At Suimui-kan, you can enjoy the unique food culture that the Ryukyu Kingdom has created after mingling with the other East Asian countries. You may notice that many traditional Okinawan dishes include pork, but this wasn’t always the case. It all started when envoys came to Okinawa-- bringing 400 to 600 visitors at a time, the envoys paid their respect to their host by providing pigs. Until then, pork wasn’t raised domestically and so wasn’t normally on the menu. In order to prepare for the envoys next visit, the Imperial Government of Ryukyu acquired pigs from the neighboring island of Amami and ordered the local farmers to start raising pigs in their farms. After a while the locals also started to enjoy pork as well, creating the Okinawan cuisine we know today. By the way, even the Ryukyu confectionery "Chinsuko" is made with pork lard as well.
There are many other Ryukyu confectioneries, but where did they originate from? It’s believed that the chefs and confectioners of the Ryukyu Kingdom were part of the envoys to China, where they learned Chinese confectionery. In addition, since the invasion of the Satsuma Regime, the Satsuma Hanzaiban magistrate's office had been set up in Naha, and they needed chefs to work there, so the chefs learned to make Japanese sweets by joining the Satsuma on their trips to Edo. Incorporating Chinese and Japanese confectionery cultures, they built their own confectionery culture that was suited to the climate of Ryukyu.
The kingdom of Ryukyu, located in the middle of the East Asia Sea, is a country which, while the great powers of China and Japan have surrounded and tried to control it, has unwaveringly made a name for itself in the outside world. By connecting to many cultures through diplomacy and trade, they not only learned about other cultures but in turn created their own.
The short guide ends here, but there is another course that delves deeper into Shuri-jo Castle and the city of Shuri. After a short rest at Suimui-kan, you should definitely try the long course.
