Makino Tо̄tо̄mi-no-kami ki 牧野遠江守記
Above: A number of volumes of the Makino Tо̄tо̄mi-no-kami ki, with a section from vol. 1101 open, showing a diagram of a shogunal audience granted on Tenpо̄ 13 (1842)/11/19 to Shimazu О̄sumi-no-kami Narioki, lord of Kagoshima domain, and his heir Shimazu Bungo-no-kami Nariakira, just prior to the shogun receiving in audience Prince Urasoe Chо̄ki, envoy of the king of Lūchū.
(U. of Tokyo Historiographical Institute, call no. 維新史料引継本 I ほ - 127 - 1101)
A project deciphering, transcribing, and translating handwritten records of shogunal audience ceremonies pertaining to 19th c. Lūchūan embassies to Edo.
Makino Tо̄tо̄mi-no-kami Yasutoshi 牧野遠江守康哉 (1818-1863) was lord of Komoro domain in Shinano province (today, Nagano prefecture) from 1832 until his death in 1863. He served the Tokugawa shogunate as sо̄shaban 奏者番 for many years, overseeing court ceremonies such as shogunal audiences held at Edo castle; he was later promoted to the prestigious and high-ranking administrative position of wakadoshiyori (“Junior Elder”) in 1858.
Makino left behind a large number of finely detailed records of ceremonial protocols and events associated with official shogunate business ranging from 1735 to 1863, most of them copied from others’ records.
Today, the University of Tokyo Historiographical Institute holds these records (or later manuscript copies of them) in over 2500 small orihon (accordion-book / folded paper) volumes, a collection known as Makino Tо̄tо̄mi no kami ki gishiki nado shotome（牧野遠江守記）儀式等諸留 (roughly, “Records of Makino Tо̄tо̄mi-no-kami, Various Records of Ceremonies, Etc.”) (see note 1, below). Each small volume records one ceremonial event. Most are no more than 15-20 pages thick. Most focus on the detailed step-by-step procedures followed in a given ceremony, detailing which individuals sat where, when they entered and left the audience hall, where they moved to within the hall and when, who handed documents or other objects to whom at which time, what words were spoken, and so forth. Some contain diagrams like that pictured above.
In my limited personal experience, I do not believe I have ever seen these Makino documents transcribed (i.e. reprinted in modern-type) or cited, least of all in scholarship on the Lūchūan embassies to Edo.
Selecting out more than 30 of the small volumes from this collection which describe audiences or other ceremonies concerning the four 19th century Lūchūan embassies to Edo (1806, 1832, 1842, 1850), I have begun (with the invaluable help of Dr. Mochida Tomomi of Gakushūin University) the gradual task of deciphering the kuzushiji handwriting and producing transcriptions and rough English translations of these 30+ volumes. Through comparison of these events across different embassies (i.e. different iterations across several decades) both as recorded in the Makino documents and in other texts such as the Tokugawa reiten roku, Ryūkyū kankei monjo, and Ryūkyūjin dome (note 2), I hope to discover meaningful shifts or continuities in Tokugawa/Lūchū diplomatic ritual which will further illuminate the place of Lūchū in Tokugawa hierarchies, the character of the relationship, the character of Tokugawa and Lūchūan court ritual, and the role or function of tradition and of “ritual propriety” (礼, Japanese: rei, Chinese: lǐ) in the shaping of such interactions.
A detail of the above opening from vol. 1101, diagramming seating positions for an audience granted by Shogun Tokugawa Ieyoshi to lord of Kagoshima domain Shimazu Narioki and his son Nariakira. The shogun sat atop several layers of tatami and cushions (red square, upper right of this image) in the upper level 上段 of the Grand Audience Hall 大広間 (О̄hiroma) of Edo castle, facing south through the middle 中段 and lower levels 下段 of the hall where the two Shimazu elites (marked here by solid red circles) offered their obeisances. Top-ranking shogunate officials and others can be seen seated along the western edge of the lower level (top left of the image), in the Second Antechamber 二之間 (Ni-no-ma) of the audience hall, and on the attached veranda (bottom left of the image). Additional solid red circles indicate the two Shimazu elites at earlier or later points in the ceremony. The Lūchūan envoy Prince Urasoe is identified here by a small red square (bottom of the image).
(1) A listing of the title or topic of each of the volumes in this collection can be found by searching for “牧野遠江守記“ in the University of Tokyo Historiographical Institute’s 所蔵史料目録データベース（Hi-CAT）database, and then clicking on 全表示 (Show All) next to the results for
「貴重書維新史料引継本 | Iほ | 127（牧野遠江守記）儀式等諸留」.
(2) The Tokugawa reiten roku 徳川禮典録 (“Record of Tokugawa Rituals”) is a compilation of records of Tokugawa shogunate ceremonies, compiled by Date Munenari, Matsudaira Shungaku (Yoshinaga), and Ikeda Mochimasa in 1881 on the orders of the Meiji Emperor (as suggested by Iwakura Tomomi), and republished in 1942 in three volumes by the Owari Tokugawa Reimeikai 尾張徳川黎明会. In addition to records of regular annual shogunate ceremonies; weddings; accession ceremonies; shogunal journeys to Nikkо̄, Kyoto, and elsewhere; and the like, these volumes also contain thoroughly detailed descriptions of audiences granted to Lūchūan envoys in 1714 and 1790, and to their Korean counterparts in 1718. Fortunately, these volumes are available at many major research libraries around the world.
The Ryūkyū kankei monjo 琉球関係文書 (“Documents Related to Ryūkyū”) are a selection of the Shimazu ke monjo 島津家文書 (“Documents of the Shimazu Family”) held by the Historiographical Institute. They are available in manuscript copies at the Institute, and on microfilm or kamiyakebon 紙焼本 (bound volumes of printouts from the microfilm) at the Institute as well as at the University of the Ryukyus Library; Prof. Yokoyama Yasunori 横山伊徳 of the Historiographical Institute has also made a plain-text transcription of these texts available online. Volume 2 contains a thorough detailed description of the audience ceremonies in which the heads of the 1832 Lūchūan embassy participated; I look forward to comparing those records to that from the Makino collection. Unfortunately, however, the individual documents within the Ryūkyū kankei monjo collection are not identified as to their authors, origins, or circumstances of production; though their detailed contents are invaluable in light of so many Lūchū-related records having been lost in 1945 or at other times, it is difficult to place them as to who authored these records, from what perspective, for what purpose, at what time, and so forth.
The Ryūkyūjin dome 琉球人留 is a separate, small orihon volume from Shimazu family records, primarily containing diagrams of audience ceremonies pertaining to the 1832 Lūchūan embassy. A 19th or 20th century manuscript copy of this text is held by the Historiographical Institute (call no. 4251|11).