Tamagusuku Chōkun

Who was Tamagusuku Chōkun?

Tamagusuku Chōkun, also known by the Chinese-style name Shō Juyū, was a Ryukyuan aristocrat-bureaucrat credited with the creation of the Ryukyuan dance-drama form known as kumi odori.

Tamagusuku was born in what is today the Gibo neighborhood of Shuri. A member of the aristocrat-bureaucrat class of the Kingdom of the Ryūkyū, Tamagusuku had already journeyed to Edo and Kagoshima five times before being named udui bugyō in 1715. The title was first held by Tansui Ueekata, and was a post chiefly responsible for organizing the formal entertainments of the Chinese investiture envoys to Ryukyu.

Having studied and viewed various Japanese dance and drama forms during his trips to Edo and Kagoshima, including Noh, kabuki and kyōgen, after regaining the title of udui bugyô in 1718, Tamagusuku formulated the dance-drama form known as kumi udui in Okinawan, and as kumi odori in Japanese. It was then performed for the first time, before the Chinese investiture envoys, on a chrysanthemum-viewing day, the ninth day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar, the following year.

The two plays performed that day are called Nidō Tichiuchi and Shūshin Kani'iri.