In particular, I'm interested in some of the local history of a few of the less-populated islands of Okinawa – specifically, Hamahiga, Tsuken, and Kudaka – but general history is good too.
George Kerr's book (Okinawa: The History of an Island People) seems to be the gold standard, and I've read through that one, but I've really not found too many other quality materials dealing with Okinawa's pre-Meiji history (at least, not in English).
Books, videos, essays, or even good museums and cultural spots to go visit in Okinawa proper – I'll happily take any recommendations you can offer. If there's a good resource in Japanese, I'll even take that – my Japanese is still not the best, but I can manage if there's no other option.
by darkknight109
5 comments
n.b. some people/scholars don’t like George Kerr’s book. see some of the [previous mentions here](https://www.reddit.com/answers/F100B634-6CFD-4358-9A15-72B1F5731B1C/?q=Opinions%20on%20George%20Kerr's%20book%20on%20Okinawa&utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1).
To be honest, I don’t think there is much information in English about Kudaka. It’s best to go to original Japanese sources. Even then, a lot of the history is probably not written down in Japanese and poorly reported even then. I would love for someone to prove me wrong about this.
[This post is especially good](https://www.reddit.com/r/okinawa/s/LajG68FJg3) but I guess you have already come across it in your research.
The Okinawa Prefecture Museum has some good historical info about Okinawa. Also, the Ginowan City museum, located next to Morikawa Park is small, but has some good historical information.
For a recent English language history of Okinawa and the Ryukyus in general try
Gregory Smits’ “The Ryukyu Islands: A New History from the Stone Age to the Present”
https://amzn.asia/d/cuGU7i5
If you read Japanese, many municipalities or their educational associations (e.g. 教育委員会) published local histories (e g. 大里村史) that can be found at local libraries, museums, used book stores etc.
米軍と農民 is a good book
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