Yoshiya Chiru
Yoshiya Chirū | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1650 |
| Died | 1668 (aged 17–18) |
| Other names | Yoshiya ciruu,ciruu |
| Occupations | singer,poet |
| Known for | Ryuka poet |
Yoshiya Chirū (吉屋ちるー) was a singer and Ryuka poet (1650?–1668?). She charmed many pechin by her literary ability and beautiful looks. A legend tells that she fell in love with the Aji of Nakazatu, but she committed suicide on hearing her freedom was bought by a rich man called Kurokuun, at age 18.
Biography
Yoshiya Chiru lived during the reign of King Shōkei of Ryukyu, born into a wealthy farming family in Yomitan, Ryukyu Kingdom. She possessed a talent for singing from a young age and was a beautiful girl. Later, her family fell into poverty; her father and brothers incurred debts, her mother fell ill. At the age of eight, Yoshiya Chiru was sold to a brothel on Nakajima Island in Naha as an entertainer. Even in her youth, she possessed extraordinary talent in Ryukyu songs and was considered a poetic genius. Due to her outstanding talent and beauty, Yoshiya Chiru became a popular entertainer at the time.At sixteen, she fell in love with Lord Nakasato Anji. However, due to their vastly different social statuses, they could not marry, and Yoshiya Chiru could only express her sorrow in her poems. A wealthy merchant known as Kurokuun-dono wanted to kept Yoshiya Chiru with his gold, the brothel madam for the large sums of money also forced her. Overwhelmed with grief, Yoshiya Chiru committed suicide. Yoshiya Chiru died tragically at the young age of eighteen.[1][2][3]
Historicity
No contemporary source mentions Yoshiya, probably for her humble status. Some ryuka traditionally attributed to her are probably not her own. She is a protagonist of Koke no shita (苔の下), written in Classical Japanese, by the pro-Japanese Ryukyuan official Heshikiya Chōbin (circa 1730), where she is referred to as Yoshiya-kimi (よしや君) and is said to have been born in 1650 and died in 1668. Fuku Hiromi noted that Yoshiya means "what will be will be" in Japanese poetry, which Heshikiya was familiar with.[4]
Kadekaru Chizuko pointed out that earlier sources did not identify the composer of poems attributed to Yoshiya today.[5] Hokama Shuzen observed that her poems reflected waka-style artifice and thus were composed some time around the early 18th century.[4]
Her Ryuka
At age 8, she had to cross the Hija Bridge between Kadena and Yomitan to be sold to a house.[6]
|
Ryukyuan language
|
Pronunciation
|
Translation
|
References
- ^ "遊女思鶴 沖縄県". 神話の森 ～歴史と民俗館.
- ^ "吉 屋 チ ル （恩纳村）". 沖縄総合事務局 北部国道事務所.
- ^ "沖縄の歴史上人物 吉屋チルー②". 岐阜女子大学.
- ^ a b Fuku Hiromi 福寛美 (2010). Ryūkyū no koiuta 琉球の恋歌 (in Japanese).
- ^ Kadekaru Chizuko 嘉手苅千鶴子 (2003). Omoro to ryūka no sekai おもろと琉歌の世界 (in Japanese).
- ^ Okinawa Daihyakka Jiten Kankō Jimukyoku (1983). Okinawa Daihyakka Jiten 「沖縄大百科事典」 [Okinawa Encyclopedia]. Naha: Okinawa Times. p. 805.
- ^ Nihon Shodō Bijutsukan (1992). Ryūka: Nantō no Uta no Kokoro 「琉歌：南島のうたの心」 [Ryūka: the Heart of the Songs of the Southern Islands]. Tōkyō: Kyōiku Shodō Shuppan Kyōkai.
External links
- 琉歌, Ryuka Archived 2011-04-05 at the Wayback Machine