Masamori Miyanaga Award to Shigeru Ishigaki for accomplishments as leader in Yaeyama folklore research. (20se22)


Splendor of Okinawa: Zinnia, roadside Uruma, 16se22.


The 5th Masamori Miyanaga Award Presentation Ceremonial Celebration (sponsored by the Yaeyama Daily Report) was held at a city hotel. Shigeru Ishigaki (85),  consultant to the Yaeyama Cultural Research Committee, received the award. A large number of pertinent people flocked to the gathering to laud Ishigaki’s accomplishments. Ishigaki said in gratitude, “I’ve received this splendid award. I’ve passed my days keenly aware of my teacher Miyanaga in my thoughts.”


  1. Masamori Miyanaga’s outstanding achievement was his research on the languages, culture, and arts of Yaeyama and Okinawa.

  2. This is an award given to a person who plays a great role in passing on the festivals and culture of the Yaeyama region, and in passing, Miyanaga, a language scholar born in Ishigaki Island, founded the Yaeyama Daily Report, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary.


Ishigaki passed long years treading the path of research, starting with the Yaeyama language and going on to ballads and folklore. In 2017 he published “Rice Cultivation Rituals and Folklore of the Yaeyama Islands.” In 2019, he published “The World View of Yaeyama’s Folk Language” with his theories on historical events and traditions. He also worked on publications on the advanced studies of Miyanaga and Eiken Kishiba, father of Yaeyama studies: “Sweet Grind:  a Magazine commemorating 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Eiken Kishiba” and “Masamori Miyanaga Memorial Essays.” Ishigaki is highly regarded as a driver in the field of Yaeyama research.


Ishigaki stated his ambition, “I have been diligently working on the accumulation of linguistic terms among the bright waves of my home island and the Ishigaki dialect. The very thought of hearing my dialect every day is a joy. I want to keep living while thinking of the happiness of being on this island of treasures.”


At the award ceremony, Committee Chair Keiichi Karimata introduced Ishigaki’s accomplishments. Masahito Maedomari, mayor of Taketomi town and vice-chair of the Yaeyama Municipal Area Association, gave a congratulatory address, as did Director Jun Sone, who read an address on behalf of Prefectural Governor Denny Tamaki. At the celebration party, Board of Education Member Ayako Kinjo gave a celebratory address. Chair of the Ishigaki City Assembly Hideyuki Taira made the toast.


Eiichi Ishigaki gave a greeting on behalf of the whole Ishigaki family, boasting, “His folklore investigative research, which includes painstaking fieldwork activities and numberless documents, is recognized worldwide. He deserves the award. He’s the pride of the Ishigaki family and the Shiraho district.” Ishigaki’s relatives and friends from Shiraho added flowers to the onstage celebration.


Original Japanese article: Yaeyama Daily Report, published Tuesday 20 September 2022 at 04:01.

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/a6505be7f6df5037559685a381034271be7f9654


Denny in the News: news about Governor Denny Tamaki.

Denny Tamaki is the governor of Okinawa Prefecture in Japan. Although Okinawa is important as an international tourist destination and a key element in strategic US Military Forces, its governor receives very little coverage in the Japanese press and almost none in the English language media. 

  1. This blog hopes to  translate one news article a day on the governor.  It is unsponsored and unauthorized. The translator simply hopes to improve his skills and perhaps give the governor an English speaking audience. 

  2. Any suggestion on improving the translation will be gratefully accepted. However, please leave political comments for another forum.

  3. Where they occur, words and phrases in Ryukyuan (the Okinawan language) are rendered in italics and translated in parentheses. Names  whose readings are uncertain are rendered as Name (=Kanji?) as in Nagayuki (=長行?). Any corrections in such instances would be gratefully appreciated.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In the suit over exercise of proxy in the case of the weak seabed at the new Henoko base, judgment to be handed down on 20 December. (4de23)

Image
Splendor of Okinawa: Shrubby Bush Clover, roadside Uruma, 30no23 The seabed at the new base construction site at Henoko in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, is weak and needs reinforcement. So, the Okinawa Defense Bureau requested permission for the necessary design changes, but Governor Denny Tamaki refused. In response, the Government intends to exercise proxy to give itself permission in place of the governor. The Naha Branch of the Fukuoka High Court announced on 29 November that it will hand down its judgment in the lawsuit filed over the case at 2 pm on 20 December. At the trial on 30 October, Governor Denny Tamaki emphasized in the first oral arguments, “We can in no way accept this exercise of proxy, which violates the autonomy and independence of Okinawa.”  He further stressed the will of the prefecture’s people in opposition to the new base construction as the ‘Public will’. In addition, he requested to show that the  path to resolution lay in dialogue. The trial was conclud...
Read more

Governor Denny receives the report on JUNGLIA at the 4 month mark after its opening. (7de25)

Image
Splendor of Okinawa: Temple Tree, Mihama Beach, 1de25 CEO Takeshi Kato of Japan Entertainment (JE), which manages JUNGLIA Okinawa, visited Governor Denny Tamaki at the Prefectural Office on 28 November.  　 The CEO reported on the 4 months since the attraction’s opening. He repeatedly brought up dealing with operational improvements and such based on the voices of visitors to the park.  　 The CEO specifically mentioned the evening concerts in the park’s garden and, starting from December, the free entry of one child with each adult, targeting the prefecture’s people. CEO Kato stated, “We’d like to be contributing to Okinawa’s tourism as well.” Governor Tamaki, alluding to his speech the same day, entitled “Declaration on Sustainable Tourism”, stated, “For the people, employees, and tourists of our prefecture, this is an important win-win format. We’d like to have JE’s cooperation in many, many more initiatives.” Original Japanese article: Ryukyu Shimpo, published Sunday 30 Nov...
Read more

In Okinawa, Candidate Takara takes hold of the Henoko opposition parties as their new face, urging,”Let’s earnestly come to grips with these issues together.” (21jy25).

Image
Splendor of Okinawa: Mexican Petunia, Gushikawa RC Church, 13jy25. In the House of Councilors Election for the Okinawa Election District, independent candidate Sachika Takara (46), endorsed by All Okinawa, which opposes the relocation of the US Military Futenma Airfield in Ginowan to Henoko in Nago, both in Okinawa Prefecture, scored a victory. She defeated the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Party’s new candidate Ryo Okuma (38) in the election campaign.  Candidate Takara pledged before her supporters, “The Henoko problem is something our prefecture’s people have taken into our hearts. We’re going to earnestly come to grips with it together.”  With their eyes on a victory in next year’s gubernatorial election, her victory was a bitter blow to the LDP. Governor Denny Tamaki, who held the job of Candidate Takara’s campaign headquarters chief, stressed, “The will of the people in opposition to the relocation remains unshaken.” In recent mayoral elections, All Okinawa’s fortunes ha...
Read more