an administratio ...
of the
Ryūkyū Kingdom
The Ryukyu Kingdom, Middle Chinese: , , Classical Chinese: (), Historical English names: ''Lew Chew'', ''Lewchew'', ''Luchu'', and ''Loochoo'', Historical French name: ''Liou-tchou'', Historical Dutch name: ''Lioe-kioe'' was a kingdom in t ...
, which originally developed out of a council of
regent
A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...
s.
It emerged in 1556, when the young
Shō Gen
was king of the Ryukyu Kingdom from 1556 to 1572. He was called "Gen, the mute."Kerr, George H. (2000). The king required considerable support from the ''Sanshikan'' (Council of Three), the chief council of royal advisors. His reign marked the be ...
, who was
mute, ascended to the throne of Ryūkyū. The council of regents that formed in order to handle this challenge and manage the country on the king's behalf soon grew into an established and powerful government organ. Shō Gen died in 1571, but the Council remained, acting alongside the successive kings in managing the affairs of government. In fact, the ''Articles Subscribed to by the King's Councillors'', which bound the royal government in loyalty and servitude to the Japanese ''
daimyō
were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominal ...
'' of
Satsuma, explicitly prohibit the king from "entrust
ng/nowiki> the conduct of public affairs in the islands to any persons other than San-shi-kuan".[Kerr p163.]
Over time, the Sanshikan eclipsed the power and prestige of the ''sessei
was the highest government post of the Ryūkyū Kingdom below the king; the ''sessei'' served the function of royal or national advisor. In the Ryukyuan language at the time, the pronunciation was closer to ''shisshii'', and has only changed rela ...
'', a post which is often translated as "prime minister," and which served as chief royal advisor. Candidates to join the Council of Three had to live in Shuri, the capital, and had to pass tests of both merit and birth; they had to be of proper aristocratic heritage, and to pass tests of knowledge of literature, ethics, and other classical Chinese subjects. These exams were very much akin to those taken by scholar-bureaucrats
The scholar-officials, also known as literati, scholar-gentlemen or scholar-bureaucrats (), were government officials and prestigious scholars in Chinese society, forming a distinct social class.
Scholar-officials were politicians and governmen ...
in China, but were less strict.
The Council, and ''sessei'', worked alongside the heads of various administrative departments who were known as the Council of Fifteen when assembled. The Fifteen advised the higher-ranking officials on policy, and made recommendations to fill vacancies in the administration.
The ''Sanshikan'' was dismantled along with the rest of the royal government when Ryūkyū was formally annexed by Meiji Japan in the 1870s. Members of Ryūkyū's aristocratic class were allowed to maintain some of their prestige and privileges, but even members of the Council were only afforded the equivalent of the sixth rank in the Japanese Imperial Court structure.
List of ''Sanshikan''
Uncategorized
''Chūkaban'' ()
''Shikaban'' ()
''Yūkaban'' ()
Notes
References
*Kerr, George H. (2000). Okinawa: the History of an Island People. (revised ed.) Boston: Tuttle Publishing.
*Smits, Gregory (1999). "Visions of Ryukyu: Identity and Ideology in Early-Modern Thought and Politics." Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.
External links
中山王府相卿伝職年譜 向祐等著写本
1556 establishments in Asia{{Italic title, reason= :Japanese words and phrases