The features of the training of administrative stuff and scholars in the Ryukyu Kingdom in the 17th - 18th centuries

Abstract

The article reflects and analyzes the features of the training
of administrative stuff and scholars in the Ryukyu Kingdom
in the 17th - 18th centuries. At that time, the island state had
been maneuvering between solving economic problems and
preserving the professional community and scientific base
of the country. In such conditions, the most important issue
for the Ryukyu had become a preservation of the special
settlement of Kume-mura. It was practically the only scientific
and educational conglomerate both in Japan and in Ryukyu,
receiving direct financial support from the government, and it
played a significant role as a place in the kingdom through which
Chinese philosophy, science, literature had penetrated into the
Ryukyus. Having been settled by Chinese immigrants, Kumemura was in economic crisis since early XVII century. However,
the Ryukyuan government took measures that made Kumemura as one the main centers of the development of Chinese
culture and education in the kingdom in XVII-XIX centuries
that influenced into the formation of so-called «Ryukyu Culture
Renaissance» in the early modern period.