is the name given to the princely houses of the Ryūkyū Kingdom, generally issued from a son of one of the kings of Ryūkyū who did not inherit the throne. The term also refers to the residences of those families, as well as to the royal residences and, by extension and often written with a different ideogram (), the royal mausolea.
Princely residences Originally, udun refers to the residences of the members of the ryūkyūan nobility with the rank of or . Those titles are generally reserved for the kings' sons (wōji) and their descendants (aji).
The residences take the name of the fief that was given to the prince or lord: the residence of the crown prince, the prince of Nakagusuku, is , the residence of the prince of Motobu is "Motobu Udun", the one of the prince of Nakijin is "Nakijin Udun".
When the fief attributed to the head of the house changes, the name of the residence changes as well: the house descending from administered consecutively the magiris of Urasoe, Gushichan, Ginowan and Oroku, their residence being successively known under the names of "Urasoe Udun", "Gushichan Udun", "Ginowan Udun" and "Oroku Udun".
Most of the residences of the udun rank were located north of Shuri Castle, essentially in , and . The laws concerning the construction of residences mention that the residences of the udun type can be built on a land up to large, that the enclosure can count up to three gates (a large gate, a medium gate and a small gate) and that the building itself can be up to large.
Other residences and buildings
The rank of udun can also be given to residences and buildings not directly related to people of the wōji or aji rank:
: building where the official activities of the queen were managed : secondary residence of the king : secondary residence of the king, tea pavilion inside , the
: secondary residence of the king, also known under the name of or :the modern pronunciation, that would be « Kikoe-ōgimi Udun », is never used for this building residence of Kikoe-ōgimi : sacred site built at the location of Kanamaru's former residence.
Honorific title By metonymy, the term of udun is used as honorific to address people of the wōji or aji rank and their spouses. The term of Udun is then substituted to their personal titles after the name of their fief : for instance, for the prince of Ginowan, the official title of "Ginowan Aji-ganashi" is replaced by "Ginowan Udun", for the queen, the official title of "Sashiki Aji-ganashi" is replaced by "Sashiki Udun", for the princess of Urasaki, the official title of "Urasaki Ōshu" is replaced by "Urasaki Udun".
Princely houses By extension, the term of udun is used to qualify the princely houses whose head's rank is wōji or aji, generally descending from a son of one of the kings of Ryūkyū who did not inherit the throne: the house of Motobu, founded by the prince of Motobu, is named "Motobu Udun".
The only house with the rank of udun that is not descended from the kings of Ryūkyū is the .
The is a particular instance, since the lineage has been founded by king Shō Tei's queen, Makabi Aji-ganashi, who adopted one of Shō Tei's grandsons in order to create her own house.
The was founded by the granddaughter of king Shō Hō, the , daughter of Shō Kyō, crown prince who died before he inherited the throne.
Cadet branches of udun houses are generally houses with the rank of . The , although it is a cadet branch of the , kept the rank of udun. The house of Kyan was demoted to the rank of dunchi after the direct lineage was broken.
When the kingdom fell, there were thirty houses with the rank of udun, presented below in the chronological order of their foundation.
most of those houses still exist so that the modern pronunciation is the most used one (15th century) (15th century) (16th century)
(16th century) (16th century) (16th century) (16th century) (16th century) (égranted the rank of udun in 1571) (17th century) (17th century) (17th century) (17th century) (17th century) (17th century) (17th century) (17th century) (17th century) (17th century) (17th century) (17th century) (18th century) (18th century) (18th century) (18th century) (18th century)
(19th century) (19th century) (19th century) (19th century)
Notes and references Notes
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