was a legendary local ruler of

Okinawa Island is the largest of the Okinawa Islands and the Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Islands of Japan in the Kyushu region. It is the smallest and least populated of the five main islands of Japan. The island is approximately long, an average wide, and has a ...

. Gihon was the third and last ruler of the Shunten dynasty. He succeeded his father Shunbajunki at the age of 44, in 1248. Gihon's reign was marked by terrible disasters, including famine, epidemics, and devastating

typhoon A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...

s. Around 1254, he appointed a young lord by the name of Eiso to be Regent (''

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 relat ...

''), and to aid in managing these disasters. Gihon felt personally responsible for the disasters and abdicated in 1259 or 1260, and shortly thereafter "withdrew into the forest alone."Kerr, p51. Eiso succeeded him as king and established a new dynasty. The precise location, date, and circumstances of Gihon's death are unknown, though it is safe to assume he died shortly after his abdication. Local legends allege that he was last seen at the cliffs of

Hedo Point , also known as Hedo Point, is the northernmost point on Okinawa Island, located within Kunigami Village. A cape jutting out north from the island, it faces the South China Sea on the west, and the Pacific Ocean on the east. On a particularly c ...

, the northernmost point on

, and his tomb is located nearby.

Notes

References

* Kerr, George H. (1965). ''Okinawa, the History of an Island People.'' Rutland, Vermont: C.E. Tuttle Co
OCLC 39242121
* Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2002)
''Japan Encyclopedia.''
Cambridge:

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the reti ...

.
OCLC 48943301
*Shinzato, Keiji, et al. ''Okinawa-ken no rekishi'' (History of Okinawa Prefecture). Tokyo: Yamakawa Publishing, 1996. p38. 1206 births Year of death unknown Kings of Ryūkyū 13th-century Ryukyuan people {{RyukyuKingdom-stub