Transforming Visions for the Future: Ifa Fuyū’s Search of Okinawan-Japanese Identity (original) (raw)

The life and work of I Fu ū (1876-1947), h ' h Ok ud ,' continue to garner attention in postwar Okinawa-Japan discourse. His pioneering works in Ryukyuan linguistics, history, folklore, art, and religion have gained considerable respect over three quarters of a century, but he is also perceived as a multifaceted thinker whose reputation as a public intellectual is not completely settled. The purpose of this paper is to reveal the complex nature of Okinawan-J p d h I Fu ū ugh , which may have broad implications for our future vision about ourselves especially h h ugh J p ' m d z Meiji Restoration. Born in Naha in 1876, I g up m p l c l d cul u l m l. J p ' annexation of the Ryukyus began in 1872, which was brought to completion in 1879 when Okinawa prefecture replaced the Ryukyu Domain. Cultural, political, and educational reform followed to integrate Okinawa into Japan, which ranged from changes in hairstyle and attire to the promotion of standard Japanese and State Shintoism. Ifa himself started to learn standard Japanese at age 11 in primary school. He graduated from Third High School in Kyoto, and subsequently became the first Okinawan to earn a degree from Tokyo Imperial University in 1906 in the area of linguistics. His earliest aspiration was, however, politics, not linguistics. The linguistic background Ifa obtained at Tokyo Imperial University helped him unveil the ancient Ryukyuan world dimly transmitted through Omoro sōshi, a compilation of Ryukyuan poems, songs, and oracles, which he later collated and published in 1925. He not only deciphered a language that had become largely impenetrable by the end of the 19 th century but also made a number of discoveries that linked the Ryukyuan language to the Japanese language. In particular Ifa accumulated evidences that the Ryukyuan language contains a wealth of features that belong most distinctively to classical Japanese. He concluded that the Ryukyuan and Japanese languages branched off a common stem well before Asuka Period, a view endorsed broadly by historical linguists today.