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Ryukyuan Culture
Ryukyuan culture (琉球の文化, ''Ryūkyū no bunka'') are the cultural elements of the indigenous Ryukyuan people, an ethnic group native to Okinawa Prefecture and parts of Kagoshima Prefecture in southwestern Japan. The cultural elements of the Ryukyuans are far from a unified entity, with different islands having their own distinct subculture and practices. Furthermore, the inhabitants of the Tokara and Ōsumi Islands are of Yamato Japanese descent, akin to the inhabitants of mainland Japan. Music There are many styles of music exclusive to the Ryukyu Islands. The most popular one is arguably the genre of eisa from the Okinawa Islands. It typically incorporates dancing, taiko drums and the three-stringed sanshin (Okinawan shamisen). In the Amami Islands of Kagoshima, a musical style known as shima-uta has gained recent popularity in mainland Japan as a result of its usage by contemporary singers. Besides eisa and shima-uta, there are many more traditional styles of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ryukyuan People
The are a Japonic-speaking East Asian ethnic group indigenous to the Ryukyu Islands, which stretch from the island of Kyushu to the island of Taiwan. With Japan, most Ryukyuans live in the Okinawa Prefecture or Kagoshima Prefecture. They speak the Ryukyuan languages, one of the branches of the Japonic language family along with the Japanese language and its dialects. Ryukyuans are not a recognized minority group in Japan, as Japanese authorities consider them a subgroup of the Japanese people, akin to the Yamato people. Although officially unrecognized, Ryukyuans constitute the largest ethnolinguistic minority group in Japan, with more than 1.4 million living in the Okinawa Prefecture alone. Ryukyuans inhabit the Amami Islands of Kagoshima Prefecture as well, and have contributed to a considerable Ryukyuan diaspora. Ryukyuans have a distinct culture with some matriarchal elements, an indigenous religion and a cuisine where rice was introduced fairly late (12th century ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ryukyuan Languages Map
Ryukyu may refer to: * Ryukyu Islands, a volcanic arc archipelago * Ryukyuan languages * Ryukyuan people * Kingdom of Ryukyu (1429–1879) * Ryuko Tatsuma, a character in the animanga series ''My Hero Academia'' See also * Okinawa (other) * Okinawan (other) * Liuqiu * Lewchewan (other) Lewchewan may refer to: * Ryukyuan languages (''Lewchewan languages'') * Ryukyuan people (''Lewchewan people'') See also * Ryukyuan (other) Ryukyu may refer to: * Ryukyu Islands, a volcanic arc archipelago * Ryukyuan languages * Ryukyua ... {{disambig Language and nationality disambiguation pages ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old Japanese
is the oldest attested stage of the Japanese language, recorded in documents from the Nara period (8th century). It became Early Middle Japanese in the succeeding Heian period, but the precise delimitation of the stages is controversial. Old Japanese was an early member of the Japonic language family. No genetic links to other language families have been proven. Old Japanese was written using man'yōgana, which is a writing system that employs Chinese characters as syllabograms or (occasionally) logograms. It featured a few phonemic differences from later forms, such as a simpler syllable structure and distinctions between several pairs of syllables that have been pronounced identically since Early Middle Japanese. The phonetic realization of these distinctions is uncertain. Internal reconstruction points to a pre-Old Japanese phase with fewer consonants and vowels. As is typical of Japonic languages, Old Japanese was primarily an agglutinative language with a subject–obj ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Proto-Japonic
Proto-Japonic, also known as Proto-Japanese or Proto-Japanese–Ryukyuan, is the linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed language ancestral to the Japonic languages, Japonic language family. It has been reconstructed by using a combination of internal reconstruction from Old Japanese and by applying the comparative method to Old Japanese (both the central variety of the Nara area and Eastern Old Japanese dialects) and the Ryukyuan languages. The major reconstructions of the 20th century were produced by Samuel Elmo Martin and Shirō Hattori. Background The Japonic language family comprises Japanese language, Japanese, spoken in the main islands of Japan; Hachijō language, Hachijō, spoken on Hachijō-jima, Aogashima, and the Daitō Islands; and the Ryukyuan languages, spoken in the Ryukyu Islands. Most scholars believe that Japonic was brought to northern Kyushu from the Korean peninsula around 700 to 300 BC by wet-rice farmers of the Yayoi culture and spread throughout the Ja ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Korean Peninsula
Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically divided at or near the 38th parallel between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK). Both countries proclaimed independence in 1948, and the two countries fought the Korean War from 1950 to 1953. The region is bordered by China to the north and Russia to the northeast, across the Amnok (Yalu) and Duman (Tumen) rivers, and is separated from Japan to the southeast by the Korea Strait. Known human habitation of the Korean peninsula dates to 40,000 BC. The kingdom of Gojoseon, which according to tradition was founded in 2333 BC, fell to the Han dynasty in 108 BC. It was followed by the Three Kingdoms period, in which Korea was divided into Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla. In 668 AD, Silla conquered Baekje and Goguryeo with the aid of the Tang dy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yayoi People
The were an ancient people that immigrated to the Japanese archipelago during the Yayoi period (300 BC–300 AD) and are characterized by the existence of Yayoi material culture. Some argue for an earlier start of the Yayoi period, between 1000 and 800 BC, but this date is contested. Classification The terms ''Yayoi'' and Wajin (ancient people), ''Wajin'' can be used interchangeably, though ''Wajin'' (倭人) refers to the people of Wa (name of Japan), Wa, and ''Wajin'' (和人) is also used as a name for the modern Yamato people.David Blake Willis & Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu''Transcultural Japan: At the Borderlands of Race, Gender and Identity,'', p. 272: ‘“Wajin,” which is written with Chinese characters that can also be read “Yamato no hito” (Yamato person)’. The definition of the Yayoi people is complex: ''Yayoi'' describes both farmer-hunter-gatherers exclusively living in the Japanese archipelago and their agricultural transition. ''Yayoi people'' refers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Japanese Language
is the principal language of the Japonic languages, Japonic language family spoken by the Japanese people. It has around 123 million speakers, primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language, and within the Japanese diaspora worldwide. The Japonic family also includes the Ryukyuan languages and the variously classified Hachijō language. There have been many Classification of the Japonic languages, attempts to group the Japonic languages with other families such as Ainu languages, Ainu, Austronesian languages, Austronesian, Koreanic languages, Koreanic, and the now discredited Altaic languages, Altaic, but none of these proposals have gained any widespread acceptance. Little is known of the language's prehistory, or when it first appeared in Japan. Chinese documents from the 3rd century AD recorded a few Japanese words, but substantial Old Japanese texts did not appear until the 8th century. From the Heian period (794–1185), extensive waves of Sino-Ja ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amami Language
The The name ''Amami-guntō'' was standardized on February 15, 2010. Prior to that, another name, ''Amami shotō'' (奄美諸島), was also used. is a Japanese archipelago in the Satsunan Islands, which is part of the Ryukyu Islands, and is southwest of Kyushu. Administratively, the group belongs to Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. The Geospatial Information Authority of Japan and the Japan Coast Guard agreed on February 15, 2010, to use the name of for the Amami Islands. Prior to that, was also used. The name of Amami is probably cognate with , the goddess of creation in the Ryukyuan creation myth. Geography The Amami Islands are limestone islands of coralline origin and have a total area of approximately , of which constitute the city (''-shi'') of Amami, and constitute the district (''-gun'') of Oshima. The highest elevation is ''Yuwandake'' with a height of on Amami Ōshima. The islands have a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification ''Cfa'') with very warm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yonaguni
, one of the Yaeyama Islands, is the westernmost island of Japan, lying from the east coast of Taiwan, between the East China Sea and the Philippine Sea. The island is administered as the Towns of Japan, town of Yonaguni, Okinawa, Yonaguni, Yaeyama, Okinawa, Yaeyama Gun, Okinawa Prefecture, Okinawa, and there are three settlements: Sonai, Kubura, and Higawa. There have been discussions to establish direct ferry services with Taiwan in order to bolster tourism. Name The name ''Yonaguni'' is an exonym related to the native name ''Dunan'' in Yonaguni language, Yonaguni, with the regular sound change of ''*y-'' to ''d-'' and elision of the intervocalic ''*-g-'' in Yonaguni. The form ''yona-'' likely means "grain, rice", seen in other toponyms such as Yonabaru, Okinawa, Yonabaru, hence possibly meaning "grain country". History Early human migration from Taiwan to Yonaguni island has long been the subject of scholarly debate. In 2019, a team of Japanese and Taiwanese researchers suc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yaeyama Language
The Yaeyama language (, ''Yaimamuni'') is a Southern Ryukyuan language spoken in the Yaeyama Islands, the southernmost inhabited island group in Japan, with a combined population of about 53,000. The Yaeyama Islands are situated in the Southern Ryukyu Islands, southwest of the Miyako Islands and to the east of Taiwan. Yaeyama (''Yaimamunii'') is most closely related to Miyako. The number of competent native speakers is not known; as a consequence of Japanese language policy which refers to the language as the , reflected in the education system, people below the age of 60 tend to not use the language except in songs and rituals, and the younger generation exclusively uses Japanese as their first language. As compared to the Japanese ''kokugo,'' or Japanese national language, other Ryukyuan languages such as Okinawan and Amami have also been referred to as dialects of Japanese. Yaeyama is noted as having a comparatively lower "language vitality" among neighboring Ryukyuan lang ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miyakoan Language
The Miyakoan language ( ''Myākufutsu/Myākufutsї'' or ''Sumafutsu/Sїmafutsї'', ) is a diverse dialect cluster spoken in the Miyako Islands, located southwest of Okinawa. The combined population of the islands is about 52,000 (as of 2011). Miyakoan is a Southern Ryukyuan language, most closely related to Yaeyama. The number of competent native speakers is not known; as a consequence of Japanese language policy which refers to the language as the , reflected in the education system, people below the age of 60 tend to not use the language except in songs and rituals, and the younger generation mostly uses Japanese as their first language. Miyakoan is notable among the Japonic languages in that it allows non-nasal syllable-final consonants, something not found in most Japonic languages. Dialects The most divergent dialect is Tarama, spoken on Tarama Island, the farthest island away. The other dialects cluster as Ikema– Irabu and Central Miyako. Given the low degree ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kunigami Language
Kunigami or Northern Okinawan (, , ) is a Ryukyuan language of Northern Okinawa Island in Kunigami District and city of Nago, otherwise known as the Yanbaru region, historically the territory of the kingdom of Hokuzan. The Nakijin dialect is often considered representative of Kunigami, analogous to the Shuri- Naha dialect of Central Okinawan. The number of fluent native speakers of Kunigami is not known. As a result of Japanese language policy, the younger generation mostly speaks Japanese as their first language. Location In addition to the northern portion of Okinawa Island, Kunigami is spoken on the small neighboring islands of Ie, Tsuken and Kudaka. Scope and classification ''Glottolog'', following Pellard (2009), classifies Kunigami with Central Okinawan as the two Okinawan languages. ''Ethnologue'' adds Okinoerabu and Yoron; these (along with all other languages of the northern Ryukyu Islands) are classified as Amami languages by ''Glottolog''. The UNESCO ''A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
