Heshikiya Chōbin

Who was Heshikiya Chōbin?

Heshikiya Chōbin was one of the leaders of a plot to overthrow Sai On, chief royal advisor to King Shō Kei of the Ryūkyū Kingdom, a plot for which he was arrested and executed. Chōbin was a scholar of Japanese literature and member of a pro-Japanese faction in the kingdom's government.

The grandson of a scholar of Japanese studies, Heshikiya Chōbin is said to have been quite talented, and studied Japan from a very young age.

As a member of the Ryūkyū mission to Edo in 1718, Chōbin enjoyed the opportunity to study Japanese subjects there, and to view kabuki, Noh, and ningyō jōruri performances. Upon his return to Okinawa, he viewed the first performances of kumi odori, now a major form of traditional Ryukyuan dance, and created his own piece for the form, a love story entitled temizu no en, in which he incorporated political criticism and evoked the wrath of King Shō Kei. Along with fellow Okinawan government official Tomoyose Anjō, he composed a letter in 1734 to the judicial offices of Japan's Satsuma Domain, of which the Ryūkyū Kingdom was a vassal, criticizing the kingdom's government, in particular royal advisor Sai On, who was accused of being pro-Chinese.