'Hidari Gomon' The Ryukyu Symbol

The 'Hidari Gomon' 左御紋 (meaning "Left-turning Honourable Crest") is an ancient symbol of the Ryukyu Kingdom. There are various interesting theories of how it came to represent Ryukyuan people.

The symbol is in no way unique to the Ryukyu islands, variations of it can be found all over the world, for example:

China

 

 

 

Japan

Tibet

Celtic Cultures

 

 

 

 

In Japan, this type of symbol is commonly used as family crests, called 'Kamon' 家紋 (meaning "Family Crest") .

Various Types of Japanese Kamon

The type of 'Kamon' that contain (or are made up by) the 'comma shape' are called the 'Tomoe' (巴).


Various Types of Tomoe

The Tomoe are defined by the number of commas in them, the Hidari-Gomon is a type of 'Mitsudomoe' 三つ巴紋 (literally meaning "Three Commas Crest")

 

There are several theories regarding how this symbol came to represent the Ryukyu Kingdom and the Ryukyuan people.

The following is the explanation of the symbol by Sensei Angi Uezu of Isshinryu Karate, given to Sensei Robert Slywa:

This symbol was made in the age of Ryukyuan dynasty. The exact age is not known. The meaning is: to call rain clouds, so that the rain may help the farmers. When the castle was surrounded and set fire by enemies, rain clouds came and it started to rain and extinguished the fire and helped the castle in the ancient time.
The meaning of this symbol is almost the same as Isshinryu MIZU-GAMI. The left turn is the correct symbol.



(Thanks Sensei Rob)  

The following story is one of the most common theories for the origin of the Hidari Gomon in Ryukyu.
I found this exact same story from several different sources, not giving credit to any single author, so I'm going to go with 'Author Unknown'

There is an Okinawan folktale in which Hidari Gomon represents loyalty, heroism, and altruism. It implies a past full of struggle and hardship, but also a willingness to face difficulties, no matter what the cost.

 

According to the story, the origin of the Hidari Gomon goes back to feudal Japan. Okinawa had been defeated and dominated by the lord of Kagoshima, who imposed conditions on the Ryukyuan people. He proclaimed that without exception that the people should go unarmed and that those who were found carrying weapons should be executed. Also, as a tribute of war, he proclaimed that Ryukyuans should submit an annual tax of rice to Kagoshima.

 

For many years, the Ryukyu people fulfilled those terms. At the time rice was plentiful and no one went armed because a way of fighting had been developed in Okinawa which did not require the use of weapons. We now know this as Karate. Karate was developed because the Ryukyuan King did not want his people to be defenceless and he began secretly sending members of his guard to China, where they learned various forms of bare-hand fighting. In karate, the weapon was the body of the fighter, so it did not conflict in any way with the ban imposed by the lord of Kagoshima.

 

Everything was fine until a great drought occurred in the Ryukyu Kingdom, which caused a shortage of rice throughout the islands. This cause extensive poverty and hunger and prevented the kingdom from being able to make the payment of rice to Kagoshima. Seeing the suffering of his people, the King decided to send a delegation to Kagoshima with a message reporting the sad situation of his people, asking to be allowed to forego the rice tax that year.

 

The King's envoy left the kingdom escorted by three unarmed guards and was received by the lord of Kagoshima, who was outraged by the audacity of the Ryukyuans. Not only did they not bring the rice, but they were requesting that he excuse their debt. He then ordered the messenger to be killed. One of the lord's samurai came at the envoy with his spear but the three unarmed Ryukyuan guards were able to easily defend against the attack. This surprised the Kagoshima Lord, who considered his samurai to be invincible warriors. As other samurai came to assist in the capture of the Ryukyuan guards, the envoy tried to reason with the lord, explaining further that the people in the Ryukyu Islands were starving, trying to make him understand the pain and suffering.

 

The lord ordered the immediate execution of the three guards by having them thrown into a huge caldron of boiling water used for extracting oils for fuel. While being boiled alive, they screamed out, pleading not for their own lives, but for those of the Ryukyuan people. This moved the Kagoshima lord and caused him to finally open his mind. When expressed solidarity with the Ryukyu, and not only accepted their excuses for not paying tribute but had his men carry a cargo of rice to the islands to ease the famine. In return for his generosity he requested that the masters of the art of Karate come to Kagoshima to teach his men the fighting techniques he had observed defeat his warrior. The value and courage of those three Ryukyuan warriors initiated a new period of relations between the two kingdoms and eventually led to the cooperation and friendship of both peoples.

 

Later, back in the Ryukyu Kingdom, the envoy described the death of three warriors to the King. The King, after hearing the story of the deaths of the guards, had the Hidari-Gomon drawn up to symbolize their heroic action. It is said to portray the three Ryukyu warriors spinning around in the boiling water, giving their lives for the greater good of the people. The symbol has since become the symbol of the Ryukyu Kingdom, a symbol which can now be found just about everywhere in Okinawa. Many Karate styles have also incorporated it into their own symbols. 

 

A theory given by Andreas Quast at Ryukyu Bugei is probably the most plausible:

 

There’s is an artifact pointing to King Shō Toku: Shō Toku, the last king of the 1st Shō Dynasty, was overthrown by King Shō En, 1st king of the 2nd Shō Dynasty.

Shō Toku‘s surviving retainers were buried in the “Tomb of the Hundred Anji”, located behind a hill in the village of Unten in Nakijin, northern Okinawa.
Upon a part of a wooden coffin discovered there, the oldest instance of the “mitsu domoe mon” was found, worked out in golden color. It’s called “hidari-gomon” (左御紋) in the case of Ryūkyū, meaning “left-turning honorable crest”. And this is the same (basically) as the Hachiman crest.

Maybe the story is not popular as it reminds people of the military state of affairs of Ryukyu at the time, something that became very unpopular in the second half of the 20th century.

There is also evidence that the 1st Sho dynasty was overthrown by the 2nd Sho dynasty, and there was no family relation whatsoever. It was a coup dètat.
So, here I photoshopped the said wooden coffin for you, so you can actually see it. It is a coffin of a retainer of Sho Toku, and the first instance showing the “clockwise revolving commas” crest:

Hidari-gomon, the coat-of-arms of the Royal Sho family of the Ryukyu Kingdom. Left bottom. the coffin. Right side: the peace of wood bearing the once golden crest. Left upper side: enlargement of the crest. The pictures are from a 1957 work by one of THE big famous Okinawan historians.

 

 

One last theory also from Andreas Quast, which I like (due to it's simplicity).

 

One theory – without any proof for it – is that the crest was made from the name Sho Hashi (尚巴志), with the Kanji 巴 found in his name is the same as in -domoe (comma).

 

As he unified the THREE kingdoms, there were three of these commas.

 

 

Irrespective of what the origins were, the Hidari Gomon has become synonymous with Okinawa and the Ryukyuan people.

 

 

 

 

Comment below to share any thoughts or opinions you might have.  :)

Thanks for reading.
Derm

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