Links & FAQs for RC&T Forum

Here is a preliminary list of links to additional information on the Ryukyuan Culture. I highly encourage everyone to add to this list.

Thanks,

_____________________
Doug Daulton
Moderator
Okinawan Martial Arts


<b>LINKS: Ryukyuan Culture and Traditions</b><font size="2"><ul type="disc"><li><a href="http://www.pref.okinawa.jp/">Okinawa Prefecture: Official Website</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.okinawa.com/home.html">Okinawa.com: Need I say more?</a></li>
<li><a href="http://japaneseculture.about.com/culture/japaneseculture/cs/okinawa/index.htm">About.com: Guide To Okinawa</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.ryukyushimpo.co.jp/english/eindex.html">Ryukyu Shinmpo: Okinawa's Major Newspaper [In English]</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.okinawatimes.co.jp/index-e.html">Okinawa Times : Another major newspaper [In English]</a></li>
<li><a href="http://leahi.kcc.hawaii.edu/pub/wip/afuji.ap7.html">Okinawan Language: A Personal Study</a></li>
<li><a href="http://nifty.asahi.com/paper/okinawa/index_e.html#list">Asahi.com: Okinawa</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.uchinanchu.org/">Okinawan Peace Network of Los Angeles</a></li>
<li><a href="http://faculty.tamu-commerce.edu/sarantakes/Okinawa.html">Okinawa: The American Years, 1945-1972</a></li>
</ul></font>

ADDED 10-11-2001<ul><li>Ryukyu Cultural Archives (by Okinawa Prefecture)<li>Okinawa Faces & Voices<li>The 'peaceable kingdom' reasserts its identity by Robin Thompson<li>Naomi's Okinawa Connection
<li>Okinawa Information.com<li>Virtual Okinawa<li><a href=http://www.okinawa.com/uchinanchu_network/uchinanet.html target=_blank>Uchinanchu Network</a>:A great mailing list about all things Okinawan. <li><a href=http://www.okinawamarket.com target=_blank>okinawamarket.com</a><ul>

A website: http://www.niraikanai.wwma.net/index.html -- "Contemporary Okinawa Website".

And another, this time to Hawaii's United Okinawan Association. http://www.hawaiiokinawa.com/clubs2.html . The June Arakawa noted is the widow of Tomu Arakawa; while Mr. Arakawa was shin-Issei, she was Nisei and her jobs included English-language radio announcer. If I read my old newspapers correctly, her sister was among the 48 (or is it 68 -- sources disagree) civilians killed during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Note also the descriptions of Okinawan sumo, or tegumi. I mention this because lots of Japanese-speaking gaijin mistake this word for a Japanese word meaning something like H2H. Thus all those "death matches" were more likely Okinawan sumo.

Some books.

United Okinawan Association. *Uchinanchu: A Pictorial Tribute to Okinawans in Hawaii* (Honolulu: EastWest Magazine, 1990). I got my copy about 1992 from Hawaii; the United Okinawan Association was selling them through its visitor center/store. I don't know if it is still available or not. While checking with United Okinawan Association, also ask about *Hui O Laulima, Okinawan Cookery and Culture* (Honolulu: Fisher Printing, 1984) and *Of Andagi and Sanshin: Okinawan Culture in Hawai’i,* Ruth Adaniya, Alice Njus, and Margaret Yamate, editors (Honolulu: Hui O Laulima, 1988); Tomu Arakawa had an article in the latter.

Fisch, Arnold G. Jr. *Military Government in the Ryukyu Islands 1945-1950* (Washington, DC: Center of Military History, 1988). I believe this one is still in print and being sold through either CMH or USGPO.

Haring, Douglas G. *Okinawan Customs: Yesterday and Today* (Rutland, VT: Charles E. Tuttle, 1969). Probably out of print, but I found one in a used book store.

*History of the Okinawans in North America, translation of Hokubei Okinawajin shi,* translated by Ben Kobashigawa (Los Angeles: University of California and the Okinawan Club of America, 1988); Kentsu Yabu is featured.

I used to have Kerr's book but it went for a walk.

Lebra's books everyone should have read by now. (He died recently, by the way. However, you may not have seen his article "The Okinawans," in *People and Cultures of Hawaii: A Psychocultural Profile,* John F. McDermott, Jr., Wen-shing Tseng, and Thomas W. Maretzki, editors (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1980).

Sakamaki, Shunzo. *Ryukyu: A Bibliographic Guide to Okinawan Studies* (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1963). This is probably out of print, but might be worth checking. There are some errors in the karate book history, but hey, it's a start.

Sakihara, Mitsugu. *A Brief History of Early Okinawa Based on the Omoro Sôshi* (Tokyo: Honpo Shoseki Press, 1987). Check Kunikuniya; that was where I got mine.

Sturdevant, Saundra Pollock and Brenda Stoltzfus. *Let the Good Times Roll: Prostitution and the U.S. Military in Asia* (New York: New Press, 1992). People forget that before 1972, prostitution employed about 15% of the island's work force, and was the largest single source of income. (Sugar was number two.) Since 1972 most of the women have become Thai or Pilipina, but the "entertainment industry" remains Okinawa's number one source of revenue. In this, it is hardly unique -- prostitution is also a major source of revenue for London and Amsterdam.

T’sao Yung-ho. "Pepper Trade in East Asia," *T’oung Pao,* 58, 4-5 (1982). Unfortunately I don't have a copy, just a few scribbled notes, but you could probably order a copy from University of Washington's East Asia Library via their Express research service.

Yeah, tegumi, secret sport loved by everyone on Okinawa.:-)

Like saying in America there is a secret sport or art called WWF.:D

Well, you know about it and I know about it, but evidently lots of folks who write karate books don't know about it. The same folks also describe "death matches" in which both guys went on to live another fifty years.

Hmm.

Folks,

I am in the process of updating this link list. Please provide links in replies to this thread. I will compile the results into a master list which will act as an FAQ/reference library for this forum.

Thanks,

Doug Daulton
Moderator
Okinawan Martial Arts

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Joseph Svinth ...
I used to have Kerr's book but it went for a walk.

---

Joe,

Okinawa: History of an Island People by George Kerr is now available again from Tuttle. [IBSN: 0-8048-2087-2]


Enjoy,

Folks,

I added some new links. CHeck out the first post in this thread.

Regards,

http://kobudo.lap.hu/