Governor Denny Tamaki calls portraits of kings of the Ryukyu Kingdom, looted during WW ll, found in the US, and retuned, “Okinawa’s Treasures.” (25mr24)

Splendor of Okinawa: Treasure Flower, roadside Uruma, 10mr24


On 15 March, Okinawa Prefecture Governor Denny Tamaki confirmed that portraits of kings of the Ryukyu Kingdom and other cultural artifacts, looted from Japan in the confusion of the final days of World War ll’s Okinawa Campaign, have been discovered in the US. He further confirmed that they have been returned to the Prefecture with the cooperation of the US Government and others. This was the first confirmation of the current existence of the portraits of these Ryukyu kings, whether inside Japan or overseas, 


Governor Denny Tamaki noted in his press conference, “These portraits feel like experiencing the era of the Ryukyu Kingdom in the flesh. Our prefecture’s people are overjoyed at the return of these Okinawan treasures.”


According to the Prefecture, 22 cultural assets from the Ryukyu Kingdom, discovered to have been looted originally from Okinawa, have been returned. They include ogoe (post death)  portraits of the kingdom’s 13th Sho Dynasty King Sho Kei and  its 18th King Sho Iku, as well as other artifacts, such as porcelain and pottery.


The ogoe are especially important cultural heritage assets in their representation of the Ryukyu Kingdom. It is claimed that they had been considered lost to flames in the confusion of the Battle of Okinawa. However, in 2001, the Prefectural Board of Education, through the American Consulate in Okinawa, requested that the portraits be recorded in the FBI’s stolen art file.


In March of last year, 22 of the looted cultural assets were discovered there. Through the efforts of the Prefectural Board of Education, the 22 artifacts were returned to Okinawa on 14 March.


A prefectural administrator noted, “All we had left were black and white photos of those portraits. So when we found the real ones, we had to confirm their authenticity by their ancient paint tints. Next we’ll proceed with an analysis of the pigments in their paint. If their authenticity is scientifically confirmed,  Ryukyu-Okinawan art history and cultural history  research will probably proceed with other essential measures. 


Original Japanese article: Sankei Shimbun, Friday 15 March 2024 at 03:15.    https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/7e145e2421a7e5afe187848ef73bafa514073ead


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. 


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. 


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


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.

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