Eema aji-ganashi of Ruchuu-kuku (Ryukyuan Yaeyama) by Gambargin on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

A concept drawing for the Ryukyuan Woman Warrior of the Historically Wrong Sketch Series: Medieval Revisited which is a recreation of the original HWS series based on the AD 800 - AD 1400 era of warfare. Ruchuu-kuku is derived from the actual name of the United Ryukyuan Kingdom that prospered from early 15th century to late 19th century, though her representation is more fo pre-ryukyuan kingdom era, better known as Sanzan Period (the Three kingdom of Okinawa)

Inspired by the Music: Rising Sun - Okami OST

INTRODUCTION

There's little doubt that Japanese History is one of the well known subject within both academic and casual communities, from it's exotic warrior to it's unique culture. However, the history of the indigenous people that inhabitted parts of what is now today Modern Japan, is very little known. In the north, we have the Ainu people of Hokkaido and to the south west, the Ryukyuan who inhabited the chain of islands between Kyushu to Taiwan. The Ryukyuans, who had successfully established (semi) independent sovereignty in the past, were themselves unique in a way, where their indeginous religion put heavy emphasize on the importance of Women, as opposed to Japanese Shinto where Men are seen as embodiment of purity. Not only that, their culture is uniquely rich, owing to the numerous foreign influence from South-East asia, indigenous peoples of Taiwan, China, Korea as well as the mainland Japanese people.

DRAWING COMMENTARIES

Perhaps, out of all the representations of culture in the historically wrong sketch series, the Ryukyuans occupies a very minor significance as compared to the giant regional power, like that of China, Japan, Korea and other south-east Asian cultures. Despite of that, my interest of these Ryukyuans people came from reading the history of Japan, and how unique their culture and belief was as compared to the mainland japanese people. Most people know or at least, have heard of the Ryukyuan Islands, from Okinawa Islands, which is part of the archipelago that stretched from Kyushu to Taiwan. It was made famous during the American Pacific campaign at Okinawa against the Japanese Empire in WW2, and now serves as one of US military bases in the pacific. Regardless of how one perceive the Ryukyuan people, it's history and it's people, in my opinion, deserves a place in the Historically Wrong Sketch Series

Given the importance of women in the Ryukyuan Societies, Female Warriors or Warrior-pirestess would probably have existed back then, although there's little or no historical records which mentions about their existence, unlike Onna-bugeisha which were told in both Japanese history and poetry.

In this drawing, Lady Yaeyama, a noble hailing from the Yaeyama Islands, just southwest of Okinawa Islands, is depicted in a late stylized Keiko armor, a precursor to O-Yoroi dou armor, which is rather archaic if not anachronistic, given the timeline of the series. On the contrary, her retainer in the background is depicted in lamellar ponco-style, ushikake-shiki armor, the precursor of the common Hon-Kozane dou, Technically Speaking, most of the armors worn by Ryukyuan nobles woudl have had Chinese or Japanese influence, especially in the late 15th century, I decided to opt for Keikoe to give a contrast as well as a much more past image as compared to the typical japanese samurai of the Heian-Jidai or Kamakura-Jidai in the middle ages.

Her armaments also reflected some foreign influence which i decided to put into the drawings. Her curved sword, based on Japanese Tachi, has some Chinese elements, though her dagger is of endogenous design. As to the club she's holding on the left hand, this is based on the japanese Kanabo, a wooden/metal club. All of these weapons would have been prohibitively expensive and reserved only to Nobles, or the richer nobles, as metals were scarce in Ryukyuan Island. The club could somewhat be justified since it could be made of wood with metal spikes/knobs, but for poorer warriors, the use of wooden polearms, spears, fishing/farming tools as well as traditional weapons used in Ryukyuan Karate would have been much more popular.

As for the other bits and pieces, I have decided to include a Ryukyuan Sisha, a short of guradian animal which is mix of dog and lion, commonly found in Okinawa. Also, a variants of mitsudomoe is depicted on many of the banners in the drawing, resembling the symbols used for Ryukyuan Kingdom (Such symbol could also be found in another Island Culture, like in Jeju Island of Korea).

Dedicated to Eva for her continuous support and helping with the names for the Ryukyuan character

Please apology for any error or lack of accuracy in armors and anatomy, as I made the drawing in hurry while on my travel.

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References and Other Related Media

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Please see - Chinese and the Mongols and the Koreans , The Japanese

A Part of the Historically Wrong Sketch Series: Medieval Revisited - You can find more on the various faction on the map here:

HISTORICAL COMMENTARIES

Is under construction.