ID Number

Title

Item Name

Culture

Material

Manufacturing Technique

Date Made

Place Made

Date Collected

Collector

Date Owned

Owner

Acquisition Date

Source

Source

Measurements

Item Classes

Condition

Current Location

Accession Number

Cultural Context

funerary urn

Description

Blue glazed ceramic lid from a funerary urn. The large rectangular lid is in shape of a palace roof. The upper ridge has a pair of three-dimensional creatures called shachihoko (鯱鉾/鯱), a mythical sea creature with the head of a tiger or dragon and the body of a fish, protruding upward at each end. Between them on the front is a dragon head. The epitaph, called migachi or miigachi (ミガチ/ミーガチ/銘書) in Okinawan, is written along the bottom of the lid.

History Of Use

The urn (body with lid) is known as a jiishigaami or jīshigāmi (ジーシガーミ)in Okinawan, and zushigame (厨子甕) in Japanese. Okinawans used to practice shinkuchi/senkotsu (シンクチ/洗骨/ bone-washing) as a form of reburial, and the washed bones were placed in such urns. Historically, the deceased were either left in the open air or placed in a large family tomb during the first period of internment, and after several years, the family would gather and clean the bones before placing them in the jiishigaami. Okinawa (沖縄) was ruled by the Ryūkyū ōkoku (琉球王国/ Ryūkyū kingdom) from 1429 until Japan annexed the island in 1879. Trade with Japan, China, Korea, and Southeast Asia influenced social practices in Okinawa, but distinct cultures in the archipelago remain vibrant.

Narrative

The epitaph, called migachi or miigachi (ミガチ/ミーガチ/銘書) in Okinawan, reads: 長男 又吉仁王 長女 行年 十六才 又吉モウサ (Matayoshi Mousa, the eldest daughter of the eldest son Matayoshi Niō died at the age of 16) on the 28th of February in the lunar calendar in the year of Monkey in Meiji 41 (明治四十一年 甲 旧二月二十八日 死亡) or 1908.